Depot Bay – World’s Smallest Harbor

Just up the coast highway from Beverly Beach, is the small but busy village of Depot Bay, proudly proclaiming its status as the world’s smallest harbor.  Not having seen the entire world, or even the entire United States, I can neither dispute nor validate this claim.  It is, however, a REALLY small harbor and a charming town.

Lots of fishing and whale watching boats go out from Depot Bay.  Crossing this bar is not for the inexperienced nor the feint of heart.  The boats can only enter or leave the harbor at certain times, depending on the tide.  Re-entering the harbor is probably the most dangerous part.  The boats come in at a pretty good clip in order to maintain their trajectory and avoid getting smashed onto the rocks by the competing currents.  This channel is every bit as small as it looks and is one of the more dangerous ones along the Oregon coast.  We have been out on a boat from this harbor but it was many years ago.  We went out on a whale watching tour but as I remember it, we didn’t see any whales.

***I had a couple of video clips to insert here but can’t get them to load…tooo slow!  Maybe later…too bad too as one was of the guys filleting the fresh caught salmon!***
This guy knows an easy meal when he sees one and waits for scraps to be tossed his way.  The gulls also know what’s coming when the boats tie up, and are vociferous in their demands for the leftovers.




Crossing under the bridge to the ocean side of the street, you will find  a small visitors center.  Here volunteers watch and count the whales that migrate in the spring and late fall.  Outside of the center the wind was blowing quite briskly today so Russ was worried about being blown over the side.  Luckily, he found his anchor!



The view from the ocean side of the highway shows just how rugged this section of coast is.



Depot Bay is also filled to the brim with touristy T-shirt and souvenir shops, and the requisite salt water taffy and chocolate shops.  Several restaurants are located along the several blocks of “downtown.”  This is a great town for strolling the sidewalk and  poking around in the over-priced yet intriguing shops.  We kept our wallets in our pockets.  The only thing I took away from the shops was this photo.



Kate, you take such great pelican photos that I just knew you would be proud of me for getting this shot!  Isn’t he magnificent?

So much more to see and do along this beautiful coast we love so well…but it will have to wait for another day.  In the meantime, enjoy this photo of one happy dog.  (sorry for the poor quality – taken through a very dirty windshield on our way out of the park).