Always Charming: Depoe Bay

A Bottom Fishing Boat Returns to the World's Smallest Harbor

A Zodiac Whale Watcher Heads Out to Sea

When our kids were small, a trip to the Oregon Coast usually meant a day at Fogerty Creek State Park. It provides a nice sandy beach, clean rest rooms and plenty of picnic tables. Fogerty's beach is protected. It's big enough to be fun but small enough to afford privacy and a limited area for children to wander. Back in those days, it was also free. I believe there is a day use fee these days. Once in a while we would spring for a restaurant meal. Sambo's was a favorite. The Pixie Kitchen was always closed. And after enduring a lot of screaming, we also tried a place called Nemo's. The Pixie Kitchen is no more, a victim of fire. Sambo's, now politically correct, has remodeled and I have yet to determine what happened to Nemo's.

I don't remember going to Depoe Bay that much with the kids in those days. Depoe Bay was where you went to fish. On my first Depoe Bay charter back in 1967, I limited out with three fish and our trip was back to port before the total time was up. I thought "Hey, this is great! I'll come back for another load any time we get hungry for fish and I have a few dollars in my pocket." My brother has since pointed out that the limit when we were kids was five fish and often as not, people limited out.

And of course limiting out through the years has become less and less likely. Odds of catching a salmon out of Depoe Bay are better than winning at Spirit Mountain, but not by much.

Our trips these days are more likely to include a stop at the Safeway deli in Lincoln City. We can buy all the food we need for lunch and eat it at our leisure. There are nice locations all along the coast with picnic tables and rest rooms. Our favorite lunch spot, though, is probably Boiler Bay because from there one can often see whales. Sunday did not disappoint.

(Just South of Depoe Bay, there's a smaller park called Rocky Creek. It's a great place to whale watch and crack open a bottle of wine.)

And the whales are one reason Depoe Bay was alive with people from anywhere in the 48 plus Alaska. The other reason is perhaps it is cool on the coast, literally. When the in land valleys heat up, there's a strip along the water's edge that's so cool you'll need a sweater. So again last Sunday Depoe Bay was her charming self; definitely low key.