Wasting away in Newportville

Days 13 and 14 - Newport, Oregon, USA

We have spent some quality time here in Newport, seeing the local sights and waiting for our next weather window to continue south.

This is a great place to spend some time.  The marina is inexpensive, about .50/foot/night including unlimited power and water, free internet (in the laundry room) and a free bus-pass to get you around town.  And there is a great pub/restaurant overlooking the marina.  It doesn't get much better than this.

We have visited the Marine Sciences center and the Newport aquarium, which are both a short walk from the marina.  The aquarium is actually pretty impressive and worth a visit.

We took the bus (free bus passes provided by the marina) to the other side of the bay where most of the actual town is, including the bayfront walkway and marine chandlers.  I bought a couple of new fuel filters at NAPA but we have found a better source and will go back again to get more.  Now that I know of a potential problem, I want to be extra sure I have the solution.

The bayfront here is apparently one of the favorite stops for the California Sea Lions.  They make quite a lot of noise all day - we can hear it quite well from across the bay.  A lot of tourists come here to see them.

Another feature of the bayfront walkway is the "Fisherman's walk", with plaques for all of the people who have been lost at sea from this port.  A bit of a sobering message.

We met the owner of one of the other transient boats and he has had quite a rough time getting here.  He has only come from Portland and this is his first time out in the ocean.  He is single-handing and was sick, lost his autopilot, experienced a couple of accidental gybes which have compromised both his main and foresail and then his engine quit.  He was towed into Newport by the Coast Guard.  After hearing his story, I don't think we have anything to complain about.

We are hoping to get out of here in the next couple of days, probably leaving in the late afternoon, doing an overnight passage to Coos Bay, further south along the Oregon coast.  We need both a good weather window and a good "bar" report before we go.

 

{GMST}44|37.4337|N|124|3.1412|W|Newport, Oregon|Newport, Oregon{GEND}