Boat Trip - Exploring Grays Harbor, Washington

After our morning spent at the Satsop River,  we headed to the Westport Marina to meet with Lee, Sabrina, and the kids.  Robert, Angela, and the kids were going to spend the rest of the morning/early afternoon Pokemon hunting while Lee took me, Sabrina, and Verna out on the boat.  We were hoping to see some whales, as Lee had seen some a few days before.  

Our ocean-going vessel!

There were sooo many cool things to photograph as we left the marina!  Everything was a wonder to my eyes and lens.  There were so many pelicans, cormorants, and seagulls around and the lines and structures of the marina made for perfect perches and perfect photographs.

There were also some very interesting sights to see amongst the boats themselves. Including the gorgeous gray backdrop of the stormy sky behind this blue and white boat.

And this fishing boat, which had sunk in its mooring a couple days before.

That's a quarter of a million literally down the drain!  Or, me being cynical, maybe it's a happy insurance claim.

Westport has a really lovely marina and it's punctuated by a very large and beautiful American flag flying in the breeze.

Across the opening of Grays Harbor lies Ocean Shores.  We stayed at Ocean Shores many, many years ago and I remember it being wonderful to be right there on both the Pacific Ocean on one side and the bay on the other.

As we made out way out towards Ocean Shores, we saw some sleepy sea lions tanning on a navigation buoy.

Perfect for two!

It is SO cool to be out on the water, right by these huge ships!

This is the beach of Ocean Shores.  It looked so fascinating with all the driftwood, and ships sailing by out to the sea.  Someone even built a teepee which gave an air of what this place may have looked like hundreds of years ago.  I could almost see the Quinault or the Chehalis peoples walking these beaches in my mind's eye.

Meanwhile, back in the present, we got to see a lot more of the native marine life!  This buoy was Cormorant Central!

And we saw some dolphins!  Yay!  There were 2-4 and they were really, really quick!  So yay for shitty pictures!  But an amazing experience!

I swear they had heads.  No!  They really did!  I'm hoping Sabrina got a picture with their heads.

I think this is the closest I got. lol

And this IS a head!  But it's an adorable Harbor Seal, not a dolphin.  haha

We saw another ship heading out of the bay, so we decided to follow it.

Literally!

We were putting Westport well behind us at this point.

We caught up to the ship...

 ...but - oops - it wasn't sailing anywhere.  It was at anchor, which was also really cool!

And pretty soon, we'd left it in our wake.

And all the land too!  We were now in the open ocean!  Hello beautiful Pacific!  To my surprise, my sister IL said she had never been out on the ocean before.

I confess, I've been on the ocean just a few times.  Once in Monterey, CA on a whale-watching expedition with my family.  I got sick once we found the whales and the boats stopped moving forward, so that sucked.  And in Hawaii, we went snorkeling on a Catamaran, and once again I got sick!  Shite!  I did end up throwing up on that trip and then I felt much better and was able to enjoy the rest of the outing.  The other time was in New Zealand where I didn't get sick at all.  Lee's boat was about the same size as the one in New Zealand, so I was hoping for the best.  Plus I took a couple Bonine before we left!

I didn't get sick!!  Yay me!  No one did, so it was a very successful outing.  And fun.  Did I mention fun?  It was soooo fun.

The ocean is amazing by the way.

We saw what appeared to be a bird party going on, so we followed the flying pelicans and headed over hoping that they were attracted by whales feeding.  Birds like it when whales drive schools of fish to the surface.  Feast for all!

We didn't see any whales, but we did see more and more birds flying over.  In addition to the pelicans and gulls, there were also murres, which we had seen at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma and I had seen at a distance at the Point Reyes Lighthouse near San Francisco.

Pretty soon there were tons of birds congregating just outside of Ocean Shores.

It was amazing!  And more on that in the next post.  

xoxo

Nikon D3300

Northern California Dreamin' - Road Trip to the Coast 2/6/16

"Now on this road trip, my mind seemed to uncrinkle, to breathe, to present to itself a cure for a disease it had not, until now, known it had."  ~~ Elizabeth Berg, The Year of Pleasures

It's no secret how much I love getting in my car with my camera and heading off for adventures.  

No matter how many times I've been someplace before, it still seems like finding a bright, new shiny penny.  Finding a random penny might not have value to a lot of people...but it does to me. :-)

For instance, every time I see the "mothball fleet" I'm fascinated.  

And seeing it enshrouded in fog made me think of ghosts that might still be roaming the remaining ships, waiting for the call to protect the Pacific shores. 

But I did kind of wonder if the day was going to be spent under the marine layer.  

Spoiler alert:  It was not.

My drive to Ano Nuevo was beautiful and uneventful.  And I was greeted by such beauty!  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore!"

Northern Elephant Seals sunbathing.

They were joined by an inquisitive California Sea Lion.  

He was absolutely dwarfed by his much bigger cousins (see the picture above...he's sleeping just above the water line near the center of the picture).

I saw this hill with what looked like rows of planted yellow flowers.  I left Ano Nuevo and drove South on PCH, but couldn't find anything that resembled a planted field.  It's quite possible that you just couldn't see if from the highway. 

I did, however, find yellow flowers in abundance!  

I stopped at a little turnout on the side of the road because the edge of the road was filled with flowers.  I thought they were just near the road because there was a little hill.  

I was amazed to look over the edge and see a field completely filled with the beautiful pineapple-colored blossoms waving in the breeze.  They meandered through the fields almost to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean.  

Turning to the North, South, and West, my eyes drank in the stunning vistas of sea, sky, and earth. 

I walked the pathway to the cliff's edge, thinking I couldn't find anything more beautiful than that field of green and gold.

But I was wrong.  
The dazzling Pacific was waiting to display her charms.

I sat on the edge, listening to the ocean speak and watching the flowers and birds.  

Feelings of gratitude for these splendid sights and experiences washed over me.  I felt like a small, but loved, piece of the universe as I made my way back to my car.

As I was driving homeward, I saw another strip of beach that I wished I had time (and energy!) to explore.  But I didn't so I had to content myself with one photo which I like to call Love on a Beach. 

We shall not cease from exploration

and the end of all our exploring will be 

to arrive where we started

and know the place for the first time.

~~ t.s. eliot

xoxo