Category Archives: Vacations

Vacations

Exploring Newport

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Yaquina lighthouseWe explored Newport today, taking in some of the sites around the town. The main street in the downtown area is being repaved, so we first went to a park overlooking the Yaquina Bay Bridge. The park features the Yaquina Lighthouse, one of many lighthouses that dot this area. This areaMemorial is very windy, and very rugged. The coastline has some amazing beaches, long and sandy and windswept!

The town has a lot of public art. Lots of buildings are painted with amazing murals, mostly on a nautical theme. The old man in the sea, battling rough waves is very common. They have a couple of Wylund wall murals, with his beloved whales prominently featured. There are some amazing sculptures all over the town, too. Seems every time we turn another corner, another statue is there for us to examine. I’m willing to bet Newport has more public art per capita than any city in North America!

Seal pupWe had been hearing sea lions barking all day, so we knew they were around somewhere. We finally stumbled on them, lounging on one of the docks near the fish processing plant. There is a small rocky point that is totally covered with them too.

Heron in flightJust up the road from us we came upon a stretch of beach that was totally packed with herons. Not sure why they liked this stretch of beach, but we saw dozens of them looking for dinner along this one stretch.

HeronThey are pretty nervous birds though. Every time we got close enough for a decent picture, they took off! They are a very cool bird in flight – but it really seems they are just too big to fly!

Vacations

Newport, Oregon

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Crabbing DockWe drove down to Newport, Oregon on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010. It’s about a seven hour drive, basically straight down the I-5. Newport is right on the famed Oregon Coast. We  are staying in one of our timeshares, called the Embarcadero, right on the waterfront. In fact, you could jump off our balcony, right into the ocean!

The suite is very nice. It’s a two bedroom unit, and the upper bedroom is reached via a spiral staircase. It’s a large loft-style bedroom, with a huge king sized bed. There is a small “office” that opens onto the ocean view, and has a nice little desk, overlooking the living room downstairs as well. The bathrooms are HUGE – and I mean capital HUGE. Double sinks, huge soaker tub… the bathroom alone is bigger than our first apartment!

EagleWe can sit on our deck, and watch eagles and seagulls glide over our heads, swooping down on to the water every once in a while! Quite remarkable. We arrived here around 4 in the afternoon so we haven’t really had much time to scope the place out, but there is a huge dock here where people can “do some crabbing” and Pam fully intends to catch her limit!

We’re going to explore the aquarium today; it’s supposed to be one of the ten best in the USA. We’re hoping to get a round or two of golf in while we’re here too.

I have to talk for a second about the driving on the I-5 highway: all through Washington state, the vast majority of the people drove about 5 miles an hour under the limit. The speed limit is 70, but I put the car on cruise right at 70, and always caught up to people. Most people got out of the left lane, when they saw me approaching, but one or two would not. It’s clearly signed all along the road to “Be polite” and only use the left lane for passing, for slower traffic to use the right lane, but the odd person was just stubborn. Most of the way there were three lanes, so there was really no need to block the left lane. But Oregon – now that is a completely different matter! They are the rudest drivers I have ever met! WOW! They all drive about 10 miles under the limit, and drive in the left lane like they own it. Not one person vacated the left lane, even though they were driving so slow.

Yaquina Bay Bridge

The view out our condo’s window. Pictured is the Yaquina Bay Bridge, designed by Conde B. McCullough, part of Highway 101.

Commentary, St. Maarten, Vacations

Octopus spotting

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Octopus I went to St. Martin hoping to swim with turtles, so mission accomplished, thanks to Aure, Sally and Octopus Diving. But the real highlight for me became the octopus sightings. Tim was especially adept at picking them up… I usually only found them by accident, diving to take a picture of another fish and seeing the octopus change color.

Octopus The first day at Mullet everywhere we went up and down the left side, there were octopus. Under rocks, clinging to the side of rocks, others “out in the open” moving along, altering his appearance as he goes. It was wild. I’d still be trying to take pictures of the first one, and Tim is calling us to the new one!

OctopusI think they are the coolest thing in the ocean to see move…Over white sand, he goes all pale, over the rocks, he takes on the coloration of the rock he his over.

The last day at Mullet, as we were leaving the water,  we saw one in such shallow water, it was worth the trip just for that 20 minutes. He was so close you could reach down and touch him with your hand, without even diving. Maggie and I jumped back in to spend a few more minutes with him, it was such a unique thing.

Never knew that swimming with lots of octopus was on my bucket list, but I’m glad I got to move it to the accomplished side of the ledger!

Small octopus Good sized octopus Octopus Octopus in the garden
About Bailey, St. Maarten, Vacations

Octopus spotting

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Octopus I went to St. Martin hoping to swim with turtles, so mission accomplished, thanks to Aure, Sally and Octopus Diving. But the real highlight for me became the octopus sightings. Tim was especially adept at picking them up… I usually only found them by accident, diving to take a picture of another fish and seeing the octopus change color.

Octopus The first day at Mullet everywhere we went up and down the left side, there were octopus. Under rocks, clinging to the side of rocks, others “out in the open” moving along, altering his appearance as he goes. It was wild. I’d still be trying to take pictures of the first one, and Tim is calling us to the new one!

OctopusI think they are the coolest thing in the ocean to see move…Over white sand, he goes all pale, over the rocks, he takes on the coloration of the rock he his over.

The last day at Mullet, as we were leaving the water,  we saw one in such shallow water, it was worth the trip just for that 20 minutes. He was so close you could reach down and touch him with your hand, without even diving. Maggie and I jumped back in to spend a few more minutes with him, it was such a unique thing.

Never knew that swimming with lots of octopus was on my bucket list, but I’m glad I got to move it to the accomplished side of the ledger!

Octopus in the garden Small octopus Octopus Good sized octopus
About Bailey, St. Maarten, Vacations

Octopus spotting

Leave a comment

Octopus I went to St. Martin hoping to swim with turtles, so mission accomplished, thanks to Aure, Sally and Octopus Diving. But the real highlight for me became the octopus sightings. Tim was especially adept at picking them up… I usually only found them by accident, diving to take a picture of another fish and seeing the octopus change color.

Octopus The first day at Mullet everywhere we went up and down the left side, there were octopus. Under rocks, clinging to the side of rocks, others “out in the open” moving along, altering his appearance as he goes. It was wild. I’d still be trying to take pictures of the first one, and Tim is calling us to the new one!

OctopusI think they are the coolest thing in the ocean to see move…Over white sand, he goes all pale, over the rocks, he takes on the coloration of the rock he his over.

The last day at Mullet, as we were leaving the water,  we saw one in such shallow water, it was worth the trip just for that 20 minutes. He was so close you could reach down and touch him with your hand, without even diving. Maggie and I jumped back in to spend a few more minutes with him, it was such a unique thing.

Never knew that swimming with lots of octopus was on my bucket list, but I’m glad I got to move it to the accomplished side of the ledger!

Octopus Small octopus Good sized octopus Octopus in the garden
About Bailey, St. Maarten, Vacations

Octopus spotting

Leave a comment

Octopus I went to St. Martin hoping to swim with turtles, so mission accomplished, thanks to Aure, Sally and Octopus Diving. But the real highlight for me became the octopus sightings. Tim was especially adept at picking them up… I usually only found them by accident, diving to take a picture of another fish and seeing the octopus change color.

Octopus The first day at Mullet everywhere we went up and down the left side, there were octopus. Under rocks, clinging to the side of rocks, others “out in the open” moving along, altering his appearance as he goes. It was wild. I’d still be trying to take pictures of the first one, and Tim is calling us to the new one!

OctopusI think they are the coolest thing in the ocean to see move…Over white sand, he goes all pale, over the rocks, he takes on the coloration of the rock he his over.

The last day at Mullet, as we were leaving the water,  we saw one in such shallow water, it was worth the trip just for that 20 minutes. He was so close you could reach down and touch him with your hand, without even diving. Maggie and I jumped back in to spend a few more minutes with him, it was such a unique thing.

Never knew that swimming with lots of octopus was on my bucket list, but I’m glad I got to move it to the accomplished side of the ledger!

Octopus Small octopus Octopus in the garden Good sized octopus
St. Maarten, Vacations

More final thoughts

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Maho Beach landing You know what else was cool about Sint Maarten? Maho Beach – the beach nearest the airport. We never snorkeled there, but it had a really cool vibe. Everyone secretly wants to get blasted by the jet plane exhausts, and everyone took pictures of all the fools doing it!

But you take the picture of the plane coming in, and realize just how close you are to disaster! That guy flying the plane might have had a few Heineken’s too many! Sometimes it seems that they are barely 5 feet above the people on the beach.

Plane Incoming over Maho BeachYou could see the planes out over the ocean, coming around in a loop, as they prepare to land. The restaurant erupts with, “Here he comes, Here he comes – It’s a big one! Must be American Airlines!”

Sunset in St. Maarten There is a surfboard with expected arrival times written on it, so you can see who it should be. The waiters and waitresses are fun and funny. The food was limited, mostly burgers and fries, but the vibe was totally cool.

They had funny t-shirts there too – Hold on to your beer!

And the sunsets are pretty nice there too.