The Pacific

Peaceful Pacific

Cruising the Coastline

West Coast Fault Lines

Leonard and I left Garibaldi at 9:40am with 4 foot waves over the bar and only 2-4 foot swells most of the way to Newport.  At times, we found nearly flat seas.  We had commented earlier how surprised we were at the relatively calm seas.  John had reminded us that the name Pacific comes from the word passive, peaceful.  We did some research and found that the Pacific Ocean was given its name by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation in 1521.  Magellan encountered favorable winds and called it Mar Pacifico, meaning “peaceful sea” in Portuguese.  Of course the Pacific is not always peaceful; many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific and earthquakes create devastating Tsunamis.  Interestingly, the Pacific Ocean is shrinking due to plate tectonics, while the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size by roughly one inch per year on three sides.  After an easy eight hour cruise, we arrived in Newport and passed under the Yaquina Bay Bridge, an architectural beauty of the 1930’s.  We found space to tie up after friendly boaters on the transient dock made space for us; a strong wind had started to blow which created an additional challenge for docking; perhaps “Pacifico” didn’t want us to become too complacent.  The wind continued to blow the next day so we were glad to be in port.  We visited the “Oregon Coast Aquarium” and found it to be comparable to Seattle’s Aquarium.  Some unique creatures included Sea Nettles and the Japanese Spider Crab that can live to be a 100 years old and have a leg span of 13 feet!

Yaquina Bay Bridge - Newport

Passing under the Bridge - Newport

Our Backdoor View at the Dock!

Sea Nettle

Japanese Spider Crab