Attention Coos Bay Visitors and Residents! We are in for a big treat this week. Beginning today, March 19, The Hawaiian Chieftain will be in Coos Bay for the next 5 days as part of its ‘Hands-on History for Youth” tour of the West Coast.
The Hawaiian Chieftain is a magnificant replica of a typical 19th century European merchant trader commonly used to carry coastal trade along the Atlantic coastal cities and towns. The hull shape and rigging are similar to those of Spanish explorer’s ships used in the expeditions of the late 18th century along the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts.
Oregon coast visitors and residents can experience a hands on nautical history lesson aboard the ship while in Coos Bay.
The Hawaiian Chieftain offers Walk-on tours and three-hour Adventure Sails. For sail times and ticket information, visit www.historicalseaport.org.
Missing San Francisco Sea Lion interview: “we’re not missing, we’re just on vacation.”
The legendary San Francisco Sea Lions; famous for taking up residence in the docks at Pier 39, vanished from the site as abruptly and mysteriously as they had arrived 20 years ago.
At one point, over 1,700 Sea Lions lived in around the docks and became very popular with tourists (not so popular with local fisherman). Marine Biologists, Scientists, Residents, and Tourists have been baffled by their strange disappearance- and it been a mystery as to where they went- until now…
Sightings of large numbers of Sea Lions have been reported off the Oregon Coast-so our Coos Bay/North Bend reporter, Katherine Hoppe, caught up with a few of the famed sea lions to see how they were doing….
Fishing Oregon’s Adventure Coast is a fantastic resource for locals and tourists to get tips and valuable information about fishing, clamming, crabbing and boating in and around Coos Bay. Since this is still a great time to go Crabbing- we wanted to share their tips:
Fall is typically the best time to crab. Beginning in September, crabs tend to be more “filled out”, meaning there is a higher percentage of meat. This is determined by the condition of the shell. Hard-shelled crabs contain 20 to 30 percent meat by weight, compared to soft-shelled crabs which can be as low as 12 percent.
At times after heavy rainfall crab tend to be less abundant in the bays.
Slack water (the time around high or low tide) are the best times to crab. During slack water, crabs are generally walking around and foraging since they are not getting pushed around by tidal exchange.
Businesses in Coos Bay, North Bend and Charleston Oregon rent crab pots and crab rings. Please see the boating and supplies page on this website for contact information.
Preparing for crabbing: Make sure you have your shellfish license (people 14 and older require a shellfish license for crabbing), crab measuring tool, pots or rings, cooler, gloves, bait holders and bait supply. Check all lines on pots or rings for knots or kinks to ensure they are durable and will allow gear to work correctly. Make sure your pots are properly marked.
Baiting your gear – Many different types of bait are used for crabbing: turkey, chicken, minx, fish carcass, shad, herring, clams, etc. Fresh bait is best. Keep in mind that seals and sea lions will eat attractive bait that they can access. You can avoid this problem by using a bait bag or avoiding areas where they are prevalent.
Setting your gear and soak time – Tie the end of your crab line to the dock or pier where you are crabbing. Throw your pot or ring into the water. Allow between one and two hours before retrieving your gear if you are crabbing with crab pots and 15 to 30 minutes if you are crabbing with rings.
Sorting crabs – Quickly sort through the crab, being careful not to break crab legs off or get your fingers pinched. An experienced crab handler will sort crabs by keeping them at ease. They want to get out, but they don’t want to be forcefully grabbed. A quick shake of the pot is often more effective than reaching directly for them. Be sure to carefully and quickly release the crab, do not throw them from heights as this will often crack their carapace and kill them. It is illegal to retain only the claws on all species.
(Male on left, Female on right)
Making sure your crabs are legal – With a crab gauge, measure all male Dungeness crab retained. Retain no more than 12 male Dungeness crab per shellfish license that are 5 3/4″ across (NOT including points) or wider. Female crabs are illegal and must be released immediately.
Keeping your crab quality – Store legal-sized (keeper) crabs in a cooler with ice or ice packs or in a bucket or cooler with water. If you keep your crabs in a bucket or cooler with water, make sure to change the water frequently to keep the water cool and oxygenated. And make sure the water is seawater – freshwater will kill crabs. (This information came from the ODFW shellfish section).
Earlier this month, I shared our recommendation for the Shore Acres Holiday Lights display- a true “Must See” for locals and tourists throughout the Holiday Season (the display will be open to the public through December 31. Here are some more local travel secrets to make your Oregon holiday adventure unforgettable:
Local Secret #1: On the way back from seeing the lights, a must stop is the Charleston Rural Fire Department on Cape Arago Highway where you’ll find a miniature Christmas Village: over 200 miniatures and trains representing Coos County, and of course cookies are available. This event is also free and has incredible detail to ooh and ahh over. Open every night thru Christmas Eve, 6pm-10pm. Contact info: Rusty Shields 541.888.3268
Local Secret #2: Go Dock Crabbing! This time of year is the best time of year for dock crabbing, and the best part, kids can crab free! Visit www.fishingcoosbay.com for maps, tips and other details on Crabbing in Coos Bay!
Local Secret #3: ExploreSouth Slough National Estuarine Research Reservewhich is the first estuarine reserve in the nation. Every month they host a class called Tide of the Toddlers where they teach little ones how to explore and appreciate nature. Every December they also feature a natural ornaments class for the kids. They will also be hosting the Gray Whale Obstacle Course on Saturday 12/19 from 10:30 to 11:30 am or 2 to 3 pm. Event is free, visit their site for details.
Local Secret #4: ATV’ing, dunebuggy’ing, or sand boarding on the Oregon Dunes is a must. For kids too small to ride their own vehicle, you can rent 2, 4, or 13 seater vehicles. Rain or shine, our dunes are active year round as there is nothing like it. The sand boarding is friendly to all ages but it best enjoyed in sunny weather as the boards travel better.
The Holiday events continue….You can cap the whole holiday season off with the annual Whale Watching week at Shore Acres Dec 26-Jan1st. A complete list of our events is available at www.oregonsadventurecoast.com
A travel writer contacted me recently to get some information on restaurants that served the Best Brunches in the Coos Bay/North Bend and surrounding area. It was an interesting enough question that I decided to post it on our Facebook Page and asked our followers in Twitter- and it fueled an interesting discussion!
Most of them agreed “The Mill” aka The Pancake Mill offers the best breakfast/brunch in town. Locals love their wide variety of breakfast, lunch, low calorie and meatless menu items. Home style soups, sandwiches, and pie specialties.
But what many of us REALLY love is the fragrant smell of delicious brewed coffees, pies, cakes and muffins when you walk in the door. When you go- you really must try a dish from their “eggg-tensive” Egg Menu or check out the Eggs a la Mill (Benedict Style)- one of their specialties. Great local spot, good food, and friendly service- you can’t go wrong!
Pancake Mill 2390 Tremont Avenue (Hwy 101), North Bend Cuisine: breakfast • Map & Directions 541-756-2751
Other spots our Facebook followers recommend:
Mom’s Kitchen 1603 Sherman Avenue, North Bend 541-756-2710 From one of our Followers- “Mom’s really takes you back in time and the food is great.”
Dishners 2603 Broadway St, North Bend Cuisine: american, breakfast • Map & Directions 541-756-2881
I recommend their Farmers Omelet! Yum!
Got any more recommendations? Let us know! For more Coos Bay/North Bend dining options- see our dining page!
Now in it’s 23rd season, the Holiday Lights at Shore Acres State Park are back and more stunning than ever. What began as a 6000 mini light holiday display by the Friends of Shore Acres; this magnifcent collection of holiday decorations has grown to over 250,000 sparkling L.E.D. lights that feature sea and land animal lighted sculptures, Christmas trees and more.
Those who have come to the Shore Acres Holiday Lights in the past say it helps them capture the magic and spirit of the holidays. This event is perfect for friends and families to explore- and has cocoa, cider and cookies in the festive Garden House.
The holiday display is open each evening from 4pm-10 pm Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve and is made possible by hundreds of community volunteers and The Friends of Shore Acres in cooperation with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Shore Acres State Park is located off Cape Arago Highway. Call Shore Acres for more information 541-888-3732
On the way back from seeing the lights, a must stop is the Charleston Rural Fire Department where you’ll find a miniature Christmas Village: over 200 miniatures and trains representing Coos County, and of course cookies are available. This event is also free and has incredible detail to ooh and ahh over.
This time of year is the best time of year for dock crabbing, and the best part, kids can crab free, here’s a photo of my 5 year old niece that was taken last week: http://twitpic.com/qlva3
Explore South Slough Estuary, which is the first estuarine reserve in the nation. Every month they host a class called Tide of the Toddlers where they teach little ones how to explore and appreciate nature. Every December they also feature a natural ornaments class for the kids.
The Holiday events continue with Tree Lighting ceremonies, free christmas concerts, and theatre performances. A complete list of our Oregon Coast events is available at our website.
You can cap the whole holiday season off with the annual Whale Watching week at Shore Acres Dec 26-Jan1st.
Best. Headline. EVER. That was posted on the naturaloregon.org website and on twitter. If that can’t bring a girl back to her blog, then nothing can. Now lets just confess right now, its funny; we all try to be grown ups and pretend we can handle headlines like that, but come on. In my press releases and notices to people I try to be serious, but in the office and among friends, the jokes were flying.
The Booby actually refers to the Brown Booby, a rare bird sighting that occurred on October 29 in Coos Bay; apparently what makes this even more exciting was that the bird doesn’t belong here, its a tropical bird that you’d have to visit the likes of the Galapagos Islands to see.
Now mind you, I personally am not a birdwatcher, not even a little bit. One of the dumbest moments I had was when I sent a photo of a bird to Russ from the Audubon society to try and find out what kind of bird it was, he responded back, you’re joking right? Turns out it was a crow.
But back to the Booby – even a bird-idiot like me can appreciate that over 200 birdwatchers came running this past weekend to try and get a view of this lost little gal. And a press junkie like me loves seeing the numerous stories about Coos Bay. Thanks to some great email alerts from Russ Namitz we were able to post the very first photo taken of a living Brown Booby in Oregon far ahead of any of the traditional media outlets.
And in case you were wondering what my favorite behind the scenes joke was: I forwarded an email from Russ about the Booby alert; a friend responded back: “Are you sure they weren’t referring to you in the Booby sighting email? I could see how you could get confused.”
After last year’s notorious murder and kidnapping of Charleston’s favorite son, Charlie; this small quaint fishing village along the Southern Oregon Coast struggled to recover from the shocking crime. What started as a simple prank, led to Charlie being hacked up by a chainsaw after the two youths who took him got scared by the national media attention that was caused.
Now, a year later, the town of Charleston, Oregon has seemed to move on, and in a shocking turn of events, have decided to PROFIT from Charlie’s murder. Locals and visitors alike are aghast at this morbid turn of events. For the mere cost of $2, pieces of Charlie have been hacked up even further and canned and are available at Charleytown Market. To make matters worse, the pieces of Charlie are actually SELLING.
According to Charlie Senior, the family has been devastated. “The least they could do is give some of the money to the family, for gods sakes I could use a new hat, or a new pair of glasses; but do you think we got anything? NOTHING I tell you. Nothing. There should be laws against this.”
We must warn you, the photos we are about to show are gruesome, please brace yourself before looking below …
Remember that episode of the Brady Bunch where Peter meets his look alike and they proceeded to exchange lives? Well that’s sort of how I felt at the governor’s conference upon meeting what must be my long lost cousin. Okay.. so we don’t look alike, but we are both named Katherin(e); I live in Coos County, Oregon; she in Coos County, New Hampshire. We both love twitter and we’re both fiercely proud of where we come from.
She’s got me on the smarts department I’m sure, but those that know me, know I can make up for a lot with my sheer stubbornness and my gift for never knowing better.
This East meets West collision is surely unnatural and can lead to nothing but fun. Katie Paine has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged us to a Fish to Desk Challenge.
So what is this you ask? Its a competition to see who can start at their desk, and catch the first fish. Simple right?
Well this is where we need your help… what should the rules of this first fish to desk challenge? (I say first because I’m sure both of our competitive natures could never let it stop at just one!)
Should we limit it to just one fishermen? Or can anyone with a pole and a video camera participate? Can it be from any workplace in the county, or do we limit it to just one city? What time of year? Any other ground rules we should consider?
This has been an interesting week for me. Because of some of thefun i’ve been having on twitter, and some of the relationships i’ve developed with other tourism folks, i’ve had a lot of love thrown my way.
It reminded me of something my dear old boss used to say: Just do what you love, and the rest will follow. I get it, I totally get it; because I LOVE my communities, the towns of Coos Bay, North Bend & Charleston are all just a little different, a little quirky, and all equally as charming as the next. I love the people here, I love our little stretch of the coast, how beautiful it is, how I can let my dogs run free and even at the busiest times of year, walk just a little way and feel like the beach is all mine. I love that our part of the coast isn’t lined with back to back houses, that the kids at Dutch Bros know me by name, that I have the fish market’s phone number memorized, and that when a visitor asks how the crabbing is today, I can just call the grocery store in Charleston and they always have an answer.
It’s my hope that people who follow me on twitter, or read this blog, or who talk to other folks from my area get just a tiny glimpse of all this, that it makes them want to come and fall just a little bit in love as well.
I just finished reading a blog at the Oregon 150 website from Todd Davidson, CEO of Travel Oregon; he says it best of course (that’s why they make him CEO!)
Attention Coos Bay Visitors and Residents! We are in for a big treat this week. Beginning today, March 19, The Hawaiian Chieftain will be in Coos Bay for the next 5 days as part of its ‘Hands-on History for Youth” tour of the West Coast.
Businesses in Coos Bay, North Bend and Charleston Oregon rent crab pots and crab rings. Please see the boating and supplies page on this website for contact information.
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Remember that episode of the 
