Depoi Bay on Oregon Coast - Senior backpacker at the wheel (4)

　I drove from Astoria south to Newport on U.S. Route 101 along the coastline near the Pacific Ocean. On the way I dropped at Arcadia Beach exploring the white sandy ocean beach and enjoyed an endless ocean view from Winema Wayfinding Point. I was enchanted by the incredible scenic beauty of Oregon coast under the blue sky.

   
    

 Arriving at Depoi Bay, 121 miles south from Astoria, at 2 pm, I looked for a chartered boat to watch Gray whales near the shore. Dubbed as the "Whale Watching Capital of the Oregon Coast", Depoe Bay with The Whale Watching Center is a good spot for tourists to locate and watch whales almost year around as they blow, dive and breach.

   

  Gray whales migrate past the Oregon coast twice a year. From the last week of December to the first week of January, they are heading south from Alaska to warm water lagoons off northern Mexico, while in spring time beginning the last week of March through June, they are heading north back to Alaska. 

 But even in summer and fall off, we still have a chance to see Gray whales. Because some of them do not migrate all the way north to Alaska and spend from late June through October off the coast of Oregon. They are called as resident whales and number about 200. About 40 of these hang out off the Depoi Bay, spending much of their time feeding on shrimps.

 There were three whale watching chartered companies here, but none of these was going to sail a boat out this afternoon due to strong wind. I decided to make a reservation for tomorrow’s 8 pm zodiac, a small boat with a maximum of 6 passengers on board, operated by the Dockside Charters.
Next morning when I came to the dock harbor, I found that I was a only passenger for them. With life vest on, my captain took me out into the Pacific Oceans on the zodiac boat, which pitched and rolled heavily so that I found it not easy to hold my camera tightly focusing on whales moving.    

   

 In order to take good shots of Gray whales's dynamic moves like the blow, the breach and the dive, we need to know their swimming pattern. They often stay under water for 3 to 5 minutes when they are eating. If they have been down for 5 minutes, they usually blow 5 times at regular intervals of 45 seconds when they surface to replenish their oxygen supply. I was always puzzled as to where they would appear, and then suddenly hearing my captain's shouting, turned around toward the direction where he pointed and tried to take a shot of them in the next 45 seconds.

   

  Next time, I'd love to see a bunch of 18,000 gray whales migrate south from Alaska along the coastline of Oregon in December.

(to be continued; next to Columbia Gorge)