Newport’s a pretty cool town: it’s got beaches, lighthouses, harbors, marinas, museums, commercial fishermen and good breakfast restaurants. What more is there? Well, it also has cool places to walk, even just around the harbor, where we walked today. On the main street through the Bayfront area is this huge chunk of cement, with signs and pictures on it.
Why would any town put this huge ugly chunk in the middle of the tourist area of town? Tourists want shoppes, restaurants, ice cream, not big cement blocks. Well, actually, as you have guessed, this is a chunk of a Japanese dock which floated over here to Newport’s beaches after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Here is what the whole dock looked like when it washed up on shore in Newport.
It was huge and it was covered with what we would call ‘invasive species.’ It had to be examined stripped and the piece above is what was put on the boardwalk for everyone to look at.
And, speaking of tsunamis - we are in the tsunami zone for Newport - being right on the harbor as we are. Great views, great place to be BUT - we have to be aware of where we need to go if we feel an earthquake. This sign is on the sidewalk outside our campground.
We followed the directions to our Safe Haven.
And, could read why we had to get away from the water. this hill is 84’ high and is thought to be high ‘enough.’
Tsunamis are hard to see at sea but, on land, they build and build up their energy to crash on shore. We like to camp on the shorelines and have in Crescent City, CA and here in Newport. We enjoy the views, the beaches to walk on, the rocks but we are aware of what we have to do should we feel an earthquake. Luckily, we’ve never felt one.
We continued our walk around the bay and found lots of diamonds on the walkway, memorializing those who had died at sea. Sometimes there were a lot in one row signifying that these 4 died on the same Fishing Vessel.
Sometimes there is just one: someone who just never returned from the sea.
And, then we came to the commercial fleet docks. Biggest commercial fleet on the Oregon coast and the two processing plants along the Bayfront area testify to this. One is expanding which is good news for Newport. Below is only a portion of the fleet.
NOAA has a fleet of 4 ships here, though only one is in harbor right now. Seems that they were looking to expand their fleet and presence on the Northwest Coast but where they were didn’t express much interest. Newport went after them in a big way: they expanded their docking, dredged a deeper channel and build some buildings, realizing that NOAA would bring in high-paying jobs, tourists and a certain cache to the town. One of the young women on the first ship that came into port was thrilled to see the whole town out on the docks to welcome them. They had never seen this kind of welcome before.
There’s also an aquarium and a Marine Science department of an Oregon university in the area.
There’s also a museum in the area showcasing Newport’s aquatic past. Loved this picture of the fishing nuns. I thought they just fished for souls.
And, these surfers - even a woman. And, check out those boards. Pretty rudimentary - I’d think they might get splinters in their feet on these.
There is always this bridge over it all.
And, in the museum is this toothpick model.
It’s fun to walk around Newport with so many things to see - and so many ice cream shops to choose from.
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