Yesterday was not a bad day, kind of overcast in the morning but it cleared off in early afternoon and was gorgeous. We went to Bandon as I wanted to go back one last time and wander around Old Town. On the way we stopped at Misty Meadows to get John some more Anitpasto and jam as well as pick up a few gifts. When we got to Bandon we had lunch, a yummy bowl of clam chowder, then wandered around some of the stores. We didn’t buy much but I did get a couple of pretty pottery bowls that were really cheap as well as some fudge. We were wandering through one store and they had a lot of Kitras glass so I was telling the owner that we were from where it is made and he went on at length about what a great company they are to deal with – nice to hear.
We stopped at another store after leaving Old Town, then on to the grocery store before starting to make our way back home. We went down to the north jetty and took a few pictures of the Coquille River Lighthouse, then to the beach for more pictures and then took the scenic route back out of Bandon with picture stops at a few more places.
Coquille River Lighthouse
We stopped at a pullout to take a picture and found this house down by the beach, I sure wouldn't like to have to do those steps all the time to get up and down!!!
Bandon Beach
Face Rock
When we got back to Port Orford we decided to go down to the dock and see if anything was happening there as our neighbours, Claudia & Gene, had gone out fishing so we thought we might see them coming back in. When we got there their truck and boat were gone so they had already come in but we saw a couple of boats heading in so got out and walked over to the lift area to watch them come in. Boy, was our timing good – we saw them unloading boxes of sea urchins off one of the boats and boxes of crabs off another. The people dive for the sea urchins and Gene told John that they get paid really well for them. There was another boat unloading crabs, one of the boxes they took off weighed 374 lbs – so I would say they had a good day as they took off at least 3 boxes and we know they get $1.99/lb for them. It’s interesting as they have a winch to lift the catch off the boats and unload the catch into large tubs, then the boats themselves move a bit further along the dock to get winched up.
While we were watching a boat come up we got talking to three fellows who were cleaning a steelhead they had caught in the Sixes River and were just at the dock to clean it. They had come from south of San Francisco for a few days fishing and said they had caught four steelheads but only kept the one and one of the reasons for keeping it was for the roe which they use for bait. It sure looked like a nice fish and I bet it was good eating!! There was also a seal swimming around in the harbour and it looked like a fair sized one.
Sea Urchins
Fishing Boat Being Hoisted Up
And Going on Its Trailer
California Fishermen with Steelhead
Boats Waiting to Come Into the Dock
Seal in Harbour
Crab Catch
After we got home we were talking to Gene & Claudia and they said they didn’t have a great day but didn’t do too bad either. They gave us some fresh ling cod for dinner and was it yummy, John put some lemon pepper and butter on it, wrapped it in foil and grilled it.
Today is another nice day so John decided to clean out the truck and I took advantage of his being outside to do a major cleaning inside, I even got the floors washed – something I just can’t get done when he is inside.
Gene & Claudia came back from another day of fishing and she said they again didn’t catch as much as they wanted but the wind had started to come up and the water was getting a bit rough so they decided to head in early before it got too bad. She was saying she used to dive but due to puncturing her eardrum a number of times has had to quit but she has an album of underwater pictures that she will bring over and show to me – should be interesting.
It is supposed to rain again tomorrow but we will see if they are right. We don’t have a lot planned for the rest of the day so I will probably start another book – tough life.
Tim is trying to get some grass cutting done while the weather is dry so as soon as he is finished he will fill propane tanks, we need ours filled so have it sitting out waiting.
And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.
