At 0600 hours the intrepid National Geographic Sea Bird, with Captain Kay at the helm, was making her way west through pouring rain toward Pier 2 at Astoria, Oregon. At 0730 hours we docked just across from the giant bulk carrier ship, the Yochow. For the last day of our voyage we had true Lewis and Clark weather such as they and their Corps of Discovery endured during the winter of 1805-6 at Fort Clatsop, which was quite fitting since right after breakfast we set out for the fort. Today we were given a tour by a ranger and then took a nature walk in the woods with naturalists Rich and Grace. Rich showed us a rough-skinned newt and a banana slug and Grace described the trees and other plants as we walked down a path beneath towering Sitka spruce trees.
The Columbia River Maritime Museum, one of the best maritime museums in the country, was our second morning stop. We learned about the Columbia Bar, called the “Graveyard of the Pacific”, as it is extremely dangerous for ships. Here, the mighty Columbia River meets the swells of the Pacific Ocean head on and the result is dangerous and tumultuous waters. Captain John Wilkes, in writing of the bar in the 1800s, described “the incessant roar of the waters” and called it “one of the most fearful sights that can possibly meet the eye of a sailor”.
In the afternoon we travelled across the giant Astoria Megler Bridge to Washington and Cape Disappointment to the Lewis and Clark Discovery Center. This is located on a high bluff overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The ocean was not in the least pacific today, but was roaring and foaming as large breakers assailed the base of the cliffs and spray blew high and the rain came down. On the Cape Disappointment headland we could see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse on the northwest coast of the United States. After exploring the Lewis and Clark Discovery Center we all went to nearby Waikiki Beach. Some of us walked down a narrow and muddy footpath through the woods. Along the way we saw another rough-skinned newt and a blacktail deer. It was a beautiful time enjoying the nature. At Waikiki the wind blew wild and the surf was roaring up the shore as the tide came in and we found ourselves running up the beach, not always successfully, to escape flooding our shoes in the swash. It was still raining and it was exhilarating.
Our evening ended with Recap and the Captain’s farewell dinner. We enjoyed our guest slide show and the camaraderie of our social hour and dinner with our friends, new and old, with whom we shared this voyage of adventure that seemed to end all too soon.
