Watching Ships
Who hasn’t wanted to indulge a spirit of wanderlust and sail away to a foreign country or ride the Orient Express? In Astoria, Oregon, one of the Oregon coast’s deepwater ports, these romantic feelings for travel are heightened each time a ship glides by on the river. Visitors have a great view of the river traffic from a sheltered viewing deck at the end of 6th Street and from the dock at 17th Street, where two Coast Guard cutters, the Steadfast and the Alert, are stationed and river tour boats come to call.
The 14th Street ferry dock includes interpretive displays, describing the work of the Columbia Bar and river pilots and of the tug boats as you watch the vessels cruise by. In the past, the dangerous crossing of the Bar sunk more than 200 ships and over 2,000 vessels of all kinds, and the mouth of the Columbia was known as the graveyard of the Pacific. A radio speaker allows visitors to hear the live conversations of pilots and the Coast Guard as they go about their work on the river and out to sea. The shipping channel is very close to the Astoria shore, affording shipwatchers an extraordinary, close up view.