Crab-a-rang - Charleston, Oregon

On  Wednesday, September 20, we drove to Charleston from Winchester Bay.  We are staying at the Charleston Marina RV Park in site 18.  This is the location of the Boomer Crab-a-rang.  We are signed up for 11 nights at about $25 per night.  I went to Bimart and bought 2 crab traps for a little over $11 each.  I had already bought a crab trap at Winchester Bay for $40.  They were almost the exact same trap.  What a rip!  But at least I have two traps.  

So bright and early Thursday morning I started crabbing.  My mentor, Diana Ruelens, told me to be at the dock around 7:30 AM.  It was cold that day and I did not make it until 8:30.  I only put two traps in because I did not know what I was doing.  Dean opted not to go crabbing but to help me any way he could.  The license cost $26 (annual). 

Sunrise over Charleston

The first day I only caught 6 crabs but I learned a lot from Diana so I was hooked.  This is a picture of my first crab.

Here is a trap coming on to the dock:

Day two of crabbing - I was out on the dock before anyone.  Dean set up my other trap so now I had three in the water, which is the limit.

The second day I limited out - due mainly to some kind hearted crabbers on a boat that had too many and asked if I wanted them.  Of course, I took them.  So I limited fairly early.

Day three, Sept. 23, I returned to the dock bright and early and again I got my limit due to generous people sharing their catch.  This is a sunrise shot through one of the docked boats.

Here is my helper, Dean.  I could not have done this with out him.  He helped me carry everything to the dock, load everything in the car, then cooked the crabs and helped me pick them.  Lots of work.

I maxed out (without donations) on the fourth day on the dock.  So now I am up to 42 crabs.  Our good friends, the Moore's, helped me carry everything back to the RV.  They got 6 crabs as a thank you.  This is Jan with one of the big ones!

So, everyday we came home, Dean fired up the Coleman while I cleaned the crabs, then we would cook them and pick them.  

You get a little goofy after a lot of crabbing!

Here are some pictures on the dock of me pulling in and checking the traps.

Dean, below, picking in the shade of the RV's.

We were very fortunate to have Jim and Debbie Scharmato providing boat rides to crab out in the bay.  Each day there was at least 2 to 3 trips out with 4 to 5 Boomers and they got their limit every day and every trip!  The record was 17 keepers in one trap.

I went twice on the boat and we caught so many we had to toss quite a few over before we came in.

Finally, after 7 straight days of crabbing and 74 crabs, Dean and I did some of the local sites.  We went to Shore Acres Gardens which is a historic homesite of the Simpsons.  It is now owned by the state and the gardens are a real showpiece.

We walked along the cliffs and scenic lookouts in the area.  The Oregon coast is so beautiful.

We took a hike at the South Slough Reserve.  The vegetation was so thick and very beautiful.  And there were walkways over the Slough.

We had around 40 rigs at the Crab-a-rang so each day we had a Happy Hour and a few nights we got together for potlucks and a lovely meal of Chippino, fish stew.

A couple of pictures in the boat.  I look very excited.  

More pictures of Boomer get togethers.

Here is the group shot.  A lot of happy Boomers!

Diana Ruelens birthday was during the event so we celebrated in grand style.  But only the girls would dance!

Our last evening we had a small group dinner with the Moore's, Judy and Mark, Patsi and Mark.  Get friends and good times.

Campfires were held each night by the leaders (Ruelens) RV.  I was too tired to attend any except for one.

Many thanks to all that helped make this a special Boomer event, especially Diana and George and Jim and Debbie.  See everyone in Boomerville in January.

Winchester Bay, Oregon

On Monday, September 18, we left Florence and spent 2 nights in Winchester Bay.  This is the site of previous crab-a-rangs in the past.  It was rainy and cold while we were there.  We parked on the C Jetty for $17 per night. Before we parked we dumped ($10) and filled ($5).

 The view is so nice looking out at the sailboats.  Richard and Peggy Hansen were there so we had a good visit and they gave us some crab!

We bought a tuna from a local fisherman for $3.25 per pound. The fishing boat was the Brandywine.  They cleaned it for $5 and we told them to save all the extra.  Now we have bait for crabbing!  We also bought oysters and froze some and ate some.  We bought the mediums but they turned out to be too big.  Next time we will buy the smalls.

Winchester Bay is a very cute fishing village but the crabbing is not so good there.  On to Charleston!

Florence, Oregon

On Monday, September 11, we left Tillamook and drove south to Florence.  It was a fairly short drive, about 3 hours.  We are staying for the moment at the Three Rivers Casino.  We can stay for free for 4 nights and then we can stay 4 more nights but we have to accumulate 100 points on our players cards.  We parked at the best spot in the huge lot - the SW corner.  We had no rig on either side of us.  Moore's came in and parked in front.  Most of the sites are just parking places with RV's on either side.  

On Tuesday morning Dean and I checked out the other campgrounds in the area.  There are a lot of national forest CGs but they are full of trees and narrow sites.  Some were dedicated to sand rails or ATV's since the dunes are just south of Florence.  We liked Sutton CG north of Florence but again narrow and lots of low trees.  Price was right at $11 per night. We checked out the Elks in town ($18) which is a parking lot, and the Elks North of town ($25) which was all reserved and had no internet.   So we decided to stay at the casino.  

In the afternoon we drove about 20 miles north to the Hobbit Beach Trail.  This is a beautiful short trail to the beach thru a canopy of trees.

After the hike we went into the Casino and gambled enough to accumulate our 100 points.  I spend about $10 and Dean spent about $50 so we are good for another 4 nights.

The next day the Moore's and us went to the old downtown of Florence.  This is a very nice touristy area with shops and restaurants.  We ate clam chowder at the Firehouse which was ok, not great.  The Suislaw River Bridge is one of the landmarks in Florence.

All over the city there was beautifully painted sea lions decorating the parks and buildings.

The picture below is the waterfront in Florence.

Thursday Dean and I and Chica went to Haceta Beach.  This turned out to be my favorite beach in Oregon.  It was not too far from the casino, with a nice parking lot, and we could walk with our dog.  Chica loves the beach!

We saw these large clumps of sand on the beach.  Speculation is that they were caused by horses??

We liked the beach so much that we returned the next day and the Moore's joined us.  After our walk we did a little ocean wave counting, sitting on the beach.

 

Chica is always a little tired after her beach walks.

On Saturday we hiked a trail near Sutton CG which again was lined with trees and lush vegetation.

Holman vista looks out towards the ocean but you mainly see dunes and wind swept trees.

Saturday afternoon I walked over to the North East corner of the casino and watched the Xgames.  Young men and women were jumping off platforms and sand boarding down the short hill.  Not a huge spectator sport.

Sunday, September 17, Dean and I went to the South Jetty and walked along the beach.  We did not take Chica and it was a good thing since it rained on us.  Not too many people on this beach and one reason is a large sandy hill you had to cross to get to and from the beach.

Our last night in Florence - we went to dinner at the Waterfront Depot.  We had been joined by the Joe and Dona Moody earlier in the week so the Moore's and us were invited to celebrate Joe's birthday.  This was a delightful restaurant.  I had the crab encrusted halibut and it was too die for!  Dean had the scallops and they were also very good.  Prices were very reasonable.  

This is a picture of the parking lot at the casino for the RV's.  Each night there were lots of RV's parked there.