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 TRAVEL REVIEW All We Are Saying is Give Aialik a Chance Whales are Newport's main attraction, but a visit devoid of blowholes can still be a blast. BY CHRISTINA MELANDER |
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At the Embarcadero Resort Hotel ([541] 265-8521), every room has a bay view and patio. Winter rates start at $69.95 per night. One off-season package includes lodging, dinner and tickets to the aquarium and the marine science center for $159. Perhaps more than any other beach town in the state, Newport represents a balance between the forces of tradition and progress. A major fishing port, Newport is also home to the Sylvia Beach Hotel, a legendary resort that once hosted T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway and comes complete with a Parisian bookstore and coffee shop. A former whaling community, Newport now supports the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Mark O. Hatfield Marine Science Center and Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area and Interpretive Center--institutions dedicated to protecting and studying whales. Newport's major industries are fishing, wood products and tourism, but its city slogan is "Preserving the Treasures of the Oregon Coast." Such contradictions infuse Newport with a realness other vacation havens lack. Oregon's largest commercial-fishing fleet occupies the bay front, but some captains have switched over to ecotourism. Exemplified by the coexistence of art galleries and Ripley's Believe It or Not, Newport has struck an unlikely commercial balance. Much of the tourism revolves around whales. About 23,000 gray whales migrate along the coast of Oregon--northbound from March through June, and southward from the Bering Sea to Baja breeding grounds during the winter. Since 200 to 400 spend the summer just off our shores, Oregonians can observe these massive mammals year round. Whales can be spotted from a distance at Yaquina Head, on the screen of the Whale Theater at the aquarium and up close on any number of whale-watching expeditions. But there are things to do in Newport that don't involve baleen plates, blubber or barnacles. While summer is the obvious season for a trip to the shore, a winter visit has understated benefits. You've heard it before, but the absence of crowds really is a distinct bonus. Interpreters have more time to talk, parking isn't a problem, hotels offer off-season rates and there are no lines. It may not sound like much of a tourist attraction, but the seamen at the Yaquina Bay Coast Guard Station ([541] 265-5381) are happy to lead a thorough, personal tour of the facility. And it's a surprisingly entertaining activity. A recent tour provided an up-close look at several ships, including the prized 52-foot Victory and the fast, aerodynamic surf boats. You'll get to see immaculate engine rooms, high-tech wheelhouses and impressive rescue gear. Due to rough and frigid waters, the Newport station is second only to San Francisco in volume of cases--including search and rescueand distressed boat calls--handled by West Coast guardsmen. Yaquina Head Natural Area ([541] 574-3100) evokes an otherworldly feel. There are no trees on this exposed, desert-colored lava formation, just plenty of wind. A natural lookout that extends into the ocean for one mile, this headland is home to Oregon's tallest lighthouse. It's also an excellent location for seal-spotting, and on calm days, whale-watching. Yaquina Head's unique rock forms can be studied with a groovy stereoscope viewer inside the year-and-a-half-old interpretive center. Stocked with whale bones, bird-call recordings and a video about the head's geologic history, the center is an example of federal funds put to good use. Even more important is the protection, under the Bureau of Land Management, of the head, an area that used to serve as a quarry. On the other side of the bay lies the Oregon Coast Aquarium ([541] 867-4931), a beautifully designed indoor/outdoor complex that recently lost its movie-star resident. If you need a Keiko fix, visit www.aquarium.org to see live images from two Keiko Cams in Iceland. Otherwise open your heart to Aialik, a rescued baby sea otter who's far cuter than the sickly killer whale. Named for the Alaskan glacier he was rescued near, Aialik came to the Aquarium in July, no bigger than a kitten. Marine staff worked with the pup for three months to help him learn to swim, acclimatize and groom. On display since October, he now weighs 28 pounds and shares a tank with two adult female sea otters who declined to take him under their paws. He is still shy, hiding away from view for the most part, and likes to play with plastic toddler toys. Visitors can also watch Aialik on a video chronicling his baby days, when he drank from a bottle and shrieked upon being nudged into the water. The aquarium will not run into the same dilemma it encountered with Keiko; sea otters can never be released back into the wild. Within a year, he will be the large, dominant otter, so see him while he's still young and adorable. Less cuddly but equally fascinating animals include slimy frogs, glowing jellyfish and rough-skinned newts. Most mesmerizing among them is the eerie magenta octopus. As for Keiko's old tank, construction is under way to refit it as an open sea exhibit incorporating an acrylic-tube walkway (think Jaws 3). Opening the summer of 2000, it will showcase three ocean habitats, home to critters such as wolf eels, tuna, sea turtles, halibut and sharks. Iffy winter weather lessens the chance of sighting whales, but it provides
a window to some of Newport's more subtle treasures. And save for the
wind, it's not even that cold.
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