Crabbing in Netarts Bay

In February, some friends with a small boat invited us out to Netarts Bay on the coast for a weekend of crabbing.  We rented a house right on the bay and explored Oceanside beach, Short beach, and Cape Meares.  The birding was good, the agates were plentiful, and the crabbing was very successful. 

 beautiful weather for February on the coast

 some weather on the horizon... we had a little bit of everything

 Female common merganser

 The crew pulling crab pots

 Gretl makes a worthy first mate

 Barnacles on tidepool rocks

Pelagic cormorant

 On the gem trail... I came home with plenty of agates to fill the tumbler

 My favorite part of the trip was watching the black oystercatchers wrestle mussels from the rocks

 

Surf scoters

 The surf was incredible