June 20, 2026 Beverly Beach Campground, OR

Deb here. It was great to wake up this morning and know we were planning to stay in one place for the day. John made eggs and toast and we enjoyed hanging out in the van. I’d learned that low tide today was scheduled for 10:45 a.m. and I love tidepools, so I looked forward to walking the beach to the Devil’s Punchbowl, where we’d been told there’d be tidepools.

I set out about 9:30 (John opted to have a reading morning) and walked the 1.5 miles up the beach to the spot. It was foggy this morning and I didn’t encounter anyone for most of my walk, but as I neared the end of the beach I heard a loudspeaker and someone announcing something or other. Turns out there was a youth surfing competition at Otter Rocks (near Devil’s Punchbowl) which meant lots of kids, families, wetsuits and surfboards. Fun to see so many young surfers out on this cool and foggy morning.

I climbed off the beach by the long set of stairs up to the road, and then made my way to where the tidepools were supposed to be happening. I arrived close to the low tide time which turned out to be perfect. There were several Friends of the Otter Rocks interns (I think high school students) on the beach telling us all what to look for. I first went south into the Devil’s Punchbowl to see sea stars and sea anenomes, then down the beach to the north to see a couple of sea lions and more anenomes. Very slippery terrain but so fun!

Back to the van by noon and we had to vacate our campsite in F loop for one in A loop by 1 p.m. We moved our van to the new campsite and decided to go for lunner (or linner?) about 1:30 in Newport. One of the park rangers had recommended a couple of places to eat there, and after first striking out at South Beach Fish Market (long line and no parking) we ate at The Chowder Bowl on Nye Beach. This ended up being a great choice, with fish and chips for me and a chowder bread bowl for John. After our late lunch/early dinner we walked around and found the Sylvia Hotel, where I’d stayed with my aunt Ginny in 2012. By this time the weather had turned cool but sunny, so a pleasant afternoon.

Back to the campground for reading, napping and walking on the beach. All in all a lovely day on the Oregon Coast.