04-16-2025 A Day in Astoria and the Columbia River Maritime Museum

This post might be a bit long to describe a single day, but I don't want to forget all that we learned during our time in Astoria.

When we woke up in the morning, the view outside our stateroom was beautiful.  The port is directly adjacent to the Maritime Museum, a place we would visit later in the day.

Mo and I have been to Astoria a few times in the past.  Once we traveled by cruise ship around Puget Sound in 2004.  That was my very first cruise, and I was surprised to learn that cruising was much more fun than I previously thought.  We spent our day in Astoria climbing the Astoria column, hunting for beautiful old houses around town, and enjoying specialty coffee in a sweet little restaurant.

The Astoria Column seen from our port in Astoria

The Astoria Column, I photographed in 2004

Above: View from the Astoria Column and the Astoria-Megler Bridge in the distance when we climbed it in 2004

In the years since that visit, we have traveled to Astoria a few times in the MoHo.  We climbed the Astoria column a second time to enjoy the spectacular views.  We drove across the beautiful Astoria-Megler Bridge that crosses the Columbia from Astoria to Megler, Washington.  

We visited Discovery Park on the wild Washington Coast and were thrilled at the informative and artistic Lewis and Clark Visitor Center.  

We visited the historic Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered before returning east to St. Louis in the spring of 1806. It took just over three weeks for the Expedition to build the fort, and it served as their camp from December 8, 1805, until their departure on March 23, 1806.

The Astoria-Megler Bridge seen from our ship

Because we have visited Astoria in the past, most of the excursions for the day in port visited places we knew well.  We had no need to spend time in a bus seeing these places again or to climb the Astoria column one more time. Instead, we declined the formal excursions in favor of spending a quiet and relaxing day on our own. 

Breakfast in the Sky Lounge was lovely, and the morning sun on the Sky Lounge Deck was inviting.

For centuries, the Columbia River has served as the defining element of the Pacific Northwest. It has shaped the cultures and industries that exist on its banks.  

The great Columbia River is a source of rich and diverse maritime history, from a central thoroughfare for the varied and complex trade routes of the native inhabitants of the region, to the heyday of salmon fishing around the 1880s to what is has become today - a world class shipping channel tamed by a series of dams and locks all the way to Lewiston, Idaho.

Sometimes, living in the Pacific Northwest within driving distance of the Columbia River, it is easy to forget the spectacular history of this truly mighty river.  The story of Lewis and Clark and their explorations of the Columbia never grows old.  I won't repeat it here, but if you have time, this website  ​Down the Columbia, is an easily readable summary of that great voyage.  On this river cruise, we had special presentations each day by a historian who shared stories of the exploration. 

In spite of several visits to Astoria, we have never taken the time to visit the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Entrance to the museum, in addition to the 3D films presented in the theater, was included as a free excursion for our cruise. A simple walk down the gangway led to the pier next to the museum.

The first thing you see as you enter is the huge three-dimensional map of what is called "The Graveyard of the Pacific". Each ship marker represents a ship that has sunk at the Columbia River Bar.

​Since 1792, approximately 2000 vessels, including over 200 large ships, have sunk at the Columbia River Bar.  More than 700 people have lost their lives to the sea.  These dangers have earned this area the title “Graveyard of the Pacific”.  Mariners agree that the combination of high seas, a mighty river, shallow land, and shifting sand bars makes the Columbia River bar one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world.  The large interactive map provides information about the many historic shipwrecks in the area.

Continuing through the lobby, the next exhibit is called "Crossing the Bar."

This exhibit takes an exciting look at the legendary Columbia River entrance, where the forces of the mighty Columbia River and Pacific Ocean meet to create one of the most dangerous bar crossings on the planet.  The coastline of the Pacific Northwest is no stranger to violent winter weather, but nothing can compare to the extreme forces at work along the Columbia River Bar. Here, waves can exceed 40 feet in height during the most severe winter storms.  The exhibit features never-before-seen video of rough water passages captured while working with the U.S. Coast Guard and Columbia River Bar Pilots. Also on display is a rare bar pilot pulling boat that was used for decades to transfer pilots to ships. This historic boat is from the Museum’s collection.

The Columbia River is the second-largest river, by volume, in the United States.  The mouth of the Columbia is regarded as one of the most treacherous river bars in the world.  The Columbia River Bar Pilots are a group of 20, based in Astoria, Oregon, chosen for the work of assisting all ships across the bar safely, day or night, in any weather.  The Columbia River Maritime Museum is now home to the retired pilot boat, Peacock.  This pilot boat is legendary in its seaworthiness, keeping the bar open and on schedule through decades of hard winter storms

The Peacock, docked next to our ship, adjacent to the Maritime Museum

Inside the Museum’s Brix Maritime Hall, we saw a life-size display of fish found in the Pacific Northwest. The exhibit in the hall of the Sailing Gillnetter has a mast that towers over 30 feet tall.  

The centerpiece of the Brix Maritime Hall is the 44-foot U.S. Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat shown in action climbing a 20-foot wave, just at the moment of a daring rescue, at the mouth of the Columbia River.​

We spent another hour meandering through several exhibits in a maze of halls, including "Shipwrecks" where we learned about what causes shipwrecks, how people have responded to such tragedies in the past, and what can be learned from studying these events.We learned a bit about how maritime archaeologists are using new methods to study these remote sites to learn more about our past.

A another room contained a wall for an exhibit called "ntsayka ilíi ukuk" "​This is Our Place".  This exhibit of photographs was a collaboration with the Chinook Indian Nation to share Chinook maritime traditions and culture as it is lived today ​through the photography of Amiran White. Even though I live in a part of Oregon that is home to Chinook peoples, I had no idea of the complex history of their fight for tribal recognition until we saw this exhibit.

A favorite exhibit in the museum for me was called "Cedar and Sea: The Maritime Culture of the Indigenous People of the Pacific Northwest Coast".  There were beautiful examples of clothing and basketry made with cedar bark.  Videos throughout the exhibit made by indigenous artisans explaining their craft added so much to the displays. I had no idea that cedar bark could make such soft fabrics.

Pacific Northwest Coastal Indigenous People used their deep knowledge of their environment to harvest its natural wealth, developing sophisticated technologies that enabled them to create and maintain some of North America's most complex and rich cultures.

The exhibit showcased tools and implements fashioned from stone, bone, shell, wood, and other natural materials, representing thousands of years of innovation by coast Indigenous People from Yakutat, Alaska, to southern Oregon, as well as present-day materials and practices used by the living descendants today.

I wish I had taken more photos inside this exhibit but I was so awed I completely forgot to use the camera.  Here is a link:  Cedar and Sea Exhibits

I do know of one person who reads my blog who will no doubt love looking at this PDF of the Cedar and Sea Exhibit.  Link is here: Cedar and Sea . Blogging friend Sherry was recently in Albuquerque to visit the Gathering of Nations PowWow.  This is an exhibit that shares much of our Northwest Indigenous culture that isn't talked about as much as that of the Plains our Southwest tribes.

After our hours in the museum, Mo and I returned to the ship for a very late lunch in the Sky Lounge before spending a bit of time in our stateroom relaxing.  There were a few other free excursions available to us, including a city tour by bus and the local trolley.

We were a bit late for the entire trolley ride, but enjoyed jumping on for a stretch along the port with views of town to the south.  The trolley itself was unique, built in 1913 and beginning her career in San Antonio, Texas.  She was rescued by the city of Astoria from the Trolley Graveyard in Banks, Oregon in 1998.

Once again, dinner in the dining room was delicious, with a crab-crusted salmon as the entree and huckleberry ice cream for dessert.

Our ship was scheduled to depart the port at 5:30, during the dinner hour, and she left right on time.  The views as we traveled back upriver toward the east were beautiful.  We passed several large freighters along the way, before the evening skies darkened after sunset.