Make boater life choices
Pristine Netarts Bay is the perfect place to eat, play and stay
There are many places to immerse yourself in nature along the rugged Tillamook Coast, but the unspoiled beauty of Netarts, a small community nestled along a bay that produces a great deal of the area’s renowned seafood, provides an especially serene escape during the shoulder seasons of early spring and late fall.
You can eat, stay and play by foot in Netarts, located along the Three Capes Scenic Loop; if you stay at the centrally located Terimore Motel, enjoy local seafood on the heated deck at The Schooner Restaurant & Lounge and explore the offshore playground of Netarts Bay in safety with Kayak Tillamook County.
In small, tight-knit communities like Netarts, residents are careful to put their trash in garbage cans or take it home, pick up after their pets and keep them leashed, stay on trails, respect each other's private property, and follow beach fire rules because everyone knows everyone. Most importantly, they never, ever turn their backs on the ocean.
Originally built in the 1930s, the family-owned Terimore Motel has been in the Nunez family for more than 30 years.
“One thing I love about our place is it’s not like anywhere else,” Ben Nunez said. “It’s reminiscent of the character of the area. It has a vintage, beach-town vibe.”
Maintaining the authentic vibe while modernizing as needed seems to be a successful recipe.
“Sixty percent of our guests are repeats,” Nunez said. “We even have people that say their grandparents brought them here — they keep coming back.”
The hotel’s success also stems from the way they accommodate more than just their guests’ luggage.
“A lot of people come and go with their boats and, if they stay with us, they can park and leave the boat in our back lot and just take it out when they come to the coast,” Nunez said. “It’s really nice for regular visitors to not have to haul the boat back and forth.”
Another service that’s a nod to one of Netarts Bay’s many attractions is the new crab station.
“We have a new outdoor crab cleaning and cooking area,” Nunez said. “That way, people can enjoy what they catch right away. But even if they didn’t catch anything, they usually have live crabs at the store right up the street they can still prepare here.”
With lodging options that include 27 rooms, cabins, cottages and even a house, many with views of the bay and the estuary, staying at the Terimore will leave you wanting more vacation time.
If you’ve arrived hungry, The Schooner Restaurant & Lounge is the flagship dining establishment in Netarts; a stunning bayfront establishment that was recently awarded the Tillamook County People’s Choice award for best waterfront dining.
“The building design is meant to look like the sail of a ship,” said General Manager Lexie Fields. "The restaurant is around 60 years old. We purchased it in 2005 and the deck was constructed roughly 12 years ago. The deck has always been a big draw, but during COVID it was a saving grace! Rain or shine people want to dine out there, especially with the addition of our new overhead heaters."
While it’s warm on the deck, it’s downright hot in the wood fired oven, where the popular pizzas are produced.
Pizzas were the number-one ordered item during the times that COVID-19 limited indoor dining.
“We used to only do pizzas in our off-season,” Fields said. “We had such a high demand and now due to COVID we are doing them year-round.”
Fields added they use the wood fired oven for more than just pizza.
"We use it to bake desserts like the Skillet Brownie, warm bread, finish meat and vegetable dishes, or bake our signature Oysters Rockoyaki.”
The oysters that come out of Netarts Bay and end up on the menu at The Schooner are especially pristine due to natural conditions.
“This is a marine-dominated estuary,” Fields said. “Ninety-five percent of the water is pure ocean water with no agricultural runoff; the ocean drains the bay a few times a day.”
As a matter of fact, the water is so clean that nearby Jacobsen Salt Co., also located on Netarts Bay, uses it exclusively in their salt production.
"We have partnered with Jacobsen's since they began,” Fields said. “We use their salt in so many things including on the rim of our cocktails such as our Schooner Bloody and Grapefruit-Habanero Margarita."
The large outside seating area, take out options, including alcoholic beverages, and excellent COVID cleaning and distancing policies have kept The Schooner open during times that have proven challenging to so many restaurants."
Once you’ve spent enough time staring at the breathtaking views of the bay, head out on to it with a guided tour from Kayak Tillamook, which has guides that know the water like the backs of their paddles.
“Our guides receive specialized training to understand how coastal winds, freshwater river currents and ocean tides can combine to affect our customers' experience and safety paddling in our bays and estuaries here,” said company founder Marcus Hinz. “There’s a reason we say ‘Beware The Tides, Go With A Guide.’ We’ve seen again and again how people that have done a lot of kayaking in other types of waterways get surprised by the ocean tides in this area; the water levels don’t just go up and down: the tidal currents come in like a river, and go back out like a river; most times even the strongest, most experience paddlers simply can’t paddle against it.”
“We have two experiences around the Netarts Bay Area,” Hinz said. “We have the Harbor Seal tours, where you can view seabirds, seals lounging on sand bars, and Three Arch Rocks National Park from a distance, and the Salt Marsh tours, where you might see lots of raptors and even otters; those include trips to Hoquarton Forest, Tillamook River and Hall Slough.”
Kayaks, paddles and safety equipment are included, and no experience is required as each trip starts with a short lesson and safety talk. Please be prepared to “pack out” and take back home everything you bring.