Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Yaquina River Bar at entrance, OR

Gasoline berths, diesel fuel, electricity, water, ice, and a pumpout facility are available at the boat basin. Hull, engine, and shaft repairs can be made. Facilities can be contacted on VHF-FM channel 12 by hailing the Port of Newport South.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this location.
Yaquina Head Light (44°40’36.3″N., 124°04’46.0″W.), 162 feet above the water, is shown from a 93-foot white conical tower on the flat bench projecting at the W extremity of the head.
Yaquina Bay entrance is 4 miles S of Yaquina Head Light. The bay is a tidal estuary, the harbor itself being merely the widening of Yaquina River just inside the entrance.
The N point of Yaquina Bay entrance is a sandy bluff, 120 feet high. A lighthouse and a Coast Guard lookout tower are on the high part of the point. When viewed from the NW, the circular lighthouse tower on the roof of a two-story frame dwelling obscures the lower portion of the lookout tower. The S entrance point is a low sand beach backed by dunes rising to 150 feet.
The entrance to Yaquina Bay is protected by jetties 330 yards apart. The long N jetty, with the outer 100 yards submerged, extends out to Yaquina Reef. A seasonal sound signal is near the seaward end of the S jetty and a light is about 200 yards inside the seaward end. A lighted whistle buoy is 1.5 miles SW of the entrance. The channels are marked by lighted ranges, lights, and buoys. Between the jetties, numerous submerged rocks lie along the outside of the charted entrance channel limits.
A Federal project provides for a 40-foot entrance channel, thence 30 feet from the first turn in the channel to and in the turning basin at McLean Point, thence 18 feet to Yaquina, thence 10 feet to Toledo at the head of the project. Controlling depths may be considerably less than these project depths.
At the entrance to Yaquina Bay and River, the buoys cannot be relied upon to indicate the best water, and in the river, depths are subject to frequent change. Recreational boaters unfamiliar with the area are advised to contact the Coast Guard on VHF-FM channel 16 or telephone 541-265-5381 for the latest bar conditions.
A fixed highway bridge across the channel, about 1.3 miles above the entrance, has a clearance of 129 feet. Yaquina Bay Coast Guard Station is on the N side of the bay, 400 yards NE of the bridge.
Newport, just inside the N entrance point, is the principal town on the bay and river.
The Port of Newport operates a boat basin on the S side of the bay about 350 yards E of the bridge. The basin is protected to the N and W by jetties marked on the outer ends by a daybeacon and a light, respectively. A dredged entrance channel leads through the jetties, thence S along the W jetty turning E at the foot and terminating at a boat ramp at the head of the boat basin. In 2008, the controlling depth was 6 feet.