Harbour

Port of Ilwaco

Name: Port of Ilwaco
Address: Ilwaco, US
Telephone: +13606423143

Ilwaco, United States

Type: Harbour

800-berth marina just inside the Columbia River bar, in the protected basin of Baker Bay south of the Long Beach Peninsula. Largest pleasure harbour on the lower Columbia, with year-round guest moorage.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Entry via the Columbia River bar, one of the most hazardous in the United States. Cross only with favourable tide and sea state; monitor USCG Cape Disappointment bar reports on VHF. From the bar, follow the buoyed channel north into Baker Bay, then Ilwaco Channel to the marina entrance. Harbour office on VHF 16 working 66A.

Practical

Year-round guest moorage, water, shore power, modern shower facilities for tenants. Two fuel berths with diesel and petrol. 50-ton and 75-ton travel lifts, self and full-service boatyard, dry storage. Back-in launch ramp and two small boat hoists. Restaurants, chandlery, retail seafood, bookshop and galleries along the waterfront.

Ashore

Lewis and Clark Discovery Trail follows the waterfront promenade. Cape Disappointment State Park at 4 km by road, with the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on the cliffs 200 feet above the Pacific and two lighthouses, North Head and Cape Disappointment. Fort Canby coastal defence batteries within the park.

History

Ilwaco was the northern terminus of the Ilwaco Railway from 1889 and the port of arrival for Astoria-bound steamers. Cape Disappointment was fortified during the Civil War and became Fort Canby in 1875, in service until the end of WWII.