Ocean Shores, Washington

Ocean Shores in Washington is a beautiful and quiet town lining six miles of the Washington coast. With a population less that 6,000 this town is the perfect place to relax and enjoy the spectacular Washington Coast.

Ocean Shores was our first stop on our drive home after the Great Pumpkin Beer Fest 2013* in Seattle, Washington. (Post to come) I had never visited the Washington Coast before so we decided to drive down the coast back to Oregon. Our only plans were relaxation but when we checked into to our hotel we found out it was clam tide that weekend. Can you guess want we did? We went razor back clamming! If you’ve never been clamming, your in the same boat as we were. We didn’t bring high water boots (not that we had any to bring) and we didn’t have a license. So to Ace we went and I got a very cute floral pair of boots, my husband got black ones and our clamming licenses.

We had some time before low tide, the ideal time, to razor back clamming so we went down the coast to the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center, now called Coastal Interpretive Center around Harbor Bay! If you are in the area, go! This small building housed so much information. We found out what razor back clams looked like (very important for clamming later!) and learned about the debris that was washed ashore from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. It was amazing. We saw a statute of one of the seven gods from Japanese mythology, the God of Fisherman, Working People and Luck. The statute was found by Annie the Golden Retriever and her family. During the tsunami this buoy came free and found its way to Washington.

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Around low tide we DROVE ONTO to the assigned beach for the night and parked right on the beach! On the beach! The only time I have ever parked on the beach was in Florida. Our little four door car did fine on the sand. 

If you’ve never been razor back clamming it sounds easy till you get there! You need a clam gun, a bucket, a plastic bag per person and a shovel. A clam gun can be made of a large PVC pipe that about six inches in diameter. We rented our clam gun from our hotel.

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The “gun” is about three feet tall with the top end covered except a small hole and some kind of handle. Once you’re on the beach you have to look for the clam “tell”, a small dimple or donut shape in the sand from where they have come up for air. 

Now you have to do this fast (in a hurried voice) you push the gun into the sand, cover the hole to cause suction and pull it out of the ground. All the sand will fall out and sometimes the clam is in there and if not you have to drop to your knees and dig as fast you can! Clams are FAST! They know what you’re trying to do.

If you grab them they will wiggle in your hands. We caught 10 all together, our license permitted 15 per person. My husband and I spent about three hours digging for clams. We went back to our hotel, which had a kitchenette, and made fried clams (we looked up a video online on how to clean the clams), homemade mash potatoes and salad. All of this in the little hotel kitchenette! We were upset that we didn’t catch more until we made our meal, we ended up with three meals worth of clams.

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Ocean Shores is a great town. There is still more to discover. I would love to return and explore the middle of the city where there is an old growth rain forest or paddle down any of the 23 miles of connecting lakes and waterways. I would highly recommend a vacation to Ocean Shores to anyone who is looking for a place they can slow down and enjoy the moment.

*Original published on previous blog, by me on October 12, 2013