Salpare Bay Marina is located on Hayden Island, in the Columbia River, north of Portland, OR, across from Vancouver, WA. Salpare Bay Marina is home for the crew of Kismet for six weeks while we visit family in Portland Oregon. We've stayed at two marinas in Portland over the years with our trailerable tug. Our first visit was in 2011 and we stayed at the Riverplace Marina. While it was fairly exciting to be in the thick of things in downtown Portland, with beautiful walking paths along the river, restaurants, and shopping within a short distance of the marina, our main problem with that…

Government Island is Just a Short Cruise from Salpare Marina. Having just arrived at Salpare Marina, in Portland, Oregon, at the beginning of October, we didn't want to waste any time getting out on the water while the weather was still good. A good day presented itself and we called our friends, Patti and Eric to come down to the boat for a cruise out to Government Island. It really was a great day, with blue skies, calm water, and a sunny warmth shining down on us. (Glad we did because there were not many days like that during our six-week stay).…

Port of Cascade Locks – Our cruising destination this week lies in the heart of the Columbia Gorge Port of Cascade Locks is one of the oldest towns on the Columbia River. In their journals, Lewis and Clark described this section of the river – the Cascade Rapids – as the “great rapids of the Cascades.” This stretch of raging water was formed by a huge landslide long ago and is more than two miles long. In 1880, because of the hazard vessels faced navigating the rapids, the US Government started to build locks to provide safe passage around the rapids. The older locks were completed in 1896, and…