Salpare Bay Marina – On the Columbia River – Portland, Oregon

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 location is there is little to no parking, especially for a truck and trailer. We had to scout out a vacant lot upriver to park our rig and it was a little inconvenient. However, we did have family and friends nearby to pick us up if we needed anything during our stay.

At the time, we stayed at Riverside a week before we moved Kismet to the free dock adjacent to the marina to extend our stay without committing to another week of dockage. It all worked well. We christened Kismet there on the free dock, with friends and family, and enjoyed the constant influx of visiting boats. We’ll always remember when the yacht Lady M made her appearance one day. There was a lot of speculation about who owned the yacht and we think most of Portland came down to see her. Read that post here:  trailertrawlerlife.com/last-night-in-portland.

The next time we visited Portland, in the summer of 2013, Jim found Salpare Bay Marina. It is a well-protected location on the Columbia River with plenty of parking for our truck, however, we did have to find another location for our trailer. When we first visited they were in the beginning stages of building condo units up from the marina. Today they are just finishing the second building and now they have a beautiful pool and hot tub, which we took advantage of during our stay. Even in October, we found some nice days to enjoy the pool and some cool nights that begged us to hop into the hot tub. Fun!

Check it out:  Salpare Bay Marina

Sometimes when we have to leave our boat at a marina for a period of time, like when we need to fly home, I ask Jim, “Why don’t we just leave the boat in the water at the marina?” His response is always the same, “Too many things can happen to a boat when the owner is not around to check on it.” Case in point presented itself just a few days into our stay at Salpare Marina. The boat (above and below) that was sitting side to at the dock and was for sale, sunk fairly quickly one day, very unfortunate for the owner and a good lesson for other boaters. Apparently, there was some work done on it a few days before and a clamp was not tightened on a water hose.

We were treated to quite a sight our first week here. This speed boat showed up at the marina and it really stood out. We heard it come and go and we saw it out on the water as well. You know when it’s coming or going when you hear the roar.

The road leading to the marina is beautiful, lined with trees and lots of vegetation. Can’t think of a better place to stay on a boat in Portland than Hayden Island. It is quiet, but close to everything. It has a shopping center that is within comfortable walking distance from the marina. There were a few people living on boats at the marina, and several liveaboards near us, so we didn’t feel all alone.

Our dock neighbor, Tara (below-right) brought over some Chanterelle mushrooms she picked herself one day. We have never cooked these kinds of mushrooms and were happy to try them. Thanks, Tara.