The Ship Report

Today we’re continuing to hear parts of my interview with Fisher Poet and author Pat Dixon, who just published a book of poetry called Mending Holes, about his memories of life as a commercial fisher…

Today we continue my interview with fisher poet and author Pat Dixon about his new book, “Mending Holes,” a collection of his poetry, all about his life as a commercial fisherman in the waters of Ala…

This week I’ll be talking with Fisher Poet Pat Dixon about his life as a commercial fisherman, author, photographer and educator, and about his new book of poetry, “Mending Holes.”

Many thanks to Bra…

Today begins one of the most anticipated annual fishing events in the region: the Buoy 10 recreational fishery on the Columbia River.

Hundreds of boats will dot the river this month, filled with eage…

A few listener questions today regarding this week’s tsunami, caused by an earthquake in the ocean to the north of us.

And a few key takeaways:

• Consider this a dry run
• Don’t get complacent
• If you fe…

Yesterday saw a big 8.7 earthquake off Russian near Alaska, to the north of us. The resulting shockwave sent tsunami waves radiating out into the Pacific in all directions. The ones that came our way…

Yesterday I heard a ship do its five-blast warning signal on the river, letting a sailboat know of its presence and cautioning it to stay out of the ship’s path.

This is a standard horn signal that s…

Last week, global internet service provider Starlink experienced a service outage for over two hours, causing difficulties for lots of remote users, including ships and boats, especially those far fr…

The US ocean carrier Matson has decided to no longer ship electric vehicles, because of the increasing frequency of what analysts believe are lithium ion battery caused fires on car ships. Despite ne…

We’ve been talking about other things this week so far. Let’s take a look today at our ship schedule.

The post Who’s on the river today? appeared first on The Ship Report.

Today, as part of the answer to a listener question, I thought it would be good to take a look at why tides happen. This influence is huge in our lives here on the coast and on the river, and it’s in…

I was thinking more about tides and thought we could talk more about this complex subject. Yesterday we talked about how high tide happens about 5 hours later in Vancouver than Astoria on the Columbi…

Today’s show is a bit of a mix: I wanted to thank the folks who came down to the Ten Fifteen Theater to hear my Ship Report talk and to hear Jerry and me perform on stage (eek!), and then a bit about…

We see a lot of ships go by on the lower river near Astoria, but the river upstream past Longview is often busier, with a variety of vessel traffic all doing local work: tugs and barges  hauling carg…

This Saturday the 19th, at 10:30am, I’ll be appearing at the 1015 Theater in Astoria, as part of their big Performathon fundraising event, which runs all day and into the night. I’ll be sharing memor…

On January 1, 2026, Oregon will require paddlecraft operators to purchase a Waterway Access Permit.

Permits will be available by the week, year and two year intervals. The new law will apply to all p…

Today we see the Pacific Collector arriving from Honolulu, after a doing her specialized work of tracking missile defense testing. She’s one of a host of US military ships we see on the river, along …

Let’s take a look at one ship on today’s schedule. It’s path traces a winding route from Russia through the Panama Canal to Portland, a journey of more than a month at sea.

The post Let’s take a look…

A look at today’s gusty weather and how to plan accordingly if you’re going out on a boat. One thing to remember: the experience of being on the river is very different when you are out on a boat fro…

Nothing says summer like the 4th of July, comin’ right up. If you’re looking forward to boating this weekend, perhaps even in the ocean, here’s a bit about how to give yourself the best opportunity t…