Nehalem Bay is a bay formed by the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the Nehalem River with the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in northern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States. It is Oregon's fifth-largest estuary. The main tributary of Nehalem Bay is the Nehalem River. Nehalem Bay drains an area of more than 850 square miles. The city of Nehalem (pop. 271 in 2010) is situated on US Highway 101 north of

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

and south of Cannon Beach. West of the bay,

Nehalem Bay State Park Nehalem Bay State Park is a state park in the United States located on the Oregon Coast, near the communities of Nehalem and Manzanita on the Nehalem Spit, a sand spit west of Nehalem Bay. Tillamook County transferred the land to the State o ...

is located on the sandspit separating the bay from the ocean, where

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

s, and several species of birds live. The park has a long beach, where centuries-old Spanish shipwrecks have been found. The park has campsites and yurts open year round. Historians have argued whether British explorer

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...

sought safe harbor for his ship, the Golden Hind (originally called "The Pelican"), in Nehalem Bay. According to Garry D. Gitzen, author of the 2011 book "Francis Drake In Nehalem Bay 1579, Setting the Historical Record Straight," Drake sailed "northward to the Pacific Northwest at 44° and then to 48° north latitude in the summer of 1579, until he entered into a fair and fit harbor for his five-week stay in Nehalem Bay to repair his leaking ship." In 1693, a Spanish trading ship wrecked near Nehalem Bay in what is known as the

Beeswax Wreck The Beeswax Wreck is a shipwreck off the coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, discovered by Craig Andes near Cape Falcon in 2013 in Tillamook County. The ship, thought to be the Spanish Manila galleon ''Santo Cristo de Burgos'' that was wrecked in ...

References

External links

Bays of Oregon Oregon Coast Bodies of water of Tillamook County, Oregon {{TillamookCountyOR-geo-stub