Garibaldi harbor combines recreation with working port for a vibrant atmosphere

Featured image: Seafood businesses line the docks at the harbor in Garibaldi. (Photo by LeeAnn Neal)

Few towns on the Oregon coast offer as many marine-related businesses in one location as Garibaldi does at its harbor.

Owned and maintained by the Port of Garibaldi, the harbor and adjacent land are home to three restaurants, two fresh seafood outlets, boat-to-table seafood enterprise, three seafood processing companies, five fishing charter services, a boat, crabbing and fishing gear rental business, two marine repair businesses, a car and boat wash, the U.S. Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay, Tillamook Estuaries Partnership headquarters, historic Pier’s End Boathouse, a motel, RV park and hardwoods sawmill.

During the fall, spring and summer, the harbor bustles with sports and commercial fishermen, all tending to their respective catches. Garibaldi Marina is ground zero, located next to the Port’s public boat ramp and directly on the water. It’s there that people tell tales of their adventures on the bay and ocean while marina staff and owners fillet their fish and cook their Dungeness crabs.

The Port’s harbor offers moorage for 277 boats of various sizes. Those who take a walk along the slips will see everything from commercial and charter fishing vessels to sports fishing boats, pontoons and a sailboat or two.

Boats in slips in the Garibaldi harbor. (Photo by LeeAnn Neal)

Visitors to the harbor can watch commercial boat crews unloading their hauls and putting them on ice in large totes along the docks, as well as watch kayakers paddle by, boats pull into and out of slips and seabirds circle overhead.

If you want to see the harbor functioning in high gear, visit during the annual Bounty on the Bay or Oregon Tuna Classic fishing tournaments, or during the popular annual Garibaldi Days event.

A pirate mannequin hangs by a rope outside Fisherman’s Korner restaurant. (Photo by LeeAnn Neal)