Neah Bay, Washington

Neah Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Makah Reservation in Clallam County, Washington, United States.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Neah Bay has a total area of 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km2), all of it land.

Neah Bay has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), common in the small coastal cities of Washington.

Generally speaking, temperatures have little annual fluctuation being strongly influenced by the Pacific Ocean, with the warm currents and patterns of the west as well as the mountains to the east that shape an extremely light climate, even between places in close conditions.

Its climate is similar to southern New Zealand, but with cool summers to cold and rarely warm as it is most common in these places.

[4] To the west of the Olympic Mountains, Neah Bay has an often rainy climate and usually in larger numbers than the Gulf Coast, the wettest place in the eastern US.

[5] Although it is a pretty damp city, its average amount of snow falling is only slightly higher than Norfolk, VA.[6] Sunshine hours are typical for an often hazy temperate climate.

In 1792 Salvador Fidalgo began to build a Spanish fort on Neah Bay, but the project failed within the year and the cannon and supplies were transported to the more northerly colony of Santa Cruz de Nuca.

The bay was first called Neah in 1847 by Captain Henry Kellett during his reorganization of the British Admiralty charts.

Popular spots for halibut include "The Garbage Dump", located just inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Swiftsure Bank — a few miles out into the open ocean.

It houses and interprets artifacts from a Makah village partly buried by a mudslide around 1750[14] at Ozette, providing a snapshot of pre-contact tribal life.

Many people visit Neah Bay to hike the Cape Trail or camp at Hobuck Beach.

The United States Coast Guard maintains a base in Neah Bay on the Makah Indian reservation.

In order to prevent disabled ships and barges from grounding and causing possible oil spills in the western Strait of Juan de Fuca or off the outer coast, the state funded an emergency response tug stationed at Neah Bay.

Photograph of a Makah woman carrying wood along Neah Bay in 1908 by Asahel Curtis
Indian whalers stripping their prey at Neah Bay - 1910
Map of Washington highlighting Clallam County