Cedar Key

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 214 - November 1, 2017

After I took Baxter up to the street above Sea Hag Marina, we had breakfast.  I refilled the water tank and wrapped up the power cord, and then we cast off our lines for Cedar Key!  It was quite a long way out the Steinhatchee channel, but once out into Gulf, we pointed our bow south. The Gulf was exceptionally calm, and we understand that we will have easy cruising on the Gulf for the rest of this week.

We are once again slow cruisers!  It did not take us long to get re-accustomed to life at 7 mph. One and a half gallons per hour sure beats nine gallons per hour!  We put the boat on autopilot and really did not have to do much else except avoid the bazillion or more crab floats, and we had an uneventful cruise. We think "uneventful" is the best kind of cruise!

We had originally intended to anchor at Sea Horse Key for just one night but made a last minute decision to go on into Cedar Key to see the town.  Active Captain pointed us to an anchorage just off the municipal boat ramp, but first we had to wind our way in through the Cedar Key channel, which is quite a maze!  This is where an iPad navigation app such as Garmin Blue Chart Mobile really shines! Skipper Bob used paper charts and relied on the day marks, and his comment on the Cedar Key channel was that you would need a good pair of binoculars to wend your way from day mark to day mark!  Garmin Blue Chart Mobile on the iPad showed us exactly where the channel was and more importantly, showed where our boat was in the channel!  All in all, exiting the Steinhatchee channel, cruising in the Gulf to the Cedar Key channel entrance, and then going in the Cedar Key channel, we traveled 55 miles today.

Screenshot of track (the green line)  into Cedar Key

A "key," we learned from Google as we were cruising, is a small flat island of sand covering a coral reef. Cedar Key is a town, and the Cedar Keys are the group of 13 keys including Cedar Key, Otsena Otie Key, and Seahorse Key. The undeveloped keys are a national wildlife refuge called, naturally, the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge.

We got to our anchorage in time for me to take Baxter to shore, and then have drinks and dinner.  As we look to shore, the boat ramp and pier are to our left and a wonderful city park with a white sand swimming beach, a kayak launching area, a big play area, dog poop bag stations, and restrooms is directly in front of us.  We picked this spot because of the boat ramp, but I didn't use the boat ramp because I saw the kayak launch area in the park.  I forgot Baxter's leash, and he romped and romped in the sand. I wasn't sure he would come back when I called him, but eventually he apparently decided he had enough fun and turned around, trotted back down to the kayak, and hopped in! Dogs are allowed here, and all of Cedar Key is dog friendly.  

Cedar Key anchorage

It was too late to go into town today, so we decided to stay here two nights and tour the town tomorrow! This area is known as the "Lost Coast," and like Apalachicola, is the true "Old Florida"!  We are, as some of you know, conflicted - on the one hand, we are anxious to get home. On the other hand, we will probably never be back here in our boat.  We are pretty sure we will spend two days at Crystal River and two days at Tarpon Springs. After that, we will watch the calendar and make our decisions day by day!

 We got treated to another great view over the pier this evening just after the sun went down!

View over Cedar Key Pier just after sunset!