March 13 – 17, 2016
DAYS 36 and 37

Cedar Key offers the best of the best of places to kayak.  There are twelve 5 star kayak trails to choose from .. . freshwater,  tidal salt marsh,  hammock,  canal,  riverine swamp,  inside and outside coastal islands,  palm island,  freshwater river,  gulf,  tidal creek and tidal estuary,  all  accessible within a few miles of Sunset Isle Campground.

Our first kayaking experience here was in a tidal salt marsh,  protected from the wind by the mangroves.  The biggest challenge was avoiding getting stuck in oyster beds.   It was great fun.  I was even confident enough to take my good camera in the kayak.

Our second kayaking choice was to paddle from Cedar Key out into the Gulf of Mexico to Atsena Otis Key.  Depending on the direction you take from the Kayak launch at City Beach we’re talking a 3/4 to 1 mile paddle from shore to shore.  It is approximately 3 1/2 miles around the Key.   We could not have picked better weather conditions or time of day to go,  high tide,  gentle breeze,  overcast.

Atsena Otis Key has a lot of history.  There is a well marked trail that takes you past remains of the Old Faber Pencil Factory, the observation deck and The Atsena Otis Key Cemetery.  Pets are welcome on the Island, but the only way to get there is by boat.  E T has not learned to paddle yet 🙂  Photos taken from my phone … not bad.

Who’s buried here

Atsena Otis is home to over 350 bottle nose dolphin.   At the observation dock,  we met some kayak fisherman that told us they had seen dolphin earlier on the back side.   It’s about a 3 1/2 mile paddle around the Island.   We made it about 1/3 of the way around when fog started rolling in,  so we headed back.  No dolphin sightings this time 🙁

Cedar Key is a seafood meca.   It’s clam-based aquaculture is a multimillion-dollar industry.

There are dozens of restaurants boasting fresh and the best seafood and clam chowders.   David and I chose Robinson Seafood for our  night out on the town.

Robinson Seafood is not fancy.  It’s a one stop shopping place for everything seafood.  You can book a fishing charter,  purchase from the fresh seafood market or do take out or sit down in the restaurant.  They have  “All you can eat seafood specials $13.95” everyday.   David surprised me and passed on the special,  all you can eat  jumbo shrimp, grouper,  crab cakes and choice of two sides.   He chose the oyster dinner and was not disappointed. He said they were the sweetest he’d ever tasted.  Every table gets a basket of hush puppies for starters.  Every order comes with homemade baked beans.

We had been torn between going to Robinson’s or Steamers on Dock St.

Neighbors of ours went to Steamers.  They  said the food was O.K., but the entertainment was excellent.   Next Time!

Sadly,  it was time to move on.  Our next reservation was one night at Lake Manatee State Park in Bradenton, Fl.   We have stayed here before,  big private sites ($31.23 water and electric).

This friendly neighborhood cardinal entertained us while we ate breakfast.

There is a very pretty,  small  park on the big lake.

I guess it could be exciting if you went swimming with the alligators.

This is the first place (Bradenton) since we’ve arrived in Florida that we’ve experienced horrendous traffic.  We went out to the grocery store and we’re so frustrated by the traffic that we turned around.

It is also the first place we had rain during the day.  It’s still hazy,  hot,  humid and buggy.

Next Stop, a bit  further south  … Oscar Scherer State Park  Osprey, Florida