Cedar Key Sunday

A good morning for spoonbills. Saw then in 6 different spots

 Up at 6:36 AM to greet the day from the cottage dock. Those are ibis/

 

 

 I lay down for a while, and thought, who am I kidding? I won't sleep.

Salmon spread on the bagel

 On the water at 8:57. I wanted to paddle to Seahorse Key

Too choppy.  Turned around, set course for the Number 2 Channel

 Where the water level was still low, so spoonbills fed along the shore and the oyster bars

I was not the one that spooked them

This time

 

 

 

 

 

Spoonbills at Cemetery Point

 

Video Walking, not flying

 

The only dolphin of the weekend. So far.

 Number 3 Bridge

 

No white pelicans. Must finally be getting tolerable temperatures up north.

 Redfish

 

Scale Key

 

 I entered a channel

Which led to another

Which put me in the Number 3 Channel

 Which led to the Gulf

Which I did not enter.  Instead, I paddled the route that goes from the Number 3 Channel to the Number 2 Channel

 

 

Tide is in. No more birds feeding on shore.  Time to look for them roosting

Bingo

Okay, where are they going?  I had an idea.

 My idea proved to be correct

 

 

 

Pelican joined the party

 One needs to do some 'splorin to find the good stuff.  And, then, remember the openings.

 

Back to the Number 2 Channel

 Out of the Channel

 

 Back in.

 Fish cleaning

 

Gulf

 Busy beach on a holiday weekend

Landed at 12:20

 

Lunch on the porch. Had a sandwich, too.

 And crackers with crab dip

 Back on the water at 3:30. Delayed a bit, looking for a parking spot.  On the far side of Park Place. But, right at the corner,  so not a bad walk

As I was launching, I guy was telling his friend he saw five manatees.  I have only see two in all my visits to Cedar Key

 I was not on the water long. Dark skies to the north.  A bolt of lighting.  Blue skies south, back to the beach I went.  Pushed by a sudden wind.

Waited the storm out.

Boaters waiting for the one lane ramp

 No rain.  I am glad the beach side parking lot was full. Parked there, it would have have  been sand blasted. Beach goers lost canopies.  No rain.  Down south, Tampa had over an inch.

After about an hour, the squall passed, and I was back on the water.

 

Spoonbills, and more, feeding in the Number 2 Channel as the tide went out

 

 

 

 

Gimme, gimme, gimme

 

 

 Turned around at Cemetery Point.  The water gets wide here, and it was still pretty windy.  It was 5:40

 

 

 Oyster bars

 

 

 

Again, no flying There is a hop

 

 

 

 

Landed at 6:15. Ate one plate of seafood pasta and half an ear of corn, then went for a sunset bike ride

 

 

 

 

 

 I like the low hedge at the end of the Cedar Key air strip.

 

 To prevent a water landing.

 

 

 

 

One more nice thing about irregularly shaped islands, plural, the airstrip is on a different key than the main, Way Key, is there are a lot of good sunset locations.

Island Pizzeria.  Where I bought Friday's dinner. And Saturday's breakfast and lunch

View from the dock at Pirate's Cove, 8:29.  Had the second half of my dinner.  Spent the night on the balcony, composing Yak Tales.  No lights on the patio.  But, it has 2 outlets. One for the laptop. One for the bedside lamp on a card table.  Limited table space in the cottage. With screens on three side, it is comfortable out here.  Turned off the AC and kept the door open all night.