Monday in Cedar Key

I slept a little bit later Monday, than Sunday, the sun has already out.

7:00 am. I went back to bed after taking the picture.  But did not sleep.  Decided not to kayak, yet, but go for a walk, save the yaking for after I checked out.

 City Park and beach.  Kayak launch spot.  As far as I have seen, the Old Fenimore Mill has the only other sandy beach on Cedar Kay

On to Dock Street.  See how the road curves? I saw a "birds eye view" drawing of Cedar Key in the 1880's.  The railroad curved out from the land.  That must be how ships loaded and unloaded, the tracks came over the deeper water.  I bet the road is the old rail bed, and the buildings may be, or at least rest on the foundations of, the old rail wharf.

Might be bad for tourism if the railing falls on someones head.

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View from the Harbor Master' looking at the Pickled Pelican, 2nd level.

 View from the fishing dock.

A dolphin swam off shore, I was unable to get a photo.

 Dog Island in the distance.

 Rusty Rim, second level

 Yet another view of the "Honeymoon House" Photoed this weekend by kayak, bike, and foot.

 Rusty Rim deck.  Good sunset viewing. If you don't have a kayak.  Off the dock, leaving Dock Street.

Public Safety vehicles.

Architecture.

Art

As mentioned in prior Cedar Key Tales, the business district is 2, 3 blocks off the Gulf and 2 blocks off the Number 2 channel.

To the short "nature trail" at Nature's Landing condos.

 Monarch.  I saw several during the weekend, this is the only photo.

The trail is on the old railroad bed.  Its for residents and guests only.  I was a guest, once.

Back to my lodgings.

An enjoyable stroll, just over an hour.

 Showered, breakfast, packed, downloaded a few photos, made an entry in the condo log, and checked out. Moved my car for the first time since I arrived.  From the spot close to the steps, to the second closest spot to the Gulf.  The closest was still in the sun. On the water at 11:20.

Another view of the Rusty Rim.
There has been a delay in getting Monday’s pictures and descprions posted. Number 1, the sheer volume of material, number 2, my internet connection is not working. I have a DSL connection from the local phone company. I think that stands for dam shitty line. I called the phone company and got the “It will be 24 hours to fix” line. Progress has been made as of now, 3 of 4 lights on the modem are lit up. It had been 2. Come on internet light!


7:30 PM Thursday, I'm back online

I think I left off paddling towards and past, Dock Street. Cormorants and sleepy pelicans on posts. The second of these things I saw.

 A trio of cormorants was on the first. Some industrial gear? Osprey on sailboat masts.

 Past the Far Away Inn. Which has a nice sloping beach. But, seems to have small stones at water’s edge. Old Fenimore Mill is all sand. Paddled into Goose Cove. No geese, great egret.

 Under the Airport Road Bridge into a shallow bayou of marsh grass and distant pines.

Water level still low, oyster beds sticking out. Those aren’t the ones that concern me. It’s the beds just under the surface whose sharp edges may damage an unwary paddler’s kayak.

 Options limited by shallow conditions, I went back under the bridge into the Gulf.

 Towards Astena Otie Key. A tour boat made a sudden turn. Something was spotted. A pair of dolphins. A small one, with, I assume, its mother.

   I failed to get any good dolphin photos.

 A bald eagle soared overhead, disappearing in the trees on the other side of the island. Did it land? Would I see it again? I was on the west side of the key, and continued paddling in a counter clockwise direction.

 There was a haze in the air, it seemed like I was paddling inside a ping pong ball.

 Eagle nest?

A rare, non-moving, belted kingfisher. I was surprised to get so close.

 Perched on the Blue Goose sign, an obvious choice for Yak Tale leadoff honors.

Another eagle nest?

 Distant landmarks. Water tower, Old Fennimore Mill. Man, I love the OFM location. Last buildings on Cedar Key, National Wildlife Refuge to the east. Coming around the south east edge of Astena Otie, I saw a large bird land in a distant pine. Eagle? The pine was around another bend, and there seemed to be a small bay. Could I get closer?

Not to close, but at least I got a picture.

Approaching the condos, 2:20 PM. If I stopped paddling now, left Cedar Key at 2:45, 3 o’clock, I’d get to Orlando about 5:30. And sit in traffic on I-4. I’d rather sit in the kayak. I paddled into the channel, landing on the back side.

Sat on the dock and had a sandwich. Just as I landed, a guy came with a cooler of trout to clean. “Today’s catch?” “No yesterday, caught some grouper this morning” I was back in the kayak at 2:45. Just the prow showing, meant it was deep enough to explore the area east of the channel.

I exaggerated earlier when I said the area east of the Old Fenimore Mill is a National Wildlife Refuge. Not the entire area, just the largest island in the area, Scale Key.

Another eagle nest? Or, osprey.
From where I was, I could have paddle to the Number 3 bridge, past Cemetery Point, to and under the Number 2 bridge, through the Number 2 Channel, back home. But time was short, and I did that last visit. I had spent almost all my time in the inner waters windy Labor Day weekend. This birthday weekend, I spent most of my time on the Gulf. Which today, had been flat as a pancake.

I took a close look at the abandoned sailboat. Did not seem in too bad shape from this side.

A patch on the waterline can’t be good. Here’s the problem, on the other side of the boat.

Black. Fire? Intentional? Accident? When my internet as back I want to search Time Out Cedar Key. Will probably find a condo, so will add “wreck sailboat”
I did a seach, nothing found.

A final view of Dock Street before landing at 4:05. I slowly loaded the kayak on the roof, then walked to the pool area. No restrooms at the pool. So, I stopped at the City Beach on the way out of town to change and wash up a bit. This long weekend was the first of four, hopefully five over the next six weeks. Thanksgiving is a week away, that’s 4 days. Two weeks after that, Sanibel with family and friends, I hope to make that a 5 day weekend. Two weeks later, Christmas, I have Monday off. New Years, we have not been told yet if we have Monday off. I did not get a holiday last year for New Years. But stay tuned, you will find out. So long as my internet gets fixed.   Since you are reading this, my internet connection has been repaired.