Kayaking with Friends at Cedar Key
(with photo gallery)

Sandy Beach on the west end of North Key

I escaped Gainesville to Cedar Key on Sunday for a kayaking adventure with my friends Ben & Michael! After a bit of planning, including concerns about the potential for thunderstorms & deciding where to launch, we ended out launching from the public beach at Cedar Key (really the only other option was Shell Mound). It was a little rough getting 3 adults & 3 kayaks there in my little Toyota Matrix. We had two 16 foot kayaks (Wilderness System Tarpons) & my old 14 foot kayak. They each weigh a little over 50 pounds and were strapped on my rack that is rated at 100 pounds carrying weight. Luckily we were only 9 miles from arriving before I bothered to check them to find one had slipped sideways & the whole rack had slid a couple inches back on my roof. I say luckily, because I drove much slower after that & that would have delayed our start. Anyway, we arrived, unloaded the kayaks and got going by around 9:30 am. There was a strong head southwind that had the boys a little concerned, but I knew the kayaks were self-bailing & that we would be cutting through the island shortly to the north side of the island where the wind would be blocked by Cedar Key. So the waves were no big deal and the wind would be nice seeing that it was likely to be a hot day! Just past the new fishing pier, we saw our first sea turtle.

Ben & Michael attempt fishing on a sand bar on the way to North Key

So I’m not a big fisherman (though I love to eat fish) but the boys were very excited to try there hand at fishing from the kayaks. They brought there poles & Michael even had big plans to get oysters. We checked regulations & were fortunate to find out that Memorial Day weekend had a special exemption from fishing license requirements this year. So they started fishing along the marsh when we cut through the island. Not much luck yet, but they did start to get bites when we stopped at a sand bar on the way to North Key (see photo). There Ben caught his first of a series of Catfish. Michael, not to be outdone, caught one shortly after. I did not have a fishing pole, so mostly just watched in amusement. I did start wading around, noticing tons of blue crab & another small crab with beefy claws. Michael found a dead stingray & scavenged the stinger! We next headed to a beach on the south side of North Key for lunch. I saw a huge redfish on my way in, so that got the fishermen excited, though they only caught more catfish.

Catch of the day!

The boys next decided on a contest to see who could catch the first non-catfish (quite a competitive couple). I meanwhile paddled on & stopped at the pretty beach on the west end of the Key (see first photo). We circumnavigated north key, only to find a Bubba filled beach on the north side & Michael almost gets blown out of his boat by an airboat. He gets distracted fishing and does not see the pass through the island that Ben & I took. So we wait for some time, only to eventually find him thinking he is waiting for us to come around the island. He did finally win the contest by catching a pinfish. Though it was not worthy of dinner! They finally decide their poor fishing luck was the fault of the frozen bait they were using.

It is after 3pm now, the sun has been out all day & we are still 5 miles from the car, so we decide to head home. We had a nice fairly relaxing sunny paddle back (originally we had concerns of afternoon thunderstorms). We saw more wildlife including jumping dolphins, magnificent frigatebirds, two more sea turtles and many other birds. We were on the water over 8 hours! I was able to figure a better way to secure the kayaks. We finished by grabbing a little seafood that someone else caught (Michael also gave up on the oyster idea as apparently they have to be over 3 inches long). So we headed back home through the inland thunderstorms we missed after a nice day on the ocean.

I know I am trying to avoid politics & current events in this blog, but one reason I wanted to go kayaking was to see Cedar Key again before any effects of the BP oil spill get there. It was so beautiful. I could not help but think of the pain of the folks who are already seeing the worst of this spill in Louisiana! US policy & BP’s greed will impact there lives in ways that money can never replace, not to mention the wildlife massacre that is already underway. Of course, we are all responsible! It certainly took some oil products to get us to Cedar Key on Sunday. I also came home to find out about the senseless slaughter on another boat sharing the ocean with us on the other side of the world while attempting a Gaza Aid mission. I can’t help but think of my government’s role in supporting these policies of hatred as well as our own. I sure would love to live in a world where people loved and respected all life on the planet! Until that day, I guess I will continue to feel the cloud of suffering lingering over my head, even when in such a beautiful place with friends.