Wednesday, 2/27/19 – Sea Hag Marina, Steinhatchee to Cedar Key…..

Woke up early to a beautiful morning. Topped off with fuel and headed out to Cedar Key. We left the fuel dock about 7:30 with Miss Adventure and MoWhisky following. Sea Loons left later in the morning and passed us heading straight to Crystal River. That’s what a smaller go-fast boat allows you to do.

Apparently most Loopers don’t stop at Cedar Key as the guide books say there are no transient slips and nothing to see or do. We decided to stop anyway as we thought it would be better to travel five hours rather than approximately eight hours unless it’s totally necessary. On this part of the journey you still encounter very skinny water and lots and lots of crab pots so you can’t just let “auto” do the driving. He helps but it is “full on” watching the depth sounder and dodging crab pots. Eight hours of doing that can get a bit tiring. While it’s true there are no transient slips in Cedar Key there are anchorages. We arrived about 1:30 and anchored just north of Atsena Otie Key in a lovely cove with a small white sand beach on one side and the town of Cedar Key about a 1/2 mile across the water on the other side. Just as we anchored it started to rain but stopped after a few hours so we scooted across the anchorage to the town to take the doggies and humans for a walk. While it’s not bustling, it’s a nice little place with several restaurants, shops and a lovely park. What we saw of the residential neighborhood was very mixed – big and old pretty houses next to very small un-kept ones.

Back on the boat we started planning/charting/plotting our trip to Crystal River for tomorrow and found something we thought was VERY INTERESTING….. Michael looked at the charts and decided the best way to leave was through the ship channel rather than back the way we came which was through the northwest channel. Our guide books didn’t show leaving through the ship channel and Navionics wouldn’t allow him to enter or leave on that route. It wanted us to go back the same way we came which would be longer and take us through the narrow passage south through Seahorse reef.  He tried several times to get the auto-route to work through the main channel but no dice. So, he called the Navionics representative and was told something like – the Ship Channel is closed to “trawling”. To which Michael replied we are not trawling, we are a Trawler (damn Italians). Needless to say, he got absolutely no where with Navionics. So my brilliant husband called Boat US who put him in touch with the local Boat US captain, Captain Dan, who assured us we could indeed go out the ship channel. He advised that there is a big “switch-back” and it is a bit tricky and confusing but if you pay attention you will be fine. FYI: if you’re in a pinch and need expert-local-on-the-water advise contact Boat US. They were wonderful. We got a good night’s sleep knowing how we will proceed in the morning.

Thursday, 2/28/19 – Woke up to a beautiful day at anchorage in Cedar Key and watched a couple of dolphin playing or ???. It looked like there were just two of them and they would go under the water then come back up – they stayed in the same place and stayed together cavorting for about a half hour. Very interesting and fun to watch! We pulled anchor about 8:15 and headed for the ship channel with Miss Adventure and MoWhisky following. Lots of little fishing boats were going out this time of morning so there was lots of activity. We followed Capt. Dan’s directions and watched for the big “switch back” which was tricky and confusing because of how the markers were lined up but Michael did a fantastic job and we made it back to the ocean without any problems. The Gulf was as calm as a lake but still encountering skinny waters and tons of crab pots!

Approaching Pete’s Pier on Crystal River you could say “we’re not in Kansas anymore” because it was teeming with activity. Kayakers on one side, pontoon boats on the other, and fishing boats passing us all over the place. Busy, busy, busy. It was about an hour trip from the ocean to Pete’s Pier Marina. Again, we had called ahead and reserved a slip. There is very little space for transients here too. They have 220 slips and only had two spaces open. FYI: Call ahead and make sure there is room if you want to dock. Miss Adventure and MoWhisky anchored out. Sea Loons arrived yesterday and were also docked at Pete’s. I think the prices here are a bit on the high side at $2.19 per foot for the slip and $3.49 for diesel but I guess that’s the price for FUN because it certainly looks like fun here. Leaving from Pete’s were lots of tour boats taking passengers out to swim with the Manatee’s, lots of fishing boats, lots of dive boats and lots of kayakers. We walked to the grocery about half mile away in a strip center – something called SaveALot, a big discount store with not much to offer. The good news is across the street we found a great little wine shop. They had lovely California and French wines and the prices were fair. Yeah, the walk was worth it only it was a heavy load walking back.  Dinner on board and an early night.

Friday, 3/1/19 – Crystal River – woke up and Scout was on the bottom. We were literally stuck in the mud. She would not move as we tried to push away from the dock. Miss Adventure and MoWhisky decided to leave for Tarpon Springs today. We decided to stay here another day. Once the tide came in and we were able to move we went a few hundred yards and anchored out right across from Pete’s where MoWiskey had anchored last night.  It’s beautiful and we didn’t have to pay the $2.19 per foot charge. Pete’s didn’t have WiFi, no pump out, the baths were not very clean and you had to wait for all of the passengers on the tour boats to even get in the one bathroom for women and one for men that they had. I didn’t check the showers but I didn’t really need to. We were told the marina was just purchased in June of last year and the new owner is putting in millions of dollars to upgrade the place – so I’m sure it will only get better.

Once anchored we put Scout-About in the water and went in search of Manatees. We followed some of the tour boats but never saw THE Manatee they were chasing. One of the Manatee watcher volunteers in a kayak approached us and advised us that it was “too nice of a day” for the Manatees to be in the area where we were. Ha – too nice of a day for Manatees!!! Go figure. She said the water up the spring fed creek is a constant 72 degrees and they don’t come up there unless the ocean temp gets cold. She did tell us where to go to see them, but we gave up and went back to the boat and had lunch. It is an absolutely beautiful day and the water is crystal clear here in Crystal River!

Weather permitting, we plan to leave here in the morning and head for Tarpon Springs. It will be a long day. It’s one of those approximately seven-hour trips with no place to stop. We have reservations at Tarpon Springs Yacht Club. Will check in later…..