I am heading to Cedar Key for a few days later this month and am considering towing my 17 ft O day Daysailer. Can anyone tell of their sailing experiences in that area?
Sailing Cedar Key
- Thread starter Close Call
- Start date
It is isolated, both from sea and mainland. It's a beautiful area with good facilities. In my youth, one of my family's regular destinations. Best Key Lime pie. Now, much more touristy with t-shirt shacks. Lots of uninhabited coastline nearby. Can be very windy. We weathered a big storm there and had an adventure running around town trying to find old tires and stuff to use as extra fenders to keep us off the pier.
You'll love it for day sailing.
-Will (Dragonfly)
You'll love it for day sailing.
-Will (Dragonfly)
I boated that area for decades when I was younger, mostly power boats but some my sailing dinghy. You'll have a great time exploring the numerous islands close by, all of which I believe are still uninhabited. If you're ambitious, inquire about the lighthouse on Sea Horse Key and see if it can be visited. In winter, you probably won't have issues, but the islands can be full of copperheads, so be careful of that.
See if the Cedar Key Museum is open (Cedar Key Museum State Park - Wikipedia). It will make poking around a richer experience.
I may visit there in my Beneteau 323 in a few weeks and it's a bit dicey for that draft, but I love the place so much I'd like to visit again.
There's lots of shallow water, so take a chart and have fun!
See if the Cedar Key Museum is open (Cedar Key Museum State Park - Wikipedia). It will make poking around a richer experience.
I may visit there in my Beneteau 323 in a few weeks and it's a bit dicey for that draft, but I love the place so much I'd like to visit again.
There's lots of shallow water, so take a chart and have fun!
If you have a keel that kicks up you’ll like Cedar Key, it’s nice protected waters. I sail a Potter 19 with a 3 1/2’ daggerboard keel and the waters were shallow in many areas 2’ + - so I didn’t stray from the channel till I got a ways out.
Stay in the channel. There is a sandbar on the north side of the main chanel and flats to the south. I ran aground in my powerboat in the flats during a particularly low tide. Water was 6 inches. There are oister bars near the channels near the islands and between the island and shore. The channel also snakes around. Very confusing. Be careful.
If you're a history buff, Cedar Key will not disappoint. You can even take a horse-and-buggy historical tour. 
For me, the most poignant moment was visiting the old cemetery on Atsena Otie Key. People only lived into their 30's and 40's back then. The oldest individual I found there there died in his mid 60's, and his large monument celebrates his "old" age proudly. Many, many children and infants are buried there. It provides a fresh new appreciation for the pampered existence we enjoy today.
You may be buried there YOURSELF very soon, if you do not BATHE in bug repellent before exploring the island. Please trust me on this. The copperheads someone mentioned are actually quite rare this far south, but this is Florida ... so ...
Our go-to anchorage is along the beach on the inside of Atsena Otie. It is not always well protected (NOTHING is always well protected in CK) and the current reverses with the tide, but the holding is excellent. The extreme north end of the beach is constantly shoaling, but you're golden just a few yards south of the end.
Beware the boat ramp if there is a strong SE wind. You'll have to pretty much surf your boat onto the trailer. We always launch at B's Marina in Yankeetown, motor out the Withlacoochee River (lots of manatees), and sail to CK from there. It's about 18 miles once you get out the channel.
For me, the most poignant moment was visiting the old cemetery on Atsena Otie Key. People only lived into their 30's and 40's back then. The oldest individual I found there there died in his mid 60's, and his large monument celebrates his "old" age proudly. Many, many children and infants are buried there. It provides a fresh new appreciation for the pampered existence we enjoy today.You may be buried there YOURSELF very soon, if you do not BATHE in bug repellent before exploring the island. Please trust me on this. The copperheads someone mentioned are actually quite rare this far south, but this is Florida ... so ...
Our go-to anchorage is along the beach on the inside of Atsena Otie. It is not always well protected (NOTHING is always well protected in CK) and the current reverses with the tide, but the holding is excellent. The extreme north end of the beach is constantly shoaling, but you're golden just a few yards south of the end.
Beware the boat ramp if there is a strong SE wind. You'll have to pretty much surf your boat onto the trailer. We always launch at B's Marina in Yankeetown, motor out the Withlacoochee River (lots of manatees), and sail to CK from there. It's about 18 miles once you get out the channel.
Good advice Gene, and you may be right about the copperheads, but I recall back in another life visiting Seahorse Key and being told by the caretakers that they had killed a dozen or so. I thought this was just bravado - until I saw a pile of them on the beach! You are certainly right about mosquitoes. I had a friend who worked at USDA in Gainesville and they *literally* collected them by the bucketful in traps. Not sure how seasonal that is.
Having said that Close Call, go! You'll have a great time.
Having said that Close Call, go! You'll have a great time.
From a friend who winters in Cedar Key every year (owns a house there) and is a sailor...... <<The Gulf around Cedar Key is shallow, popular with kayakers and small boat sailors. There’s a 3+ft tidal range, lots of islands, sand bars and oyster bars. The Cedar Key Small Boat Meet is coming up in the first weekend in May. See: https://smallboatsmonthly.com/event/cedar-key-small-boat-meet-2/ >>
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