Amazing Cedar Key

This post will be in English in honor of our new friends in Cedar Key. We've also added a link in the right menu that will bring up the blog in English through Google Translate. We've just read through it though, and the translation is pretty horrible, but you might get an idea of what it says. For Norwegians it will be a pretty hillarious read.

As for the title of the post, that is as simple as we can put it. We were really sad to leave Cedar Key this morning, the atmosphere and feel of the place completely swept us away. The people are so friendly and nice, and the scenery is stunning. The main dock right at the tip has plenty of personality with decorations varying from wood carvings and ropes, to paintings and flags, all in a mix of vibrant colors and and weather worn wood.

We stayed in Cedar Key for two nights, the first place on our trip that we stayed more than just the night. The second day we went kayaking in the Mexico Gulf, out to the outer island on Cedar Key that is now a wildlife refuge. We were a bit put off by the idea of six foot hammerhead sharks in the water, but we were assured they were nothing to worry about (as long as we stayed in the  kayak...)

As we dared venture out on the water we were completely blown away by the experience. After only 10 minutes a pack of dolphins appeared in the water about 60 feet from our kayak, and later on only 30 feet away, magnifficent. As we got out to the outer island we paddled in amoung the mangroves and reed with the loud sound of crickets and birds, we almost felt like paddling down the Amazon (though we've never been there).

We continued by paddling all the way around the island, and had lunch on a chalk white beach on the back of the island facing out into the gulf. The heat was killing, especially to two pale Norwegians, and the water we brought to drink was heated to a temperature close to our typical morning coffee. Still, the experience was one to remember, and we encountered another exciting creature, the Horseshoe Crab, which we personally thought to only exist as fossils embedded in rocks, but were actually crawnling all around the place. There was a rich bird life, and we also got to meet a cute racoon that was fishing in the tide, its fur soaked making him look really skinny, and he could not find the time to think us a bit interesting at all, just ignoring our yellow kayak and keen cameras.

We rounded off the second day by going back to The Black Dog Bar & Tables which we also visited the first night. It is run by Jay, Connie and Otis (the latter is the black dog), the place that really completed our experince of Cedar Key. They serve good wines, have an amazing selection of beers, and Jay sports a large cabinet of excellent cigars and can only be described as a real cigar connoisseur. We met some pretty interesting characters, all lovely people. We would like to send our best regards to Jay, Connie, Otis, Doug, Steven, Gus, and several of the other great people we got to meet. Thank you for a great time!

Above top right picture from the left: Stine and Doug.

Above lower right picture from the left: Bjørn, Stine, Connie and Jay.

Location: Dockside, Cedar Key, Florida (and The Black Dog bar)