Day 88: Saturday, December 1, 2012
Port to Port: Cedar Key to Crystal River
Underway: 7:40 am Motor Off: 1:20 pm Miles Traveled: 32.8 Stayed At: Anchor
Mile to Mile: A beautiful day along the Big Bend part of Old Florida – sunny, light wind and warm. Today is a leisurely day – we are only 32 miles from Crystal River. We even had time to relax and motorsail for a while. The winds were light so the sail didn’t boost our speed but it just felt right to have the sail up and full as we cruised south and east dodging a stray crap float and being chased by multiple schools of dolphin. I actually think they are having fun when they come to visit. When one discovers us more seem to come in from multiple directions to join them to effortlessly cruise alongside or on our tiny little bow wake. I was able to capture several of their visits on video. It makes us smile every time it happens.
After a relaxing, quick and uneventful cruise down, we anchored in about five feet of water on the backside of the first island we came to – Shell Island – following the channel into Crystal River. It looks like we are in some kind of tropical paradise with a white sandy beach and palm trees only feet from our anchorage – or we are on the set of Gilligan’s Island. We don’t have the dinghy inflated so we can’t walk the beach but the view is still wonderful.
We could have kept going another 10 miles to the end of the channel where the town of Crystal River is located and potentially see a bunch of manatees congregating at the source of the spring feeding the river but decided we needed to take advantage of perfect travel weather on the Gulf. We want to get back to the intracoastal waterway before the weather returns to its normal unpredictable self.
We met David, a local resident out kayaking looking to get up close and personal with some manatee or a dolphin or two. He stopped by the boat and chatted for a while. He ended up in Cedar Key after bicycling from the Northwest US cross -country to the east coast and down to Florida. Now that is an adventure. He wants to bike back to the west coast. Crazy (fun).
After a gorgeous top-ten sunset that kept getting more amazing minute by minute, we made a simple dinner – steak, hashbrowns and fancy salads – read a little and crashed early to get ready for a busy day tomorrow. One more hop to civilization and the next phase of our adventure – Hudson, Florida here we come – we are only three weeks late getting to Bill and Kate’s dock (long story). Are you ready for us?
