Paddling the Cedar Key Backwater

Yesterday we spent most of a delightful day paddling the Cedar Key Backwater Trail. Starting in a small tidal creek on the mainland, it takes paddlers through near pristine wilderness to the picturesque built environment of a traditional fishing village. As we entered the Gulf of Mexico and headed for the Cedar Key Beachfront Park, we encountered a marvelous expanse of mirror-like water.

Cat Island Paddle

Finally, last Tuesday, the weather gods smiled and after 4 cancelled attempts we paddled the final of the 12 trails that will be in the Friends Paddling Guide! Not only are we relived to be finished with the research, but it was a fantastic paddle. More photos are here on the Friends of Refuges website.

The Great Suwannee River Cleanup

Russ and I stayed ashore to sign -n the volunteers, and to help weigh and haul away the 1 ton of trash the volunteers brought in at Fowlers Bluff. Then we had a down-home lunch at the Treasure Camp next door to the boat ramp. About half of the 82  Fowlers Bluff volunteers stayed for lunch on the screened porch at the Camp. What a way to spend a December Saturday! More photos are posted here on the Friends website.

Friends of the Refuges

The Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges, El Camino de Santiago, and the Summer of a Thousand Cheeses are keeping us with lots of new challenges, and even retirement-style deadlines.

Russ is working on a Paddling Guide to 12 trails in the Lower Suwannee Refuge. His focus is the biology of what you see along each trail, while his partner on the project maps out the trails themselves. They're planning to come up with multi-media, maybe even interactive materials...print, laminated carry-alongs, downloadable voice descriptions, blogs where paddlers can input information about their observations along the trails...maybe more. The Refuge just received some additional funding to support material production. So, activity is about to gear up even more.

We didn't even own kayaks until this project captured us. It gave us a great excuse, and we are becoming almost skilled enough at using them to get in and out without falling in the drink.

I developed an electronic newsletter (this link will take you to the issue that went out yesterday)  and set up a website (here it is.) And, it has actually been sort of fun to run the Board Meetings since taking them on in last month. We worked the Friends Booth at the Cedar Key Arts Festival and will work it next Saturday at the Suwannee Stone Crab Festival.

We've had jam sessions and Friends Lectures on Fish, Ticks, Archaeology, and Geology.

 But Russ's project gets the gold star for getting us out into the Refuge itself.

On the Suwannee River

Yesterday was the Great Suwannee River Cleanup. We stayed on shore, welcomed back all the trash collectors, helped unload the boats, and weighed and recorded the stuff collected. More than 3,000 pounds was gathered in about 3 hours on the water, with about 85 volunteers (all with wet feet, some with wet clothes from falling are jumping in the river to rescue things like boats that tried to float off.) What did we find? Fuel tanks, 55 gallon barrels, chairs, lots of tires, huge pieces of styrofoam (average weight--80 pounds each, shoes, and more expectable, random junk. I posted lots of photos on the Friends of the Refuges site. Check it out!

Seafood Festival 2010 in Cedar Key

Pam and James came for Seafood Festival and the weekend. Great fun. We went to the Neptune Bar for the live music Friday and sang along with "We Love This Bar," the favorite of the audience. We helped set up the tent for the Friends of the Refuges booth and volunteered there for a bit. We bought cool craft offerings from the vendors.We hiked the Dennis Creek Trail and took a Tidewater Tour to the Suwannee River. Best of all, we sat on the breezeway and enjoyed the beautiful evening weather and good company.

Kayaking to Atsena Otie

Russ and I joined about 20 people for the Hidden Coast Paddling Week kayak trip to the island of Atsena Otie. It is a 2.7 mile paddle. We started on the beach in Cedar Key, paddled over choppy waters to the beach on the island and took a break to swim (me...too many mosquitoes inland for me) or hike (most of the other folks) and have a little picnic time. Then we paddled around the island and back through even choppier waters to Cedar Key. As you might imagine, we waited to take pictures until we were past the waves and safely near shore, in the flat water. 


Atsena Otie is the original site of the town of Cedar Key. When the town was washed away by a hurricane in the 1890s, it was rebuilt in its current location on an island closer to the mainland. The day was sunny and lovely...and wore us out! There have been other paddling events all this week on the Suwannee River and various creeks. Maybe next year we'll do more than one day.

Fourth of July in Cedar Key

Our weekend in Cedar Key started on a totally gross note. We opened the gate and found a dead gray fox on the walk right in front of the front steps! It had been much enjoyed by the vultures...thank you very much vultures. However, they left us the skull, bones, furry tail, lots of fur, and a smell previously experienced only by walking or driving quickly by road-killed possums and armadillos. Whew! We disposed of the vultures leftovers and then hosed the smelled into the ground as best we could. Our vet told us distemper is rampant in the fox population and we are need to keep our dog immunized. He's up-to-date, thank goodness.

The rest of the weekend was totally lovely. We had dinner with friends Marci and Jim at the Neptune Bar at the Island Hotel while enjoying the live band and joining in on such tunes as "I love this bar!"

We spent Sunday with thousands of others at CLAMerica in the city park, ate clams of course, and worked in the education booth of the Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges. We stayed home and listened to the fireworks, watching what we could see of them behind the trees outside the living room window...all the time comforting Jake while he tried to stopped quivering in fear. 

We never thought to take a photo of the fox. I bet you're sorry too.  

On the Board!

Saturday was the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Lower Suwannee River and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges. Russ and I both got elected to the Board of Directors. We are looking forward to two years of advocacy for taxpayer interests, birding, kayaking, hiking, and fun with a really great group of Board friends.

 

A Lucky Warm Day

Gainesville has had 12 straight days now with temperatures below freezing. The 145 grapefruits that we harvested before the freeze from our 3 trees may well be our last ever harvest. The trees look very, very stressed and may not survive. Several neighbors have had pipes freeze and burst--so far two of them were fortunate enough to have the breaks outside their houses but the third is at this moment pulling out and discarding her carpeting because her break was inside the wall of her family room.

A few days ago we left this north Florida cold and went to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge near West Palm Beach. We visited with Richard and Nancy and spent two days at a meeting of the Florida Friends of the Wildlife Refuges. One of those days was warm enough for an airboat ride at the refuge...and that means warm. Those boats are cold even in summer.

A December Storm in Cedar Key

Today was the Interagency Luncheon at the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge. We were there as members of the Friends of the Refuge. We arrived in Cedar Key yesterday afternoon about 3:00 with dire warnings on the weather radio about a storm approaching. Pretending to be the Weather Channel staff, instead of heading back to Gainesville, we went down to the Marina, City Park, and the Faraway Inn to take pictures.

As is so often the case, the storm fizzled after a few hours of bluster. The sun shone on today's outdoor luncheon at the Refuge.