Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Cedar Key

Seahorse Island, Florida
What a difference a day makes.  We were correct in wanting to stay in Fort Myers.  While it was 80 there, It is blustery, cloudy and a bit cool (60s) here in Cedar Key, the 2nd oldest town in Florida.  Cedar Key is a town of 700 located in the Cedar Keys.  At its hey day Cedar Key was the home to Faber and Eagle pencils production.  The once abundant cedar trees that were felled to produce all those #2 pencils are now gone as is the industry. Today clam farming is the predominant mainstay.  We sampled them at every meal with every recipe you can imagine.  They are delicious.  Unlike the regulations in Mass that prevent anything under 1.5" from being harvested, these little babies are the size of a ping pong ball.   Cedar Key is funky and not at all like Anna Maria.  Here was one of the best artists' coop we've visited.  We bought a beautiful turned wooded bowl by Richard Levine. The people we have met seem to be here strictly to experience the geography, bird watch, fish, etc.  I keep expecting to see Jack Sparrow pop up.  This afternoon we took a 2 hour boat tour to the outlying keys where they are bird nesting sanctuaries. The entire area is low, low, low with depths of 4' at high tide.   The dolphins were friendly and played in the wake of our boat.  Check out the photos and video on flickr