Atsena Otie Key

Big Blue is a saltwater virgin no more. Handled it like a pro too, even with a very choppy channel crossing, water splashing over the bow and sometimes into the cockpit. Atsena Otie is a blue ribbon paddle. Just don't make the mistake of getting out of the boat and wandering down the trail that runs through the center of the island, at least not this time of year. I was covered--and I mean covered--from head to toe within seconds by mosquitos who clearly hadn't tasted blood in a long while. I made haste back to my boat, a one-man experiment to see if malaria still exists in Florida. As late as 1897, Atsena Otie was inhabited, mostly by folks who worked for the pencil company there. I can only surmise that all them were anemic and malarial.

On the drive out to Cedar Key, I fantasized about red snapper jumping into my boat and then a celebratory grilling back home. This almost happened in one of the many coves surrounding the island. They jump high and often, whole schools of them at the same time. The water is too shallow here for motorboats, so I suppose they live here largely unfished. Atsena Otie is all coves, in fact, and I weaved in and out of them all morning, cozied up next to mangroves and grass, scraped across the oyster beds. 

Hugging the shore here keeps you out of the channel chop and that's where the action is anyway. The egrets apparently like saltwater fishing as much as fresh and the cormorants dive here as deftly as do in the Silver River. Sandpipers don't scatter like the other birds, I found, and white egrets and Great Blues apparently ignore each other's territorial calls. Blackbirds won't leave their oystering until you are right up on them.  


Saltwater paddling is a different animal, and I must say I loved the feel, smell, and taste of the salt water. You have to work harder but you know you've been paddling when you're done. I plan to paddle this part of the Gulf coast as often as possible, and a great resource for doing that is Tom, who rents kayaks in Cedar Key. We talked long enough for me to add about 10 trips to my to do list. 

Tomorrow: Day off.