Cedar Key 2013

What can I say, Cedar Key was as good as it always is.  This event is the highlight of the year for us.  It's the second year that my sister and family flew down from DC area for the weekend.  I'm thinking this may be the start of a family tradition.  The weather forcast was downright awful, calling for storms and rain all weekend long.  Thankfully it all broke up and we had mostly good weather, with a few scattered showers.  This is the first year that we had a catered dinner Friday and Saturday night.  It was a hit and it sure relieved a lot of the volunteers to go play. 

 The beach in front of Island Place.  With her shallow draft, Egret felt right at home among the Sea Pearls and other minimal draft open boats.  We had strong onshore winds which caused our stern anchor to really dig into the muck.  The retreival process resulted in a bit of mayhem as we struggled to break the anchor loose while fending off the channel markers. 

 

The fearsome "Black Pearl" high and dry.

 

"Black Pearl" heading out for Atsena Otie.

 

Skipper and deckhand getting ready to set off for Atsena Otie.

 

The other crew insisted on riding in the kayak.

 

At Atsena Otie.

 

Dave Lucas's "Helen Marie" on Atsena Otie.

 

Early arrivals at Atsena Otie.

 

Never found out what this beautiful boat, Wes White was sailing, is.

 

We had good winds most of the weekend.

 

 

 

Sea Pearl screaming past our Egret.

 

Steve Wood chasing Egret, brother in law Doug steering.

 

Klingon warship blasting by.

  

 

 

Steve Kingery took this picture of me while I took....

 

this picture of him.

 

I think that's Martin on the left who finished the Everglades Challenge in that 8ft CLC pram!

 

Steve's Wee Lassie

 

Atsena Otie invasion

 

 

Bella liked WoodWind. Unprompted, she said "he must use a lot of poxy"!

 

 

Back in front of Island Place, Jim Brown is first to hop off the Seaclipper and walk her ashore.

 

Everyone getting back to the Island Place beach for the Saturday evening cookout.

 

 

Will Marsh's beautiful Elver.

 

 

 

Stunning Melonseed with Dave Lucas upgrades.

 

Sunday we sailed over to Atsene Otie and just did a whole lot of nothing.

 

 

 

Teamwork.

 

This was the first time 5 year old Bella got to paddle a kayak.  She picked it up immediatley without any istruction and was paddling all over the place.  She and dad paddeld all the way back from Atsena Otie to Cedar Key.  She was tethered to dad's kayak, just in case, but she paddeled the whole way!

 

 

 

So many critters, so little time.

 

It's tiring out there.

 

And then it was time to pack up.

 

And head home.

 

Cedar Key Rocks!