8 January, 2020 Cedar Key anchorage

33 SM; 5.4 engine hours.  Crap pots and skinny water

Up early, poor wifi, had our coffee and went to marina office for more coffee and excellent wifi.  Did the weather deep dive, called NWS marine forecaster and reviewed tides and route planning.  Hi tide at 1314 and based on depth coming into Suwannee river definitely did not want to be too early.  It all looked a go.  We prepared the boat, loaded ice into the coolers, dumped the trash and fired up the Yanmar.  Cast off the lines at 1120 and eased away from the dock in 4 foot of water.  Once in the main river depth increased to 10-12 feet.  Winds were forecast to be brisk 10-20 out of the NE with 2-3 foot waves out to 20 nautical miles.  We would transit 3-4 miles off shore.  A few tense moments transiting out of the narrow and skinny channel--4 feet frequently, even 3.8 at times.  Slow and easy, no bumps and we cleared the last channel marker and turned south to southwest and a very bumpy gulf.  Swell on our stern, about two feet with 4 second period.  Half way, winds and swells died down but about an hour later picked back up and we had some three footers thrown in for fun.  Everything remained on the stern or aft of the bean on our southerly course.

Low tide at sunrise

I had called the nearest boat U.S. tow captain and asked what to expect weather wise and about crossing a reef sticking out 15 miles from Cedar Key.  Discussion about NE winds, tides and was I any good at navigating.  At the end of the day, I decided to cut across the reef.  I slowed to 4 mph, good depth sounder speed and hawked the chart, and sounder.  Picked our way through, wind/waves decreased and never saw less than 8 feet.  Saved 2.5 hours of transit and more pounding in the swell/chop.

Cormorants perched 

Easy navigate up the main shipping channel to our anchorage in the Cedar Key’s area.  (map) We anchored in 10 feet at 1630.  Rough ride, challenging navigation, might have been lucky crossing the reef, but tides were with me and the charts indicated depth where we crossed.  Beautiful sunset, NE winds at 10 for most of the night as Serenity bobs in the current and breeze.  Nearing full moon in a couple of days--pretty bright tonight.  What is happening in Cedar Key

Water front dinning onboard Serenity

1294.8 hobbs; 1351 sm elapsed.