We again were prepared to depart around 7am. Today’s trip is the second to last open ocean jump we will have to make in a while. We spoke to our friends who stayed behind at Steinhatchee and it looks like they will be stuck there for a few more days at least. The weather is not cooperating for them, but as we have moved further south, we have had good travel days. Today is looking good as well.
We departed soon after Moonschooner and worked our way out of Cedar Key. There is another channel going out which I chose to follow and with help from a rising tide we had no issues getting out. I wanted to again play it safe, so I went about ten miles off shore before we were in ‘deep’ water of about twelve feet. We again had to watch out for crab pots and wind our way through the mazes of them. I continually adjusted our course so we would start angling in, but not go through any reefs or super shallow areas. Moonschooner had the luxury of staying closer to shore due to their shallow draft. Eventually we made it to our turn to head toward Crystal River. As we were heading in, I see Moonschooner turn in front of us! They had made the same time by staying closer to land.
Lauren and I had planned on anchoring out and we made our way to the anchorage. Moonschooner stopped at a marina for fuel and a pump out. As soon as we dropped anchor, a smaller sized boat came cruising toward us. Uh-oh I thought…maybe we cannot anchor here? The boat came up to us and called out “Do you need a pump out?” I had heard of these portable pump out boats, but this was the first I’ve seen one, let alone it coming to me. Lauren and I had discussed we will be needing one soon, so I asked the guy “how much?”. “Five dollars” was his reply. “Yes, please!” I responded and told Lauren what was going on. “Cool- saves us from going in!” Lauren was happy with this too. I later found out the Federal government subsidizes this around the country. If the company takes Federal money, they can only charge five dollars. If a private company chooses not to take the money, they can charge whatever they want, like the place I paid ten dollars, and I’ve heard of places charging upwards of twenty dollars! Once the pump out was complete, we hung out and made sure the anchor was set well. While we were sitting on the back deck we noticed manatee noses coming up and eating the sea grass that was floating around our boat! How cool! There were tour boats coming by us slowly every once in awhile with passengers watching the manitees and we had a front row seat.
Kings Bay is in the Crystal River and is known as “the best place in the whole world to view the manatee in their natural habitat! World renowned Three Sisters Springs is right here in our backyard and plays home to hundreds of manatees in the winter.” We had watched kayaks and paddle boarders going back to one of the channels to the springs and decided to all load into the dinghy and see what we could find. We saw some people looking for manitees, and we realized we had the best view on our boat! We then continued to the city park dock, which had a sign, only boats with 18″ or less of draft are allowed; our dinghy falls into this category. We took Frank for a walk and went through town where they were preparing for their Christmas Parade which started at dusk. At this point it was around 4pm and we continued to walk around. We stopped at a coffee shop. I know no brewery shocks you, but there was none around us!Instead we found a seafood market called The Crab Plant. We went inside and they were awesome people. They came out to pet Frank and give him a shrimp treat. We looked at the selection and chose some fresh Gulf shrimp and was looking at the stone crab claws. The woman told me about ‘floaters’. They are younger crab, and the shell isn’t as hard, but it is the same and it is only $5.99 a pound! We took two pounds of claws and a pound of shrimp back to the boat for dinner. On our way back, we passed a wild orange tree and I picked two oranges, thinking I could use them later.
Once back, we opened the stone crab claws and started going at them. We were going to melt butter, but once we started eating them, we couldn’t stop. Two pounds was about twenty four claws. They were so good and sweet! As we were stuffing our faces, I noticed a small tender (dinghy) pulling up to our boat. We had noticed another Looper at the anchorage near us, and we had seen the boat on Nebo as well as in passing at some recent stops along the way. They pulled up and introduced themselves and we chatted for a bit. We were in conversation when it dawned on me we had just left crab claws and scraps scattered on the kitchen counter. The cats struck again! When I realized what we had done, I excused myself and popped back inside to find Alice on the couch with her own claw, and LuLu on the counter eating whatever she could get her face to. I shoo’d them away and came back out. After more pleasantries they departed and we went back inside to finish the last of the crab. We also made a note to pick up some cocktail sauce as you never know when it will come in handy.
Some more relaxing on the back deck, enjoying the (finally) warm weather of Florida. The temperature today was in the high 70’s, almost 80 degrees! It was the first day we had shorts on in I can’t even remember how long. The generator was fired up and we had Shrimp sauteed in butter with a squeeze of the tart oranges, and Old Bay, over rice. This was a simple and delicious meal for us and the oranges really added flavor. We had some wine with dinner and planned tomorrows trip. The weather is still looking good for us, and we hope to get to Tarpon Springs, where we will rest for a couple of days and once again pick up the Intracoastal Waterway.