Like Captain Duffie (see below), I have always been thoroughly unimpressed with Cedar Key as a port of call. Bob does a good job detailing the lack of dockage below, but also note that the principal (but not the only) entrance cut, Seahorse Key Channel, contains an “S” loop that has to be seen to be believed. Even if you know it’s there and are watching for this hazard, it’s easy to run aground.

I recently visited Cedar Key by land. While you can anchor there are no docks to tie up at. I also believe the anchorages don’t provide any shelter. I talked to a sailor that keeps a boat at about the only
decent slip at the Cedar Cove Hotel. The harbor there was badly damaged in a hurricane several years ago and has not been fixed. The town is not boat friendly. They got money to build a dock and made the
surface so high there is no way to tie up but it does function as a fishing pier. There is a nice sheltered harbor but it has a low bridge across the entrance so larger boats can’t get into it. It’s a real shame because the town is very interesting and like a small scale version of Key West. There are lots of good restaurants, art shops, etc. You can see more at my blog post at http://bobduthie.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/
Bob Duthie
Katy Leigh 36GB Classic
http://www.greatloopcruising.com

My wife and I spent our honeymoon at Cedar Key in the summer of 1987. We’ve been back once, for our 10 year anniversary, in 1997. We remember it as being quaint and quiet, with very friendly people, (two or three different families invited us to their homes for dinner during our original stay!) great restaurants, fantastic local art, all with a very out of the way feel.
We also remember it being not very boat friendly, at least where non-commercial fishing and non-trailer-boat interests were concerned. Weekends, the place filled with trailer-boaters from nearby Gainesville and Ocala. While we were there, one sailboat was in the ‘˜anchorage’ (the outer part; the low bridge over the entrance to the very tiny harbor had about 15′ of clearance.) staying only two or three nights.
We were left with the impression, rightly or wrongly, that the folk there are happy with the way things are, that facilities to draw in cruising yachts aren’t really wanted. It would seem little has changed.
Bill & Lisa Ballard

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Cedar Key