Low Key Hideaway

Our last night at Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle was spent with the neighbors and local seafood. We grilled local oysters and shrimp and enjoyed a feast! The oysters were a bit of a chore, since I had never shucked an oyster before, but a special knife, a glove, and some patience put us over the top.

We left Ho Hum on Wednesday, heading east along the "Forgotten Coast" of Florida. Cutting through dense forests again, but on a beautifully maintained state highway, we made our way to the long end of a dead end road in Cedar Key, Florida. We're staying at the Low Key Hideaway, a spacious park with three total rv sites. Last year they had four, but new owners have downsized the rv area to concentrate on the six unit motel. Our site has an awesome view from the front window of Nessie!

The deck in front is one of three, roughly spaced in front of each rv site. Behind the motel is a small open air bar and a small pier leading out to a floating dock and several basket chairs.

We drove into the town of Cedar Key to check out the "happenings". That took about 20 minutes. Cedar Key is a small fishing and tourist town that is now one of the largest farm clam and oyster suppliers in the country.

Dinner, it being a travel day where D doesn't cook, was had at the Island Hotel, the oldest commercial building in town. A repast of steamed Cedar Key clams in garlic butter, crab bisque, and stuffed fresh redfish with cheese and artichoke took care of that!

Back at the motorhome, we watched a beautiful sunset.

Next morning, with coffee in hand, we spent some quality time on the deck. The weather was warm, the dog had had here walk, and the sun wasn't very hot yet. The sunken boat just offshore with a large Osprey nest on the broken mast added a pirate feel to the morning. The Osprey mom has been catching fish and feeding her baby, a lot, often, all the time, morning till night. No sign of dad, the flake, but mom is working her tail off....

Another quick trip into town to let Sasha run on the beach. She loves the water, and ran and ran and ran, splashing all the while in the shallow water.

Of course, every beach town has to have a tourist spot, and Cedar Key is no different. There are hundreds of rental condos in town, and this area caters to those people with restaurants and bar. Oh, and T-shirt shops...

After a stressful day, we had to watch the sunset again.

Today the water outside our window was glass smooth this morning, so...again with the coffee on the deck.

We were visited by some of the local bird population while we sat.

This afternoon, Friday, at 1:00, a clam and oyster farm just down the road offered a tour of their facilities. Southern Cross has been in business for years, growing clams primarily, and they walked us through the entire process, from fertilization to table, a process taking about two years.

Many tanks are used, gradually increasing the amount of food and water available to the clams. This is one of the intermediate set ups.

Starting at such a small size that a spoonful of freshly born clams would contain more clams than there are people on the planet, they eventually eat enough high-nutrient algae to reach this size, when they are transferred to outside tanks.

When a particular size is reached, the clams are placed in mesh bags and "planted" in the warm water around the key. Eventually harvested, sorted, and bagged, they are ready for market. These bags were harvested this morning, and will reach Sacramento, California tomorrow morning. They are shipped in insulated boxes via airplane to distributers who then send them to restaurants.

The worst predator in these waters is a snail that bores a small hole into the clam while it's in the gulf, and sucks out all the goodies.

Southern Cross also retails their products, as well as other items locally caught. The prices are pretty good.

Many thousands of natural oysters grow in the shallow waters around Cedar Key and are visible at low tide. Protected by law, they are off limits to harvesting.

We've enjoyed three nights at Low Key, but doing nothing is hard work! We're looking forward to the next leg of our '16 journey. Stay tuned.