Outdoors & Nature Insider

Paddling at Atsena Otie Credit: Kevin Mims

Hey everybody!

I'm back from a fantastic weekend in Cedar Key, where I toured the area by van, golf cart, bike, boat, kayak and airplane! It was one of the best weekends that I've had in a long time, and I'm still feeling the after effects from all the fun.

Let's focus on the kayak trip for this post, and talk about the other cool stuff later – all of it is just too good to combine into a single post.

Atsena Otie Key is a short half-mile paddle from Cedar Key, making it an easy location to reach for paddlers of all skill levels. Brack Barker of Wild Florida Adventures was kind enough to show me some of the amazing natural beauty and history of Atsena Otie. Atsena Otie was the original settlement of Cedar Key, until it was abandoned after 1896. Today, Atsena Otie is home to a wide variety of wildlife, and is an terrific location for birding. Cormorants, white ibis, brown pelicans, herons, osprey and eagles can be spotted regularly.

Discover some of Atsena Otie's past at the19th-century cemetery that reminds visitors that this was once a prosperous community with many families. The ruins of homesteads can still be found, as well as a cistern and pieces of the huge brick foundation pillars that held up the Faber Cedar Mill. 

Interested in a paddling tour of the Cedar Key area? Take one of Brack's paddling tours, you will have a blast!  I've been on tons of paddling tours, but none that were more informative and relaxed as this one.  Contact Wild Florida Adventures and get out on the water!