Big Bend Info
You won’t find the stereotypical Florida beach on this coast or the typical Florida beach town, if there is such a thing. You will find some amazing and very remote beaches though, and a few small fishing towns with a lot of charm.
As you head inland along the Suwannee River which runs from the northeast corner of Florida to the Gulf of Mexico, you find yourself in a back country wilderness draped in Spanish moss and wild magnolias.
Recently this forest wilderness has been host to a growing interest in equestrian endurance trials. With miles of trails weaving through remote forests, island, and river country, you couldn’t pick a more pristine place to ride the day away.
Heading out to the coast, Steinhatchee and Cedar Key are just about it for coastal towns around here and both are well worth visiting. If you want to kick back in a big way, these fishing villages along this remote coast are as good as it gets.
Steinhatchee:
Tucked up along a river mouth off Dead Man’s Bay, Steinhatchee is famous for all sorts of fishing and most especially its great scallops.
From July to September, you’ll find lots of folks with snorkel and mask gathering up the tasty scallops. The rest of year you’ll have the area to yourselves, and the locals can point you to some completely uninhabited beaches where it’ll just be you and a gorgeous wilderness beach.
An unexpected find in a fishing town where you would only expect motels is Steinhatchee Landing, a village of beautiful vacation rental homes, some dog friendly, set along the water with tennis courts, pools, a marina, and beautifully manicured grounds in which to wander about. It’s a very pleasant surprise out here in the middle of nowhere and makes a stay in Steinhatchee that much more attractive.
Cedar Key:
A bit further south along the coast is very laid back Cedar Key, an historic lumber port that died once the independent spirited locals blew off Flagler and his offer of a rail head a century ago. Flagler went down south and pretty much created Tampa by running his railroad there instead of Cedar Key. I doubt the locals cared one bit that they missed that train though. When the great cedar forest was gone, they switched to fishing and never looked back. The Island Hotel is a landmark here. Its bar was pretty much the county seat in the old days.
Along with great oysters, most of Florida’s clams are raised in beds around here and there are always boats pulling up to the dock full of the bounty of the sea. Good seafood and seafood restaurants are easy to find.
Cedar Key has a time warp feel, excellent restaurants, and the recently rehabbed old timberframed houses which used to be home to cedar tycoons give the town a wonderful old world feel.
The sunset docks face a bountiful estuary sprinkled with 100 islands and thousands of fishing holes. Indulge in kayaking, viewing the manatees, boating out to Seahorse Key to an 1851 lighthouse. This is sleepy old Florida, its isolation its saving grace, the people its treasure. The town gears up with music and great food during the annual seafood ritual in October, and an arts fair in April. You’ll love it there, ramshackles and all.
Heading south from Cedar Key the roads move inland a bit and you hit an area full of Florida’s natural springs. Not much in the way of sandy beaches here, but places like Crystal River, Homosassa and Weeki Wachee Springs all point to the abundance of ultra-clear spring waters in this area where you can kayak with the manatees.
The Big Bend is a wonderfully quiet and mysterious part of Florida that is well worth a visit.
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Watercolor by Peter Bailey