Along its ragged, marshy shoreline, the meandering Waccasassa River empties out into Waccasassa Bay, flats stretching out to the Gulf of Mexico. Waccasassa Bay Preserve State Park can only be explored by water – from the boat ramps at Yankeetown, Gulf Hammock, or the shoreline of Cedar Key – with no landside access.
Resources
Overview
Location: Cedar Key
Lat-Lon: 29.172923,-82.976439
Fees: Free
Open: 8 AM until sunset daily
Leashed pets welcome
Location
Details
Each spring, hundreds of swallow-tailed kites migrate from South America to nest in the tall cypress of the vast Gulf Hammock, a wet wilderness spanning the Gulf Coast between Inglis and Cedar Key, at the heart of the preserve.
Four primitive campsites enable boaters to spend a few days flats fishing, and are part of the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, stopovers for sea kayakers following Florida’s coast along the most remote segment of the nation’s longest paddling trail.
Put in at the CR 40 ramp in Yankeetown, the CR 326 ramp in Gulf Hammock, or from Cedar Key to access the park.