07-January-2024 Dry Tortugas National Park

This morning I got up early and arrived at the ferry terminal in Key West at 6 AM so I could put my name on a standby list. There is only one ferry per day which takes people to Dry Tortugas National Park, a small island 70 miles west of here. I waited on pins and needles as everyone boarded and at 7:45 AM got the good news that I got a spot on the ferry. I asked the ticket clerk how often people get off the waitlist and she responded "not often – it's your lucky day!"

It's about a 2.5 hour trip out to Dry Tortugas NP. We left with sunny skies and calm seas but halfway there the sky turned gray and the winds picked up and the seas started rocking .... and the ferry crew started handing out barf bags. Luckily I'm not bothered by motion sickness and enjoyed spending the entire ride up on the bow. We arrived to rain showers and rough seas battering the northern side of the fort.

Dry Tortugas National Park consists of 7 small islands - there used to be 11 but 4 have been reclaimed by the sea. We docked at the largest of the islands, Garden Key, an island almost entirely consumed by a giant brick fort (Fort Jefferson) built in the 19th century to protect the United States and control marine traffic in and out of the Gulf of Mexico. I have included an aerial pic from the web in the gallery below to give u a feel for scale.

Had an amazing tour guide who told us all sorts of stories about how the fort was built and the many challenges they had. One of the big engineering blunders was that this fort was designed like many forts in New England where human waste was discharged into the moat around the fort and the 10–12 foot northern tides would wash out the waste every 12 hours. Unfortunately there is only a 1 foot tide here so the moat filled up with human waste and turned out to be of their many challenges. Ewww!

The wind kept building and the seas got rougher so snorkeling was not allowed as the waves were crashing into the moat surrounding the fort. Bummer as the water was warm and is known for lots of beautiful coral and sea life.

After the fort tour I enjoyed walking all around the island and seeing the shells and coral along the beach. Seas were much rougher on the ride home and passengers were not allowed to get out of their seats. That's the roughest ride I've ever experienced at sea – we sure got thrown around! Needless to say it was an extremely tough ride for a lot of queasy passengers.

Unlike other national parks where the adventure is AT the park (like the Angels Landing hike at Zion) the adventure here today was definitely the ferry trip TO/FROM the Park. I wouldn't mind a return trip some day to enjoy snorkeling in the gorgeous azure water.

After a day on rough seas and in rain where everything I had with me got pretty wet, I returned to my hotel room to find that there was a leak in the plumbing above my room and water dripping on my bed so I had to move rooms – a wet day all around! But a lucky one as I got to go on a day trip adventure that not many people get to do!