Dry Tortugas National Park

Key West, FL – This is one of the harder national parks to visit in the lower 48 states (I think Isle Royale in Michigan is harder, I’ll let you know in September). First, you have to get to Key West, which is not close to anything unless you happen to live in Miami. Then you board a catamaran for a 2.5 hour cruise 70 miles across the Gulf of Mexico to a chain of seven small islands called the Dry Tortugas. Then…well, that’s it. I guess it’s not that hard. The ship is called the Yankee Freedom III and leaves Key West at 7:30 AM, arriving at the island at 10 AM. You have almost 5 hours to explore before the vessel departs at 3 PM and returns to Key West around 5:30 PM. Both breakfast and lunch are served onboard. We took this tour while staying at the Grassy Key RV Park on Marathon which was about an hours drive.

The Yankee Freedom III docked at Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park

Fort Jefferson is a main feature of Dry Tortugas National Park

So why the name Dry Tortugas? Ponce De Leon “discovered” these islands in 1513, and noticed an abundance of sea turtles (which in Spanish is tortuga). Sea turtles are favored by seafarers as a source of fresh meat that can be kept alive on the ship for weeks by occasional dowsing with sea water. The dry moniker is because no fresh water is available anywhere on the islands. There are zero springs. Any journey to these islands must include fresh water for the entire duration.

Salt water abounds in the Dry Tortugas

The two main attractions once you arrive on Garden Key are snorkeling and visiting Fort Jefferson. I found Fort Jefferson fascinating, and would highly recommend a visit if you enjoy military history. The fort was originally built in the mid 1800’s to protect the United States nautical and shipping interests in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the third largest fort the US ever built, and it was never completed and never fired upon. As you gaze upon the massive size of this structure (over 16 million bricks were used), imagine the effort required to build this fort in the 1840’s. There are absolutely no raw materials available here. Everything must be shipped from, at a minimum, Key West (a long and dangerous voyage in those days), and realistically as far away as Maine and New Hampshire for most of the bricks. The heat, humidity and mosquitoes are oppressive most months of the year. And there is no fresh water. No wonder construction took decades — and they still didn’t finish it. Advances in weapons technology, and increases in the size and power of the US Navy, rendered the fort moot.