Tom's National Park Adventure

Dry Tortugas National Park is located about 70 miles west of key West, FL.

There are two ways to get there. Boat or Plane. The Seaplane option was a little too steep for me so I opted for the boat option.

The Yankee Freedom took me the 70 miles to the park. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there. We had to show up at 7:00 am in order to board the vessel. We departed at 8:00am and arrived at the park at 10:30am. The park consists of 7 islands or keys clustered together. The area is noted for its bird and marine life and is numerous shipwrecks. A lighthouse was built on Garden Key in 1825 to aid in navigation. A different Lighthouse was built on Loggerhead Key in 1857.

The United States figured out that it could control navigation into and out of the Gulf of Mexico if they were to fortify the Tortugas. They began the construction of Fort Jefferson in 1846. They worked on the fort for over 30 years and it was never finished!

The fort did serve as a Union military prison for deserters during the Civil War. It also housed four men convicted as part of the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The army abandoned the fort in 1874.

Since that time the Tortugas became a wildlife refuge in 1908 in order to protect Sooty Tern rookery. In 1935 Fort Jefferson became a national Monument in 1935. It became a nNational Park in 1992.

The staff on the Yankee Freedom were great. They provided us with Lunch and lots and lots of information about the park. I took a tour of the fort and then hiked around Garden Key where the fort is located. I had the option of snorkeling and decided not to. The consensus of the people who did snorkel was that the visibility wasn’t very good due to the fact that a major hurricane had come through the area just a few days prior. Hardly anyone was able to see many fish. So I may just have to return someday when the sea has calmed some!

We met back at the boat at 2:45 and left for Key west. We arrived about 5:30pm. All in all a very nice day. I went back to the hotel and crashed for the evening.

I got up early and drove to Ft Meyers, FL.