We have been wanting to visit the Dry Tortugas National Park for some time.  We just have not made an effort to get to Key West, even though there are very cheap flight from Tampa every day.  We finally got a hotel deal and flew down for a few days.  

There are only two ways to get to Dry Tortugas National Park.  One is the ferry and the other is a sea plane.  (Although I guess if you chartered or owned your own boat you could also go.) If you are on a cruise and stopping at Key West, the only way that you will be able to get to the Dry Tortugas National Park is to get a ticket on a sea plane.  The reason is that the ferry boards at 7:30am and leaves at 8am. The tickets are quite expensive on both the ferry and the seaplane. It’s $235 for adults and $180 for children on the ferry. The prices vary on the sea plane if you want to go for a full or half day.  If you are trying to go during tourist season, you need to plan months in advance.  We went during hurricane season and got our tickets only a few days beforehand, but they were the last two tickets.  I’m going to outline the day from the ferry.  

As I mentioned, the ferry boards early. We walked from our hotel, which was about half a mile.  You check in and are given a wrist band and a boarding card.  The ferry boards in increments of 25 depending on the number of your boarding card.  The tour guide, Hollywood, gives you an outline of the day as you are waiting to board.  There is also a schedule on the wall inside the ferry.  

The ferry has two levels and each one has an air conditioned section. The top level also has seats out in the open air. Each air conditioned area has a bar, but the bottom level has food and souvenirs as well. There are four bathrooms, but they are not supposed to be used as changing rooms.  They are not that big.  You can stand out in the back of the boat and the bow on the lower level.  

We opted to sit downstairs because I can get motion sick. Unless you have a party of six people, you will be sharing space with other people. There are 175 passengers on the ferry.  They had breakfast set out for us.  There were bagels and butter and jam. Then, after everyone had boarded, they had instant oatmeal, several types of cereal, yogurt, orange juice, milk, tea, and coffee. My bagel tasted fresh, but my husband’s bagel did not. 

The ticket included breakfast, lunch, admission to the park, and snorkeling gear (mask, fins, and floating vest). Each person has to fill out a waiver for the snorkel gear.  For the first half an hour, Hollywood talks about the trip and the islands we are passing.  The ride was quite smooth and I was happy about that.  Hollywood came back on the microphone about an hour later to talk about the day again.  The trip takes two and a half hours.  

At about the hour and an half mark, the ride got more rough.  The crew members stood at the front with sick bags and paper towels.  I opted to stand out back for a bit because fresh air makes me feel better and it’s good to look at the horizon.  The crew brought out ginger ale for everyone standing out back.  I only stayed for about 15 minutes because there was no shade.  I felt better anyway because I had on my motion sick wristbands. 

When we were about 15 minutes away from docking, Hollywood got on the mic again and talked about the surrounding islands.  He offered two types of tours of Fort Jefferson.  The first tour was for 20 minutes and we were to meet at the sign at 11am.  Then we could continue with a more in depth tour of the fort that lasted 40 minutes more.  We signed up for the 20 minute tour because he said we could decide to tag along after signing up. Hollywood also suggested that we take the first half an hour on land to look around and decide where to snorkel and pick up our snorkeling equipment after lunch.  

We were the first people off the ferry. We took some pictures and walked around both beaches. We found a shaded area and put down towels and our bags.  The water didn’t look great for snorkeling, which we were warned may happen since it was really windy yesterday and churned up the water. We were also warned to check for jellyfish.  We didn’t see any. 

The island that we were on is actually called Garden Key.  Bush Key and Long Key are also connected to Garden Key.  Long Key was closed to visitors because that is where the frigate birds are nesting.  Bush Key is also seasonally closed to visitors, but it was open when we were there (October 1). If I remember correctly, there used to be 11 islands, but now there are only 7 and some of them are also disappearing. 

We met with Hollywood at the Fort Jefferson sign at 11 along with at least 50 other people from the ferry.  He quickly gave us a safety lecture.  The fort is basically falling apart. We were warned to watch out for areas where the brick was crumbling, even over our heads.  There were two spiral staircases and one went up to the second level, but not the third and the other went to the third and not the second level. At the top of the fort, there are no railings, no safety features at the fort at all.  It reminded me of some of the places we visited in Europe. 

The tour group went inside the fort and there were benches in the shade to sit on while Hollywood talked for at least 25 minutes.  He was very passionate about the island. He even visits when he has time off work.  Fort Jefferson was created to be the most fortified fort in the U.S.  Hollywood really impressed upon us who crazy it was to put this all together in a spot that was near nothing.  He then gave us the history of when Ponce de Leon discovered the islands and named them Las Tortugas. (There were a lot of sea turtles, which were an excellent food source for boats because they could be kept alive for at least a month on the ship. Apparently they are also delicious.) Las Tortugas was renamed Dry Tortugas because there is no fresh water on any of the islands. 

I won’t go into all the history and its importance, but I found it very interesting.  We opted not to continue on his extended tour because we were antsy to explore on our own.  The fort has all these amazing view for pictures that you can take and we took advantage of all of them.  There are definitely areas that you have to be careful when walking.  The very top has no railings at all. 

There was a giant cistern because they needed enough water to hold the fortification for a whole year!  

The views out to the ocean were incredible. 

You can see here Bush Key and one of the several sea planes that stopped there. 

After touring the fort, we got onto the boat for lunch.  They were adamant that lunch was from 11-1pm exactly.  They gave us foot long sandwiches from Jersey Mikes.  You could choose from roast beef, ham, or turkey.  It came with cheese and lettuce and you could add any condiment.  They also had chips and pretzels, carrot sticks, and cookies.  We ate on the boat so we had AC.  The only bathrooms you can use on the island are on the boat.  

We then changed into our swimsuits and spent some time in the gulf.  The water was quite cloudy.  We could barely see our feet. When I went to change, my husband went to the other beach for some snorkeling.  He said it was better and that he saw quite a few fish.  

At this point, the heat was too much for me and I went to the boat after it was securely inspected from 1:10-1:30.  My husband wanted to take a walk on Bush Key to see the birds.  I had to decline and later he told me that he was very hot so I made the right choice. Although he did see a ghost crab (almost stepped on it).

He also got some amazing pictures of the birds.  

Lastly, he found a homemade raft!  Apparently people try to get there from Cuba, which is only about 70 miles away, and then try to get to the U.S., which is why the ferry was inspected. 

We left the island at 2:45pm.  The ride back was much smoother.  We arrived back in Key West at 5:30pm.  

I could never go on that adventure in the heat of summer.  However, it was so worth it to see a national park out in the middle of nowhere.  I really loved exploring the fort.  For those of you that enjoying the beach and snorkeling, this is definitely for you.