Beyond Key West

The Dry Tortugas National Park is well beyond Key West. To get there, you must go by boat or seaplane. That is the only way to visit.

I didn’t know you could go beyond Key West

I have wanted to visit Key West since about 1974. My goal was always to drive there. Once there, I expected the tropical climate and relaxed atmosphere. Until this year, I didn’t know you could go beyond Key West. Or rather I didn’t know that there was anything other than the Gulf of Mexico beyond Key West. Any thoughts about going beyond Key West involved fishing.

Directly to the east, beyond Key West, you will hit Dry Tortugas National Park. Key West really is at the end of the road. Rather than the end of the road, people in Key West will remind you that mile marker zero is the start of the road.

Dry Tortugas National Park

The Dry Tortugas is one of the ten least visited National Parks in the United States. Gates of the Arctic National Park, in northern Alaska, is least visited.

Beyond Key West

If you go west beyond the Dry Tortugas, you will eventually hit Mexico. If you go south, from Key West you will end up in Cuba. Of course, east of Key West is the road, Highway 1, which island-hops all the way to Miami. If you go north, beyond Key West you will travel along the west coast of Florida.

The Army chose Dry Tortugas due to its location, controlling the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico via Fort Jefferson. The same holds true for why the Navy chose Key West and Dry Tortugas for its military installation. These two islands control the northern entry to the Gulf of Mexico and access to the entire Gulf Coast states and the Mississippi River. If you want to sail into or out of the gulf, without going past Key West and Dry Tortugas, you must go south of Cuba which would add weeks to your journey.

The picture at the top of this article is the only gate, from the only dock, leading into the fort. North of this dock is an island of sand (Bush Key) that would prevent ships in the north channel from approaching the gate. Surrounding the fort on all sides is a moat and shallow water that limits any attacking ship from approaching other than from the south channel. The only drawbridge across the moat is to the main gate. “Very defendable” in the year 1850 is an understatement.

Fort Jefferson

Fort Jefferson covers ten acres of the useable land on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. Any usable land not inside the six-sided fort is at the dock in front of the main gate.

Dry Tortugas

The name both fits and describes the islands around Fort Jefferson on Garden Key. The area was uninhabited and discovered by Juan Ponce de León. He described the abundance of sea turtles (tortugas) in the area. The term “dry” describes that he didn’t find any source of fresh water.

Bricks and more bricks.

In order to build the fort, sixteen million bricks were imported (since they don’t have clay on the island). The Army purchased bricks made in Pensacola (before the Civil War) and delivered them by sailing ships to Fort Jefferson. During the Civil War, the bricks were imported from New England. Fort Jefferson is the largest brick structure in the Western Hemisphere and the third-largest (1800s era) fort in the United States. It is a massive fort and dwarfs some of the other forts we have seen while traveling. We have stories about other very impressive forts in this post. Historic Forts in Florida

Construction started on Fort Jefferson in 1847. It continued for more than 30 years, including during the Civil War. The need for such a fort didn’t outlive the construction period. Slaves and convicts performed much of the labor before the Civil War. The slaves were freed so much of the hard labor was done by convicts during and after the war. The fort sat abandoned starting at the end of the Civil War and then the Navy turned some of it into a coal storage facility to refuel its ships.

Getting there

The Dry Tortugas are seventy miles west of Key West and most people take the ferry. If you can score an overnight campsite (8 are available), then you can return after a day or two. We met some campers from Alaska who spent two nights on the island in the campground. In order to spend the night, you must bring everything necessary with you, including water. Expect the daytime temperatures to be in the high eighty-degree range in the summer and around seventy-five in the winter. You can also expect the water temperature to be about the same as the air temperature. February has the least rainfall and September the most with eleven rainy days in the month. In the late summer and fall, there is always a chance for a hurricane.

Scuba and Snorkeling

Even though the water was a little cold, we got a chance to go snorkeling. It was interesting and we had very clear water. Yes, we would do it again, especially if we spent the night. For scuba, you would need your own boat or a charter. Bringing your own boat would also open up lots of options and locations that were not available for us.

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Links to places mentioned in this article.

Dry Tortugas National Park