Fort Jefferson and Dry Tortugas National Park
Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads….
You can’t drive to the Dry Tortugas National Park. You need a boat. Or a seaplane. Or really good swimming skills. It sits about 70 miles due West of Key West out in the middle of the ocean and holds the distinction of being the United States’ most remote national park.
I’d never even heard of this place until my second trip to Key West in August 2006, when we were looking for things to do one day. Back then it cost us about a hundred bucks per person for the ferry ride, which included bagles, danishes, and coffee on the boat in the morning, lunch out at the park, and a guided tour. At the time of this writing (2009) the prices have risen a bit to 145 dollars. Yikes. Thanks Dubbya. It’s worth it though, as this is one of those rare places on earth you absolutely cannot miss seeing before you go tits up, and you will not regret the adventure.
This is by far the coolest park I’ve been to in the United States. I’m a big huge fan of Civil War forts, and the Dry Tortugas National Park has the granddaddy of them all!
“The Slumbering Giant”
Giant is right. This fort is so big it boggles the mind. You really can’t get an idea of how huge it really is until you walk into the parade grounds and look around you – the inside area of the fort holds 13 acres of land.. It’s quite literally breathtaking.
The fort itself sits on Garden Key, but if you look at the aerial photos you realize that it’s more like the fort buts up to Garden Key, as 4 sides of it are exposed directly to the ocean. The fort is ringed by a seawall to help keep waves from deteriorating the exterior walls. The mote this creates is full of crazy, colorful little fish and is only a few feet deep.
In 1826 the federal government constructed a lighthouse on Garden Key with a caretaker’s house next to it. Three years after that, the government decided the island was a perfect place for a fort to help control piracy in the shipping lanes, and for the next 17 years they designed and planned, eventually beginning construction in 1846. The new fort surrounded the lighthouse and the house, and when the fort walls were finished, the old brick lighthouse was demolished replaced by a metal one atop the fort wall..
Like most things in Key West, the fort was never actually finished. This was due primarily to the advent of the rifled cannon, which made the fort obsolete.
In 1865 the fort was sent a very notable prisoner; Dr. Samual Mudd, who was being held for conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mudd acted as the forts’ doctor throughout the yellow fever epidemic at the fort in 1867, and because of his efforts, was eventually pardoned and released.
The fort and it’s surrounding waters were declared a national monument in 1935 by Franklin Roosevelt, and were designated as a national park in 1992.
Fort Jefferson is the largest masonry structure in the western hemisphere, and contains more than 16 million bricks!
I don’t want to try to repeat a lot of historical crap here, but if you’re interested you can get a better rundown of the vast history of Fort Jefferson at Wikipedia.
A La Plage!
There are three small beaches on Garden Key, one faces the shipping channel, so it’s pretty unhospitible, but the other two face the shallow waters surrounding the fort, and the snorkeling here is world-class. The waters around Fort Jefferson are filled with all manner of colorful sea life – there are even some american crocodiles out there – seriously!
The boat captain on our trip out told the passengers that when they were snorkeling, to stay away from the coral, the moray eels… and the sharks! Everyone looked at one another as if they were all thinking, eff that! I’m not snorkeling now! He continued to tell us that if we left them alone they’d leave us alone, and that the ecosystem out in the Tortugas was so rich, that the larger predatory fish were never hungry, and generally had no reason to come after our tootsies. Great. It was so hot, everyone went in the water anyway - which by the way, is so clear you can easily see 30 to 40 feet.. absolutely beautiful!
Time flies when you’re having fun
I spent the better part of two hours wandering around in the fort taking photos while Christina and her Brother went swimming. I got a ton of really cool shots, but I tell you – I paid for it. It was August, and it was HOT out there. I did manage to jump in the water and cool off before it was time to leave though, what a relief!
I definitely want to go back and spend the day snorkeling around the seawall. Maybe even spend the night at the primitive campground there, now THAT would be an adventure. I can only imagine how cool it would be to camp on the beach on a tiny island in the middle of the Ocean – that will be a future post on Conch Tales for sure…
I highly recommend that if you find yourself in Key West, you take a day and visit this amazing place, you’ll be glad you did!
Check out more photos of Fort Jefferson.