Dry Tortugas National Park

We visited Dry Tortugas National Park, one of the most difficult national parks to get to, requiring a ferry, seaplane, or private boat to reach it.

An interactive map:

We opted for the seaplane, since it was much faster than the ferry, and we’d never been in one before. It was a great experience.

The seaplane is offered by Key West Seaplane Charters, flying out of Key West International Airport (a rather small airport).

An info sheet:

Our seaplane:

Jenn got to ride up front, since she said it was her birthday when they asked if anyone was celebrating (we did go on her birthday in February):

Just 10 passengers:

Flying fairly low over the keys:

Sunken ship:

Approaching Dry Tortugas:

A close pass by a nice catamaran when preparing to land; sailing here on your own boat would be amazing:

Our pilot, who flies in Alaska in summer, and the Keys in winter:

Landing on water:

Handing gear to shore:

Us in front of the plane:

The other seaplane and the fort:

Fort Jefferson, the largest brick structure in the Americas, started in 1846, but never finished:

Old dock and the beach where we left our stuff:

Moat:

Cannonball furnace, where they heated cannonballs to slice through wooden ships like butter, and set them on fire:

Dr Mudd was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln:

Mariners Beware! I was wearing a Seattle Mariners shirt, so found that sign amusing:

Birds; Dry Tortugas is an important habitat for some seabirds. the adjacent Bush Key was closed for nesting season:

Pelicans:

The ferry arriving. Another nice thing about the full-day seaplane option was that we got to enjoy exploring the island for a couple of hours before most people arrived; just the 20 people from the two seaplanes, and a few overnight campers:

Once the ferry arrived, we headed back to the beach where we had left our stuff:

A hermit crab:

Bricks on the beach:

We went for a swim. Here’s the fort from the water:

We brought our snorkel gear, but the water was too murky to see much at the time.

Another pelican watching us:

We went back into the fort to kill some time:

Then back to the seaplane for the return journey:

Departing Dry Tortugas:

A private island:

Key West and Fort Zachary Taylor:

The “Southernmost” Point:

Marina:

Disembarking our seaplane:

A fun bucket-list experience.