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.

Dry Tortugas map.

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:

Info document

Our seaplane:

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):

Jenn got to ride up front

Just 10 passengers:

Just 10 passengers

Flying fairly low over the keys:

Flying fairly low

Keys

Sunken ship:

Sunk ship

Approaching Dry Tortugas:

Approaching Dry Tortugas

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

Catamaran

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

Our pilot

Approaching Dry Tortugas

Landing on water:

Landing

Approaching Dry Tortugas

Handing gear to shore:

Handing gear to shore

Us in front of the plane:

Us in front of the plane

The other seaplane and the fort:

Seaplane and fort

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

Dry Tortugas fort

Old dock and the beach where we left our stuff:

Old dock and beach

Moat:

Moat

Dry Tortugas fort

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

Canonball furnace

Dry Tortugas fort

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

Dry Tortugas fort

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

Mariners Beware

Dry Tortugas fort

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

Birds

Dry Tortugas fort

Pelicans:

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:

Ferry

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

Beach

A hermit crab:

Hermit crab

Bricks on the beach:

Bricks on the beach

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

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:

Pelican

We went back into the fort to kill some time:

Dry Tortugas fort

Then back to the seaplane for the return journey:

Back to the seaplane

Departing Dry Tortugas:

Departing Dry Tortugas

Flying

A private island:

Private island

Key West and Fort Zachary Taylor:

Key West and Fort Zachary Taylor

The “Southernmost” Point:

Southernmost Point

Marina:

Marina

Disembarking our seaplane:

Our seaplane

A fun bucket-list experience.

Video

Video: Homestead to Sugarloaf Key, Florida motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 122 miles from Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida to Sugarloaf Key, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.

Travel from Homestead to Sugarloaf Key, Florida

We drove our coach 122 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida to Sugarloaf Key, Florida.

This was a late change; we had planned to stay a couple of days more, but decided to leave early to avoid some bad weather.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading down the Overseas Highway in the Keys:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving our site:

Leaving site

We stopped at the dump station, which was rather popular at that time:

Dump station

A bird in Everglades:

Bird in Everglades

Leaving next to the entrance station:

Entrance station

Road works:

Road works

Entering route 1:

Entering route 1

Our coach in traffic cams:

Traffic cam

Overseas Highway, with an adjacent fishing bridge:

Overseas Highway

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Paladin sat on the dash at the fuel stop, but jumped down once underway again:

Paladin on dash

Turtle hospital:

Turtle hospital

Overseas Highway

Passing Encore Sunshine Key, where we stayed a couple of days later:

Encore Sunshine Key

Overseas Highway

Our destination:

KOA

Guided to our site (even though it was literally right around that corner):

Guided to our site

Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park is one of the rare national parks that is mostly water, on the coast south of Miami, Florida.

We visited for a sail, paddle, and snorkel trip.

Entrance sign

Our boat:

Our boat

Heading out:

Heading out

Birds:

Birds

Map; we sailed out to Coon Point on Elliot Key:

Map

Sailboat

Snorkeling; I used my 360 camera, but had some technical difficulties, so didn’t get many pictures:

Snorkeling

Water

Other boats:

Other boats

Raising our sail:

Sail

Sailing

Other boats

Sailing

Below

Some paddling into the mangroves:

Paddle

Sitting up front on the way back:

Sitting up front

Lighthouse:

Lighthouse

Sailing

A fun excursion.

Everglades National Park

We explored several areas of Everglades National Park in Florida.

A map of the park:

A map in a visitor center:

Map

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

The Royal Palm area of the park was closest to our campsite, with some nice walks:

Bird

Water lillies

Can you spot a turtle?

Turtle

Here it is:

Turtle

Tree

Also nearby is a relic of the Cold War: the HM69 Nike missile base:

HM69 Nike missile base

Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center:

Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center

Gulf Coast Visitor Center was under construction, so they used a modular building:

Gulf Coast Visitor Center

West Lake:

West Lake

Tree

Guy Bradley Visitor Center:

Guy Bradley Visitor Center

We were amused by Rock Reef Pass, elevation 3 feet:

Rock Reef Pass

Video

Video: bike ride around Long Pine Key Campground, Everglades National Park

A two-part video, with the route and photos, then a timelapse, of riding around Long Pine Key Campground within Everglades National Park.

Long Pine Key Campground, Everglades National Park

We stayed at Long Pine Key Campground within Everglades National Park, in Homestead, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A basic no-hookups campground within the national park. A little short for our coach, but we made it work.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-01-21
Check out: 2024-02-02
12 nights
We were going to stay 14 nights, but left early to avoid some nasty travel day weather

Weather:

Mostly cloudy
High temps ranging between 69-84°F, lows around 48-70°F
Little wind, gusts to 23 MPH, fairly sheltered by trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise
Generators during the day

Site:

#6, back in, asphalt
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
A little unlevel, high on right and front; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 36 feet long by about 10 feet wide; had to back into shrubs
Passenger side grass to hedge of trees between site about 30 feet
Driver side grass to road wedge-shaped, maximum about 30 feet
Picnic table
Fire pit
Clean site

Utilities:

No hookups
Used generator and solar for power
Used water bladder and pump to refill fresh water tank
Used dump tote and macerator to empty gray and black tanks

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 45-60 Mbps down, 16-22 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
AT&T: 145 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Verizon: 25-41 Mbps down, 20-27 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
T-Mobile: 3 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up, 37-437 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
In Everglades National Park

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Basic campground in the heart of Everglades NP

Pros: Beautiful, large, private sites within the national park.

Cons: Most sites much shorter than listed and facing the wrong way depending on your configuration (motorhome or trailer) so you have to think creatively to get orientated.

Neutral: No hookups of any kind, so be prepared. We camped at Long Pine Key Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Campground map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Not really long enough for our coach:

Our site

I got my bike out, for the first time in months (we sold Jenn’s a while ago):

Our site

A path to the nearby bathroom block:

Bathroom

Dish washing sink:

Bathroom

Inside the men’s bathroom:

Bathroom

We were staying inside Everglades National Park, and did a sailing trip in Biscayne National Park (posts coming on those in the next couple of days), so we added those stickers to our coach:

National Park stickers

A snake on the road:

Snake

Entrance and dumpsters:

Entrance and dumpsters

Info sign:

Info sign

There were some solar-heated showers:

Solar showers

Solar shower

An interesting way to park a coach; perhaps a bit against the rules, but a good solution to cope with the sites being too short for big motorhomes:

Other sites

Other sites:

Other sites

Tent sites:

Tent sites

The campground had a path to an amphitheater, where they did ranger talks (with my bike in the foreground):

Amphitheater

The Long Pine Key lake:

Lake

A nice campground, despite the lack of hookups. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: Clermont to Homestead, Florida motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 289 miles from Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida to Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.

Travel from Clermont to Homestead, Florida

We drove our coach 289 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida to Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south along Florida’s Turnpike:

Route map

An interactive map, showing potential stops:

Leaving TTO:

Leaving TTO

Toll plaza:

Toll plaza

Sinclair Road:

Sinclair Road

Toll plaza:

Toll plaza

Entering the Florida’s Turnpike toll freeway:

Florida's Turnpike

Service plaza rest stop:

Service plaza

Our coach in traffic cams:

Our coach in traffic cam

Service plaza lunch stop:

Service plaza

Earl of Sandwich; it was a very nice sandwich:

Earl of Sandwich

We bought and activated a Sun Pass toll transponder for our truck:

Sun Pass

Another traffic cam shot:

Traffic cam

Florida’s Turnpike:

Florida's Turnpark

Fuel stop, alongside another Tiffin Allegro Bus (slightly newer):

Fuel stop

Hard Rock guitar building:

Hard Rock guitar building

End of the turnpike:

End of the turnpark

Entering Everglades National Park:

Everglades National Park

The entrance station, with a lot of traffic (other times we went through only had one or two cars):

Everglades National Park entrance

The ranger in the booth loved seeing Paladin on the dash:

Everglades National Park entrance

The turn to the Long Pine Key campground:

Long Pine Key

Campground entrance:

Long Pine Key entrance

Our site:

Our site

Hot Springs National Park

We visited Hot Springs National Park, an urban park in the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Map:

Sign

Hot Springs

Convenient free parking:

Free parking

The main feature of this national park is “Bathhouse Row”, a series of historic bathhouses that used the natural hot water of the area; some of which still operate today.

Buckstaff Baths is one that still offers bathing; Jenn did a traditional bath and massage package here:

Buckstaff Baths