The islands were discovered by a Spanish explorer named Ponce de Leon. He named them Las Tortugas for the abundance of turtles in the area alerting the Spanish fleet that there was food nearby these islands. Sea turtles can live for a month out of water if you put them on their back and splash them with water frequently giving the ships plenty of food. The English added “dry” to the name as these islands have no potable water. The islands also were a safe harbor for sailors from storms another great thing for ships. Lastly, the islands are between Florida and the Gulf Stream so sailers could get into the Gulf Stream and sailing would be faster for them home to Europe. The islands originally had 9, I believe, but are now 7 as the sea has reclaimed the other islands. The largest island in the Dry Tortugas has a fort on it that the US built before the Civil War! Today, the largest of the islands still has Fort Jefferson on it and you can either take a high speed ferry or a sea plane to the island unless you have your own ocean going boat. The island is 70 miles west of Key West Florida! The islands that make up the Dry Tortugas have a wonderful abundance of sea life and the park is trying to protect the sea life. The islands are made of coral and sand. Snorkeling and scuba diving in the park is something that should be done as the wildlife (fish, and turtles) are beautiful and the coral is spectacular. Note: The coral is getting a disease and a combination of the park service and Florida Fish and Wildlife are trying to protect the coral. One of the park biologists stated the solution to prevent the disease is like putting a wet bandaid on your elbow and keeping it on your elbow. Let’s hope that the coral does not all get sick and die as this is a wonderful place to visit. While on the island you can explore the beaches, Fort Jefferson, and snorkel around the park. The snorkeling is done is two areas as there are sea planes coming into the park and the Park Service does not want anyone getting run over by a plane. The pilots can’t really see you when you are snorkeling since potentially only your snorkel is out of the water. Land creatures are limited to mainly hermit crabs, since the rats were exterminated. Hearing the hermit crabs walking on the dry plant leaves is interesting since you don’t really see the crabs but they are big.
Campground – The campground within the park is small by the standards of many of the National Parks. The number of sites is about 10 but any land on the island could be used for overflow camping. The Yankee Freedom only takes 10 people a day to the island for camping and your stay is limited to 3 days. If you have your own transportation then you are limited to 14 days on the island. The spots for camping have a picnic table near them and there is a few barbecue grills to use. Note: Only charcoal grilling is allowed for cooking since propane and liquid fuels are not allowed by the US Coast Guard. The good thing about the small campground spaces and size is that you get to meet new people and share meals with them, if you want. There is limited shade in the campground with a small grove of trees providing 1/2 of the spots with some shade. The grove is small and these spots are right on top of each other. Bring some shade if you want to ensure you have shade. The amount of gear you bring is up to you, as there are carts to help you with your gear at both ends of the trip. The campground has NO potable water so bring all your water with you and I would suggest that a minimum of 2.5 gallons per person per day since it is hot and you do sweat. Additionally, bringing some sport drinks to replace electrolytes is a must, again as you sweat in the heat of the island and when snorkeling. I will say that I am planning on going back for a couple of days and will have a cooler filled with food, water and sport drinks. Note: – Use the boat during the hours it is docked as a place to relax, shower and recharge your devices. The few hours the boat and day trippers are on the island is hectic on the island and the boat is quite. Also when the boat is on the dock the only restrooms to use is the boats but when the boat leaves there are 4 vault toilets to use for the campers.
Fort Jefferson – The fort was built to protect the shipping lane to/from the New Orleans purchase as much of the new nation’s commerce came in/out of the port of New Orleans and up/down the Mississippi River. The US started to build the fort and was working hard to get it complete but Lincoln was shot and the Civil War started. Note: The fort was always a Union fort during the Civil War so supplies to the fort had to come a long way from the North. The fort’s construction was something of an engineering marvel in that it has a moat around it, has cisterns to collect rain water, had new shutters to protect the cannons. The moat around the fort was designed for a few reasons and most will say protection and that is one of the reasons. The second reason was as a way to eliminate the sewage from the fort. The engineers designed trenches in the walls of the moat near the sea to be used for letting water in/out of the moat. The technology worked well in the North where the tides were 10-15 feet a day but in South Florida the tides are 1-2 feet and it did not work as planned. It was a bit stinky around the fort due to all the sewage in the moat, back in the day. Now the moat is clear where water can flow freely but where the water is damed up with sand it is a bit murky but no sewage. As noted above, the Tortugas have no fresh water so the cistern system was designed to collect rain water from the top of the fort and have the water pass through sand and coral pieces allowing impurities to be filtered out of the rain water. The water then went down from the third floor of the fort into some pipes to the cisterns as the foundation of the fort. These cisterns would hold over 1 million gallons of water allowing the fort to have plenty of drinking water. Issue is with the cisterns is that they were not sturdy as a foundation and began to sink a bit. The ones that did sink allowed salt water to come into/out of the cistern making that particular cistern unusable. The park service still uses one of the cisterns for their employees within the park but visitors have to bring their own water. The last engineering marvel was the shutters protecting the cannons and the cannon’s soldiers. The shutters were perfectly weighted allowing them to swing freely into the open and closed position. They did have a lock allowing them to be locked down into place. The really cool thing about these shutters was that once unlocked they would stay shut until the cannon was fired. The cannon ball would push air out of the cannon opening the shutters, the cannon ball would leave the fort and the shutters would close backup automatically! The walls of the fort are over 8 feet thick so cannon balls could not go through the walls very easily, in fact it would take days to go through the wall. It is hardly likely that the wall would be penetrated as the cannons of the fort could shoot 120 cannon balls a minute at a single target between 2-3 miles away. Not likely a boat would last a day let alone hours from this kind of shelling. It is important to know that the US spend all this money on the fort and it never fired a cannon ball at a hostile enemy! The fort was used as a prison and the most famous prisoner was that of Dr. Samuel Mud, more on him below. Cool story: Just before the start of the civil war a Union leader of men from Maine thought it would be a good idea to come down to Fort Jefferson ensuring it would remain a Union fort. Well as it turned out a Confederate ship’s captain did come to the fort and asked this particular leader of the Union troops to surrender the fort. The leader said to the Confederate captain that he should go back to his boat and then tell the other Confederate captains that the fort was not to be messed with. The Confederate captain said that he would shoot at the fort if the fort was not surrendered. The Union leader said that was fine and he would tell the next Confederate captain the same thing as this captain would be dead. The Confederate captain did return to his boat and sail off. The funny thing was the Union leader was bluffing as the fort did not have any cannons to fight with at the time.
Yankee Freedom III – The Yankee Freedom is the only boat to service the island and is a National Park Service contracted service. The boat offers riders the option of camping on the island, 10 people per day, or you can go on a day trip to the island. The boat also offers snorkeling gear to boat riders who sign a permit/waiver on the way out to the island. Note: As a camper you can keep your snorkel gear as long as you are on the island and only have to return your gear when you are going home. The crew of the Yankee Freedom is wonderful. There is a tour guide who will talk to you about various way points along the path to the island. The way out for me was Noah and the way back was “Hollywood.” The boat dock for departure is near the Naval Station and you board the boat early! As a camper you need to have all your gear on the dock by 0600 and loading is soon after that time. The registration opens at 0700 but not the day I was there since there was some computer problem preventing the ticket window from opening. The boat boards about 0730 and it boards by boarding pass number. The number ranges are in groups of 25 so don’t be late as getting a seat in the location you want maybe hard if you are towards 125 or higher. The boat itself has two decks for passengers inside air conditioning. The top deck inside is small with 4 people tables on either side of the aisle and larger 12 person tables in the middle. The total number of tables on the top is about 5. The top deck also has outdoor seating so if it is a nice day you can enjoy the fresh sea air on the ride out/back. Down on the main deck you have the canteen, breakfast is served for free and is bagels, yogurt and fruit. The bathrooms and some seating in the AC is also on the lower deck. These tables on the lower deck are of 4 people each of the two sides and 12 people in the middle like above. There are about 8 rows of tables. The main deck also houses a forward standing space where you can go and have the wind in your face you head towards the island. Note: – as you get closer to the island many more people want to see the island approach so if you want to get a good view go early. The crew of the canteen will also sell you food, sodas, and after 1330 alcohol. There is free coffee and fresh water for drinking at the canteen. Bring a cup for coffee and water as the cups the boat offers are quite small. The crew of the boat is very professional and most have been working for years on the boat so they know about the island enabling you to get some “local” tips. The crew even vacations out here on the island as it is so nice, get some pointers from them. If you are a camper the boat when it arrives at 1030 and you have to go through a Ranger orientation then proceed to the campground. The boat will provide anyone with the ability to take a shower, it is warm, and also get some electronics charged while in port. The showers are open only when the boat it docked so if you are a day tripper you can shower before the boat leaves the dock to be saltwater free for the trip home. As a camper a shower is always a good feeling and it is not a timed shower! A great thing after the shower is to charge your devices as the boat does have some outlets and these outlets are in the air conditioning. The boat leaves at 1445 so if you are camping get off the boat and enjoy a quiet island when the boat leaves.
Other islands – There are a few other islands in the Dry Tortugas National Park area and one of them is called Hospital Island. It is named that due to the island being used for a hospital during the Yellow Fever epidemic that spread throughout the fort. The fever was caused by mosquitoes and the doctors and nurses at the fort moved all of the sick over to the island to “protect” the others from getting sick. Too bad the mosquitoes were the ones who caused the disease and they were still biting people in Fort Jefferson. The doctors and nurses lived on Hospital Island and eventually they all succumbed to the disease along with the troops. A second island is Bird Island and you can’t go visit due to the nesting of migratory birds but you can sit and watch the birds fly around the island. If you were allowed to go to the island you would be able to walk most of the way but one part the water is deep about 5 -6 feet causing you to have to swim. I suggest to just get a pair of binoculars and watch from a distance and not disturb these wonderful birds.
Dr. Samuel Mud – As noted above Dr. Mud is the most famous prisoner here at Dry Tortugas’ Fort Jefferson. Dr. Mud was the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s leg after he shot and killed President Lincoln. Dr. Mud was the only one who helped Booth that was not sentenced to death but to a life of hard labor. Dr. Mud went to Fort Jefferson to help build the fort and work in the fort. The work was not as a doctor but a laborer. Dr. Mud was in prison in Fort Jefferson during the Yellow Fever outbreak and when all of the doctors and nurses died on Hospital Island he then went to the men who were holding him and said he would treat the wounded. Dr. Mud did treat the soldiers and others working at the fort during his time as a prisoner. The soldiers wrote the President after the war and asked for Dr. Mud’s release due to the great care he provided the soldiers and people at Fort Jefferson. The President then pardoned Dr. Mud, but the saying “your name is mud” still stuck.
