23) Dry Tortugas National Park, January 22 – January 30, 2010

Location: 68 nautical miles west, northwest of Key West, FL; N24 37.642 W82 52.332

We spent almost 5 days getting to Key West from Huntsville, but we won’t go into all of those details (including buying a new RV). We did stay a couple of days in a nice state park just outside of Sarasota, called Myaka River State Park. When the park ranger suggested we go to Red Lobster for good seafood, we had to strike out on our own to find a place to eat. We were looking for fresh, local seafood.

Our New RV

We also stopped for a couple of hours at Big Cypress National Preserve on our way down to Key West. They had a very good visitor center with a good film and exhibits. It turns out that there is a lot to do in this preserve, and we decided that this is another place that we need to come back to, but we were on a schedule to get to our Key West reservations. However, in addition to the visitor center, we strolled their boardwalk and within a very short distance saw an amazing array of wildlife, including large Florida gar, several alligators, and lots of birds.

One Beeg Alligator at Big Cypress National Preserve

We later pulled into the Shark Valley entrance to Everglades National Park to get some information for our visit there after we saw Dry Tortugas. However, when we got past the last point to turn around with our trailer in tow, we came upon a line of cars that stretched 10 or 15 vehicles from the guard shack. It wasn’t moving. BYK walked up to the ranger at the guard shack and found out that the parking lot was full, and they were allowing one car in for each car that came out. Oh, and there are no RV places available, because they fill those with cars. So we waited until we got to the head of the line and could drive into the parking lot and get back out. Man!

This was snowbird season in the Keys and lodgings, including camping spaces are very expensive and hard to get in the Key West area (news flash, right?). We were able to get a campsite on Sugarloaf Key at a KOA, about 15 miles or so from the dock in Key West where we would board the boat to Dry Tortugas. It was a nice campground except for the rooster that perched in the tree just outside our trailer and woke us at 4:00 a.m. every day. It seems the Key West rooster population is migrating toward the mainland.

Dee, at the counter of the Sugarloaf KOA was very helpful, suggesting a good restaurant within walking distance of our campsite (Mangrove Mama’s) and was even able to name the Cuban restaurant that we ate in years ago in Key West (El Siboney). It is soooo good.

We had to show up for the boat, Yankee Freedom II, to the national park (only accessible by boat or seaplane) by 7:00 in the morning. The rooster had us awake up in plenty of time, but getting enough sleep was a problem. The good news was that the fare included breakfast and lunch, so we didn’t have to use precious time preparing those. We were “entertained” by Deb (note, not Dee from KOA) on the way out (and by several people who only thought they didn’t need Dramamine) with some information about the park and some maritime “jokes”.

After arriving at Fort Jefferson, which covers about 95% of the main island in the park, Deb was also available to lead a tour of the fort. We did that and learned that Deb is the “bird lady” (she has a blog at www.yankeefreedon.com) and had lots of information about the numerous species flying overhead and on the beaches. She also pointed out the burrowing owl perched in the main ammo bunker and their nest in the parade ground of the fort, promising to update their progress on her blog. We were able to make that tour and walk the entire moat wall (about 0.6 miles) around the fort before we headed back to the boat to get lunch. After lunch, we still had time to take in the visitor center, take a self-guided tour of other parts of the fort, and stroll out to the South Coaling Dock ruins. Most of the rest of the park is under water, and we weren’t prepared to do that on this trip (have to come back). We could have snorkeled but the water was at about 70 degrees, a bit cool for our liking.

First View of Fort Jefferson on Dry Tortugas

Arriving at the Dock

Deb Discusses Fort Jefferson History

Fort Jefferson Parade Grounds

Burrowing Owl in Alcove

Moat Walk

Beautiful Blue Waters

Looking through Fort Jefferson

The boat trip is about 2 hours and 45 minutes, each way. On our day, the trip back to Key West was much rougher than the trip out. Luckily fewer people were seasick, because they were prepared for it after the trip out. We were in a 75 or 100-foot cat, and the captain had to slow down to near stop several times to keep from crashing down from the tops of some of the waves. Even so, we were lifted, weightless, off our seats a couple of times. Wheee! They “suggested” that no one sit in the first three or four rows, because it would be too rough. We were the first row behind that.

While in Key West, besides enjoying some of the fine dining, we toured around some familiar and not so familiar sights. For example, we found the newly-opened Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center. It has only been open three years and they have very ambitious plans for the future. It has great exhibits on the keys, both above and below the sea, and a great film. It’s best to call for directions, because the literature—AAA Tour Book and a flyer—that we had was not correct.

From our present campsite, we had about a 3-hour drive to the campground in the Everglades National Park. We were told the checkout time at Everglades was 10:00 am and was the best time to get a campsite. That meant another early morning rising and our friendly rooster did not disappoint. It was off to our next adventure.