Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Wow. What a day. We had an 8am reservation on a seaplane to Dry Tortugas (the most inaccessible national park), so we were up early to make it to the airport. We got checked in and met our pilot for the day, Joe! He was super cool and I even got to sit in the copilot seat on the way there! Our plane had 10 seats, plus a pilot. The flight to the national park is only about 35 minutes but we flew over some cool coral reefs and islands along the way. Joe had a nice playlist planned too that we could jam to while we looked for sharks, dolphins, turtles and rays. We think we saw a turtle and shark! We also flew over a sunken ship and learned all about the treasure that Mel Fisher found out there. Two Spanish ships sank with treasure and Fisher spent 16 years looking for the ships and eventually found one with gold that was worth about 450 million dollars. Arriving at Dry Tortugas was just as exciting as the flight. We landed right on the water and taxied all the way to the beach. We barely had to get wet :) It was quite the cool experience.

On the island, our plane and the other 10-passenger plane were the only people there! We had the whole island and fort to ourselves. We spent the first part wandering around the largest brick structure in the US and seeing all the canons and learning about life at the fort. It mainly held prisoners, the most famous being Dr. Mudd (the man who helped John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln). We made sure to stay far from the edge since there were no railings.

After we had thoroughly explored, Mom and I tried snorkeling! It was pretty windy so we were a little worried about the current. However, we were able to stay close to the moat wall and see lots of fish still. Shari and Denise stayed on top of the wall and had a nice walk. It was then time to return to the seaplane for the flight back to Key West. A different lady took the copilot seat but we still had a great flight back looking for more wildlife and enjoying the ride. It was amazing how smooth the takeoff and landing were in the seaplane.

After that exciting morning we returned to our houseboat, cleaned up and enjoyed dinner at the restaurant across the water from us. Then we chilled on our porch and saw Manny! Manny is the local manatee. He came right up to our boat and swam underneath. There were also lots of jellyfish and sharks around this marina. It was so cool to see them so close, right by our house!

We then decided to head into town and check out the rest of Key West we hadn’t seen. We first stopped at a local bookstore set up as a nonprofit, founded by Judy Bloom! Judy wasn’t there, but had worked that morning. Mom of course picked up some signed copies of books :). We then continued downtown and got on a Conch train tour. Our lovely guide Kenny took us on a very in-depth tour around Old Town. We learned about the history of the town, the trees and his own history. We learned that it is called Key West because of a wrong translation of Cayo Hueso, meaning Bone Island. We also learned about the Conch Republic. The federal government set up a barrier and border control on the road to the city, so naturally, the city decided to secede from the United States. It lasted about 10 minutes, but they still fly the Conch Republic flag. After the tour we wandered over to The Chart Room Bar. This is the bar Jimmy Buffet frequented and the first place he played in Key West (the sign said he played for drinks). After a nice drink and popcorn here we grabbed some pizza for dinner and returned to our Aqualodge :)

Key West has been good to us, but we are ready to experience the Everglades tomorrow!Baca lagi