Day 21: Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas 1:2

There are three ways to get to Dry Tortugas - Boat/Ferry (can’t be a private boat), Sea Plane (can’t be private plane), or swim (just to far). We opted for the plane ride. The ferry is much cheaper (need to get ferry tickets weeks in advance) but the plane ride in the second half of the day was perfect. When the plane arrived at about 3:00 pm the last group of ferry people were leaving. Two planes, about 24 people, we had the island to ourselves. Except for a small group of tent campers already on the island. Well worth the extra money.

The pilot did and excellent job pointing out ship wrecks, sharks, turtles, and dolphins along the route, as well as, telling us history and antidotes along the way.

This is one of the least visited National Parks - You must visit it. Donna and I got our Jr. Ranger booklets and went to work and was able to get sworn in as Junior Rangers for Dry Tortugas National Park.

This park is very remote and not kept up as nicely as other parks. The visitor center needs a major upgrade. I wish they would add more funding to this park. If I was to be a park ranger I would love being at this remote park, the solitude and knowing I could do things to help this park be even nicer.

The history is interesting - the goal of this park was to protect the Mississippi River from foreign intruders. By the time the park was built - war technology had changed so much that the walls would have easily been destroyed. Three of President Lincoln assassination conspirators; Dr. Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Edman Spangler were imprisoned at Dry Tortugas for a life sentence of hard labor.

However, in general the intent of the government project for building Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas was pretty much a failed project.

If you love camping and solitude this would be a place to spend some time. Like all of the parks we have visited I wish we could have spent more time here.

#drytortugas #nationalparksRead more