Accessible only by boat or seaplane, only about 60,000 visitors arrive at the Dry Tortugas National Park each year. Compare that to the more than 300 million people who visited America’s national parks last year. But it’s really no surprise when you consider what it takes just to get there. The starting point is Key West, Florida, and from there, you can choose between an all-day boat trip and full-day or half-day seaplane trips, assuming you don’t have your own boat.

Preflight

I opted for the seaplane flight and checked in at the Key West Seaplane Adventures office at 7:30 AM for an 8:00 AM flight. Even though it was the end of March, the sun was rising, filtered by wisps of pink and orange clouds. When the remaining nine passengers arrived, we received our report, were introduced to our pilot, Gary, and then we took to the tarmac together to board the DHC-3 DeHavilland Turbine Otter Amphibian. The plane can carry 10 passengers plus the pilot … and when Gary offered the co-pilot seat, I literally jumped at the opportunity!

Gary has been flying to and from the Dry Tortugas for years. That day he would make five trips to and from the Dry Tortugas … and his early morning flight back to Key West would be solo.

Ready to take off

Once we fastened our seat belts and, perhaps most importantly, our headphones on, Gary began to narrate our morning adventure as we rolled onto the track. I turned on my video camera … and before I knew it we were airborne heading east toward the morning sun, and just as quickly turning south, then west for a bird’s-eye view of Key West . It was only then that I realized that I would sit in a place that I had only been able to conjure up in my imagination: turquoise waters, green sea turtles, bright coral, frigates, shipwrecks and a coastal fortress almost 170 meters high. years.

The passenger seat offered the perfect view of Key West, its hotels, Duvall Street and Mallory Square, which quickly disappeared from view. Gary put some music on our headphones … although he wasn’t quite sure what to make of his first selection: “Free Fallin ‘” by Tom Petty!

Flying to Dry Tortugas

Flying at 130 knots, we swiftly passed over an area called the “Flats,” a shallow body of water just 3-5 feet deep that stretches nearly 20 miles to the west. Flying just 500 feet above the water, these shoals are teeming with loggerhead turtles and dozens of them could be clearly seen swimming as we navigated overhead.

40 kilometers away, we flew directly over the Marquesas Islands, a coral atoll … and then over an area called “quicksand”. The water here is 30 feet deep with an ever-changing seabed of sand dunes. This is where treasure hunter Mel Fisher found the Spanish galleons Antocha and Margarita, and more than $ 500 million in gold and silver scattered over an eight-mile area. They continue to work on the site, and even today, there are regular finds of huge Spanish Emeralds.

But it wasn’t long from my vantage point in the cockpit before I could begin to make out Fort Jefferson at Garden Key, Bush Key, and further west, the lighthouse at Loggerhead Key.

A little story

Once Florida was acquired from Spain (1819-1821), the United States found it important to protect the 75-mile stretch connecting the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Ocean, as anyone occupying the area could control trade along the Gulf Coast.

Construction of Fort Jefferson began on Garden Key in 1847, and although more than $ 250,000 had been spent by 1860, the fort was never finished. As the largest American masonry coastal fort of the 19th century, it also served as a remote prison during the Civil War. The most famous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who put John Wilkes Booth’s leg after the assassination of President Lincoln. Mudd was convicted of conspiracy and was incarcerated in the Dry Tortugas from 1865 to 1869. The fort continued to serve as a military prison until 1874.

Almost there

Gary turned the de Havilland to the right, providing a spectacular view of the islands and Fort Jefferson, steering the seaplane into the wind for the smoothest landing ever, on land or sea, gently skimming the surface and we glided effortlessly . turquoise waters and heading to shore. One more roar of the engines, one quick turn, and we were on the beach ready to disembark.

We arrived around 8:30 a.m. M. … and aside from the 10 passengers on board, half a dozen campers at one end of Garden Key, and a few National Park Service employees, we had the island to ourselves.

As I watched the seaplane take off, heading back to Key West, I realized how isolated we were in this remote oceanic wilderness.

It was still quite cold, but the sun and the temperature were rising rapidly. Taking advantage of the morning light, I headed inside the fort, climbed the spiral staircase, and exited the old Garden Key lighthouse built in 1825. The lighthouse is no longer in use, as the “new” 167 foot lighthouse. height at Loggerhead Key, completed in 1858, continues to illuminate its beacon to sailors, warning of shallow water.

The view from the top of Fort Jefferson provided a spectacular 360-degree panorama. And besides the few strips of land that make up the park, there was nothing but sky and sea in all directions.

About the park

The Dry Tortugas National Park, located at the far end of the Florida Keys, is closer to Cuba than to the American continent. A group of seven islands, made up mostly of sand and coral reefs, only 93 of the park’s 64,000 acres are on water. The three easternmost keys are simply splinters of white coral sand, while the 49-acre Loggerhead Key, three miles away, marks the western edge of the island chain. The park’s sandy keys are in a state of constant change, shaped by tides and currents, time and climate. In fact, four islands completely disappeared between 1875 and 1935, testimony to the fragility of the ecosystem.

Final approach to Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson

The surrounding coral reefs make up the third largest barrier reef system outside of Australia and Belize.

Dry Tortugas are renowned for their near-pristine natural resources, including seagrass beds, fishing, and nesting habitat for sea turtles and birds.

Bush Key, just about 100 yards from Fort Jefferson is home to a wide variety of birds that frequent the islands and features a mix of mangroves, sea oats, bay cedar, sea grape and prickly pear, reflecting the character original of the islands. .

A great spectacle of wildlife occurs each year between the months of February and September, up to 100,000 black terns travel from the Caribbean Sea and the central-western Atlantic Ocean to nest on the islands of the Dry Tortugas. Brown nodies, pink terns, double-crested cormorants, brown pelicans, and the Magnificent frigatebird, with its 7-foot wingspan, nest here as well. Although Bush Key was closed to visitors, hundreds, if not thousands, of birds filled the skies and the sounds of their screeches and calls filled the peaceful surroundings.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Fort Jefferson National Monument under the Antiquities Act on January 4, 1935. Expanded to its current size in 1983, the monument was redesignated by an act of Congress as Dry Tortugas National Park on October 26. 1992 to protect the island and the marine environment, to preserve Fort Jefferson and submerged cultural resources such as shipwrecks.

There is no water, food, bathing facilities, supplies, or public accommodation (other than camping on Garden Key) in the park. All visitors, campers, and boaters are required to pack whatever they are carrying, so the National Park Service has created a wi-fi hotspot, just at the pier, where you can scan a QR code and download a variety of files. PDF to your phone or tablet. It’s an idea that’s sure to catch on across so many mobile devices, reducing the need to print (and discard) paper brochures. Inside Fort Jefferson, a small visitor center has some exhibits and shows a short video. I walked through the entrance and found an equally small office that houses the National Park Service employees who maintain and manage the park.

Almost 500 years ago …

I figured the islands didn’t look much different to the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who is credited with discovering the islands in 1531. He called them Las Tortugas, or “Las Tortugas,” since the islands and the surrounding waters They were hot with loggerhead, hawksbill, leatherback and green turtles. For nearly three hundred years, pirates not only raided passing ships, but relied on turtles for meat and eggs and also stole the nests of sooty terns and rattlesnakes. Nautical charts began to show that Las Tortugas were dry, due to a lack of fresh water, and eventually the islands were renamed Las Tortugas Secas.

New world shipping, trade and riches

The explorers sailed through the Dry Tortugas and the route was frequented by Spanish ships returning to the European continent from the Gulf coast of Florida, Veracruz and the Caribbean. Dry Tortugas turned out to be a major trade route … and served as an important marker for ships used to navigate the Gulf Coast. While Florida remained under Spanish rule, merchants used this route to transport coffee, tobacco, cotton, meat, cattle, and merchandise across the Atlantic in exchange for New World silver and gold.

Some of the best snorkeling spots in North America

Although I was only on the half-day seaplane trip, I still had plenty of time to swim and snorkel on the west side of Garden Key.

In the late 19th century, the US Navy built docks and coal warehouses to refuel, but severe storms destroyed them, leaving only their foundations. These piles, and the deeper water of the dredged channel, now offer an excellent opportunity to see larger fish such as tarpon, groupers, barracudas … as well as the occasional shark.

I have had my GoPro for years, but had never used it underwater and was pleasantly surprised when I entered the water. Multicolored sea fans swayed in the gentle current. The colorful reef fish, with their vivid and boldly patterned reds, yellows, greens and blues, are camouflaged among the bright corals and seagrasses. Today, turtle populations have declined, but you may still be able to see green, loggerhead, hawksbill, and leatherback sea turtles.

As I was walking back to the changing rooms at the dock, the seaplane for my return flight was landing and I realized that my time at Dry Tortugas was coming to an end. If I ever get a chance to go back I would definitely go for the full day trip.

A week later, after returning home to Colorado and shoveling snow from the driveway, a small plane passed overhead and I suddenly thought of my flight to the Dry Tortugas: the bright sun, the crystal clear waters, the abundant life, up and down. the surface of the water, a surreal landscape that now seemed much more distant. So captivating, so remote, that even having seen it with my own eyes, I could still somehow barely imagine it.