Go Around the Bend: Key West Walkabout and a Day Trip to the Dry Tortugas

On Thursday, 12/1, we drove the 20 miles to Key West – the most southern point in the lower 48 and definitely about as far from home as it’s possible to get, at least by road. We’ll save the boat ride for Friday. Lol.

The town was fun, lots of palm trees and chickens. Rog was expecting something a little more small-town funky and less commercialized. Unfortunately, that was not the case – lots of aggressive hawking and tourist traps. Guess that is to be expected when we saw three cruise ships in the harbor.

We found the iconic “zero mile post” for US Route 1 and the “Southern Most Point” marker. There were some street performers and, of course, the marina area is just beautiful. Besides the cruise ships, there was everything from large, fancy yachts to not-so-fancy, tiny fishing boats. Lots of hand rolled Cuban cigars too, although that isn’t our thing. There was a pretty cool lighthouse right in town, but what I liked best were the huge old banyan trees. Also enjoyed walking around and looking at the architecture of the grand old houses. Somebody has money. Lol.

The end of the road, or at least Route 1, which runs 2,369 miles from here to Maine.

Closer to Cuba than Miami!

Loved some of the old mansions, but this banyan tree was incredible. Over 100 years old and monstrous.

A little local color. Who can resist a Pitty in shades. :)

Chickenzilla! They were everywhere.

Lovely lighthouse right in town.

Pelicans fishing from the pier - love that "who you lookin' at" glare. Lol.

Friday, we returned to Key West early in the morning to catch the 8am ferry, the Yankee Freedom III, to the Dry Tortugas National Park. The park is 70 miles off the coast of Key West so it is an all day trip – 2 hours out on the boat, 4 hours to tour the park, and then 2 hours back. The package included breakfast and lunch, a guided tour of Ft. Jefferson, and snorkeling equipment. A little pricey, but a great way to see the park.

The history of the islands and Fort Jefferson was fascinating. In 1513, Ponce de Leon discovered the seven small coral and sand islands and, after catching over 100 sea turtles there, named them Las Tortugas (the turtles). Unfortunately for the turtles, they were a great source of portable fresh food for the sailors. The British cartographers later changed the name to “Dry Tortugas” to indicate no fresh water was available.

In 1825, a lighthouse was constructed. Then after the War of 1812, the US decided to build a series of forts from Maine to Texas for coastal defense. In 1846, construction was started on Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas to protect the southern coastline and commerce to and from the Mississippi River. The fort is an incredible feat of engineering and (in my opinion) lunacy. Lol. Construction continued for 30 years, but the fort was never completely finished.

Our ferry to Dry Tortugas National Park.

Entrance to Fort Jefferson.

Some of the brickwork is being repaired.

The size of the fort is just incredible.

Beautiful view from the gun ports. :)

Separate arsenal for storing gun powder. Good idea!

View of the ferry from inside the fort.

The fort is six-sided, with a moat all the way around it. Two sides measure 325 feet, and four sides measure 477 feet. It is HUGE, the open center area is over 6 acres! It took 16 million handmade red bricks to build it. AND they built it on an island in the middle of nowhere with no source of fresh water (they collected rain water in big cisterns). The whole idea must have been one of those, “made sense at the time” kind of things. Lol. To be fair, it does have a safe harbor and made a great base for war ships patrolling the area – but the size and scale of the fort is just way over the top.

Fort Jefferson was never fired on and during/after the civil war it was used as a prison. One of its most famous prisoners was Dr. Samuel Mudd, the physical who treated John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Lincoln. It was later used as a quarantine hospital and then became a wildlife refuge in 1908. It is three stories tall and we walked the interior and climbed the stairs to the top to look out over the battlements. Fantastic views!

View from the top of the fort.

Gives you an idea of the scale, that center area is six acres!

Rog pulling out the big guns. Lol.

Multi-story spiral staircases have solid granite stairs. Image the cost and labor to ship and assemble!

Looking out over the keys - no enemy ships on the horizon. :)

The beach was also awesome, Rog & I both did some snorkeling but it was windy and the water was too choppy and murky to see much. No surprise since the boat ride to the park was, shall we say, interesting…. four foot seas that had us rocking and rolling for part of the trip. Lots of folks were looking very, very green, but Rog and I did ok. The return trip was a smoother ride, for which I (and my stomach) was thankful.

Beautiful beaches and Ft. Jefferson.

The water was a bit murky, but we still saw some coral and fishes.

Sailboat anchored off shore.

We got back to Key West in the evening and walked around town before heading back to the RV. Lots of marine themed Christmas decorations. We got a kick out of one display with Santa’s sleigh being pulled by dolphins. Only in Florida. Lol. Not much on the agenda for the next few days – we want to try some saltwater kayaking and snorkel some more if the weather will cooperate.