Dry Tortugas National Park, FL

Yesterday was an awesome day and one of those that I know will remain vivid in my memory.

One of the things I’ve discovered late in life is how much I like being out on the water. I guess I always have known that was the case, but it’s been highlighted by my enjoyment of some great experiences in the past few years. Day tripping on my friend Gord’s boat in Indian Arm, overnighting on a boat in the Mediterranean while in Turkey, day tripping on a boat in Dubrovnic, even ferries to and from Vancouver Island, and yesterday on a day trip to the Dry Tortugas National Park. I feel so fortunate to have been able to visit one of the most remote National Parks in the US Park System.

The day was off to a ridiculously early start, partly because of the change to daylight savings early Sunday morning. The sun was barely up when we boarded the Yankee Freedom III at the ferry terminal on the Historic Waterfront in Key West, but a beautiful breakfast spread awaited us and the anticipation of a great day ahead had everyone in good spirits. The 100 foot Yankee Freedom III is a catamaran, great for it’s purpose, with two inside spaces (with groupings of comfortable chairs surrounding tables, and air conditioning) and an outside top deck, with seating both in and out of the sun. It had 4 heads, which were small, but huge compared to some I’ve been in (and my trailer toilet), which were kept really clean, and warm fresh water showers on the back deck. The staff were fabulous, especially Jeff as our guide. It was obvious how passionate he was about the islands and he did a great job of explaining the itinerary and all the processes for the day (boarding, what to do when we get to the island, etc). The food provided at both breakfast and lunch was abundant, tasty and fresh.

I had picked yesterday to go out on this trip early in my stay, even delayed departing 2 days to wait for the wind to die down a little, and it turned out to be the perfect day, weather-wise. It was a bit choppy out in the middle but nothing to upset any tummies. The trip passed quickly enjoying the sun, and conversation with fellow passengers. As the islands and fort came into sight it felt like they were just in the middle of no where, which they are. They are almost 70 miles almost due west of Key West. You can practically see Cuba from there. There are 7 islands, only 2 of which are more than just a sand bar and the islands comprise only 10% of this huge marine National Park. Historical mariner’s charts referred to this group of islands as “Dry” Tortugas, to indicate there was no fresh water available but there were lots of turtles and the name stuck. Our visit was to Garden Key where the imposing historic Fort Jefferson stands.

Upon arrival, as we disembarked, the crew set up the snorkelling equipment on the dock where there was also a boat house with change rooms and salt water shower to get rid of the sand. There were a couple of different tours offered and I took the one on fort history. I would like to have taken the nature moat walk too, (a birders’ paradise) but then I would have had to give up snorkelling/swimming. After the compulsory picture of the Fort sign, I did a bit of a reconnoitre while waiting for the tour.

Construction of Fort Jefferson, nicknamed “Gibraltar of the Gulf” started in 1846 and is the largest man-made masonry structure in the Americas. (16 million bricks went into the structure) Jeff did a fabulous job of making the history come alive with his great story telling. The fort was designed as part of the US 3rd level fortification system running along the east coast. The fort was strategically located at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico and the design was pretty amazing, although it was never used as an active fort. This fort was particularly large because there was no opportunity for reinforcements should they be necessary given it’s remote position. There was only one engagement in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War when the Union had just arrived to take over the not-yet-completed fort and a Confederate ship from Florida who had just succeeded arrived. There was no gunfire exchanged and in fact unknown to the Confederate ship, the cannons had not yet been installed in the fort. The Union General dispatched the Confederate ship to spread the word as to how impregnable the fort would be to anyone who tried.

The fort was used as a prison during the Civil War, but it’s most famous prisoner was Doctor Samuel Mudd who was sentenced to life imprisonment for aiding John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin, by setting his broken leg and allowing him to escape. Mudd was pardoned and released by President Andrew Johnson because of his treatment of prisoners suffering from a yellow fever outbreak, after all prisoners and soldiers stationed at Fort Jefferson signed a letter to the President requesting his release.

After our tour, I headed back to the catamaran to grab lunch and then headed off for my picnic on the beach. I snorkelled for an hour or so, and didn’t see much in the way of sea life althougth there were lots of people snorkelling at this spot.

The water was nice and warm but after that long I needed to warm up a bit so I went for a walk around the moat surrounding the fort. I discovered along the way that the best snorkelling was off the beach on the other side of the entrance to the fort, but I had already turned in my snorkel gear and I was running out of time. I did see a lot of fish and coral just walking along the moat….. oh yes, and about that crocodile…… there truly is one that lives in and around the island. They figure it must have been washed out from the Everglades to the islands during a hurricane but it’s managed to survive out there for several years. I didn’t see it but on the boat back one of the people I was talking to had seen it during their walk around the moat.

Then it was sadly time to leave. The trip back seemed just as fast, but could have been because I slept for part of the way! I was tired after all that sun and surf and oh, might have been the margarita. On our way back into port we motored past Mallory Square where I had watched the sun set another night. and on my way through Key West on my way back to Sugarbush Key I ran across a Burma Shave. Yup, it’s primary day here in Florida on Tuesday.

Sugarloaf Key, FL

Key West, FL

I started my day today in Key West, walking along the Historic Habour Walk. It’s a really busy harbour where you can book cruises, or rent jet skies, or go fishing, or do pretty much anything on the water. All along the board walk there are seafood restaurants with great views overlooking the harbour and of course shops enticing you in.

Then I did one of the compulsory activities on the island, I took a Conch Train Tour. It travels throughout the historic section of Key West and the driver did a great job of both informing and entertaining us. Pretty cheesy, but fun.

The keys were first discovered by Ponce de Leon who as you might remember was looking for the fountain of youth. They’ve had their ups and downs as various industries came and went. Sponge harvesting was doing well until a wicked red tide came along and killed off all the sponge. “Wrecking” which involved pursuing wrecked ships, first saving the passengers and then salvaging the cargo and pooling the proceeds, was going strong for a while, but then they installed a light house so no more ship wrecks. Cigar making was big for a while, but then unions and other problems caused the cigar manufacturing to be re-located to the Tampa area. And of course, Tourism. In 1935 they decided on a beautification project and just as it was completed, on Labour Day in 1935 a hurricane wiped out all the bridges and destroyed all that they’d beautified. In 1980 new bridges were built, and in the 1990’s cruise ships started stopping on their routes and now tourism is thriving. Try finding parking after about 10 in the morning in the historic section.

The island has all sorts of architecture; Victorian,Barroque, French Colonial, Moroccan, classic Key with verandas for cooling, some with the same layout as we saw in New Orleans, where the breeze was captured by the rooms all opening onto each other from front to back, etc.

After the Conch Tour, I headed to the “Little White House”. A former naval commander’s residence was offered to President Truman for his use in 1948 so that he could revitalize himself a year into a surprise Presidency when as VP he took over when President Roosevelt died. He liked Key West so much he returned often and the Navy had it renovated for his specific use. (His wife Bess didn’t like the Keys and rarely visited). Other presidents have used it since as well: Taft, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter (2007 NY Party), and the Clintons. It was used by Colin Powell when he led a delegation trying to forge a peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Duval Street runs a mile from the north to south of the island from the “bayside” to the “ocean side” and it is chock a block full of restaurants and shops. I stopped for lunch at one of the most lively ones called Caroline’s and had an excellent Club Sandwich. I did some shopping along the way.

At the southern end of Duval there is a marker where the southern most point of the continental US is located. It’s only 90 miles to Cuba from there, which is closer to Key West than Miami. There was actually a line up of people waiting to have their picture taken and it was chaos. Fisticuffs almost broke out when someone broke into the line. On my way back north, I stopped a the Hemingway House.

Ernest Hemingway lived in this house in Key West for only 9 years but in that time, he wrote approx. 70% of his literary work there. It is such a beautiful property you can imagine why he was so inspired. Hemingway bought the house, built in 1851 made of rock from the property, in 1931 for $ 8,000. While he was away in 1934 his wife surprised him by having the swimming pool built. It cost $20,000. When told of the cost, Hemingway reached into his pocket and took out a penny and handed it to his wife and said, “you might as well have every last penny of my money”. The 1934 penny is stuck in the top of the concrete deck around the pool.

One of the other stories our guide told us is that Hemingway was in Sloppy Joe’s one day and noted they were doing a renovation and throwing out the urinals. He took one home and installed it as a drinking fountain for the abundant cats on the property. His wife was so aghast that she put tile and an olive jug around it to try and conceal it, negating the thriftiness of getting the urinal free.

Given it’s ideal location, one of the other popular activities in Key West is watching the sun go down. Hundreds gather starting an hour before sunset to be entertained by buskers while they wait for the sun to go down and watch for that elusive green flash. It was quite the social event getting to know ones neighbours while waiting for the event.

It was a great couple of days and I’m looking forward to a few more before I start my northward trek.

Sugarloaf Key, FL

Sugarloaf Key, FL

After only one night in the Keys I’m already thinking that Jimmy Buffet and Hemingway were on the right track. And I think it’s the first time on this trip that I’ve made myself a second cup of tea to sit in the shade and just enjoy it. Well, and write my blog, which I didn’t do last night.

Yesterday I left Davie and headed south on Interstate 75 and then the Ronald Reagan Turnpike to State Highway 1 South. Once on to Highway 1 there was no need to watch my GPS as there wasn’t really any doubt or choice about which way to go. I don’t know how many Keys there are, but I crossed from one key to another on causeway after causeway including the famous 7 Mile Bridge to my KOA home for the next week or so on Sugarloaf Key.

As soon as I hit Key Largo, the colour palette of both the natural world and the man-made one changed to the most glorious aquamarine, blues and greens. Houses and businesses took on pastel tropical colours and even the cement block highway dividers were painted an aquamarine shade and the Ace Hardware was painted in lovely pastel blues and greens rather than the usual corporate colours.

The traffic slowed down, due to the “island time” influence I’m sure, but also due to the sheer volume and the limited roadways. Retail stores, restaurants and especially “Official Tourist Information” places (really shops trying to sell you tickets to attractions, etc) are liberally sprinkled along the way. Yet there was surprisingly a lot of undeveloped land, and lots of State Parks to keep it that way. Often where bridges had to be replaced (and that is frequent) they have created fishing bridges out of the old ones which were swarming with fishers and walkers of all ages.

I won the lottery of the camp sites here. It’s a perfect spot with no one to the side where my picnic table is located with shade from three lovely trees but sun if I want it. It’s right next to the very new washroom/laundry area and just a 50 step walk to the beach or pool/restaurant/bar area. And the wifi is not bad at all. I may extend my visit here, even though it will mean moving sites during my stay, something I’m loath to do.

After setting up camp and having some pool time to chill, I headed into Key West (sans camera) to see what I could see without worrying about parking, etc. I was struck by how much larger the historic, and now tourist, area is compared to what I expected. But the amount of traffic and the number of people I had imagined was true to life and is crazy. I managed to find a 30 minute parking spot and briefly walked past many of the things and places I’d heard about and got my first piece of much anticipated Key Lime Pie. On the way back to Sugarloaf Key, coming off of Key West, the traffic was at a dead standstill. Half an hour later, when it started to slowly move the reason became evident, a really bad accident on Highway 1 at a spot where there were no alternatives to get around the scene. A small red sports car looked like it had rolled and there was a huge SUV involved as well. A reminder, once again, to be careful.

You might not hear from me for a few days, as I think the island charm may come over me but:
(with apologies to Jimmy Buffet)

Don’t know the reason,
I’ll stay here all season,
With nothing to show, not a brand new tattoo.
There’s booze in the blender,
and soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.

Marathon, FL

Islamorada, FL

Key Largo, FL

Homestead, FL

Davie, FL