Dry Tortugas: Part II

After a quick lunch of peanut butter and jelly we headed into the water for some more snorkeling. 
I was much more successful this time around as the water was much calmer. We went along the moat wall and saw some cool fish.

 After paddling around for awhile we didn't find much coral as there was mostly sand and sea grass. 

When we looked out to where the reef would be, we judged it to be too far to swim as we had been snorkeling around for about an hour.

With that, we got out and went for a walk around the moat. It's a nice stroll to get a view of all sides of the island. There was no one on the North Side beach as the wind and waves were much more severe. 

 After taking a siesta we all headed back into the Fort. The ferry had departed with the majority of tourist and the island was much quieter.

Lindsay and I walked up to the third floor and walked along the edge. This Fort is basically no holds barred and you can go wherever you want with very few signs warning you off.
I stayed close to the inside edge as I didn’t want to fall three stories into a moat. As the smell of charcoal filled the air with people cooking dinner, we glumly slapped together more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (we figured since we were only there one night it would be easier to not bring anything to cook). One of my favorite parts of this trip was watching the sunset.

The few sunset festivals I’ve been to are crazy, carnival atmospheres but it was just a few of us on the beach, watching the sun sink slowly. I celebrated with my trademark cartwheel.

When it was fully dark we decided to walk around the moat again and search for creatures.
Here is the lighthouse all lit up:

 

Some eerie pictures of the moat at sunset:

Shining the flashlight around, we didn't spy much around the moat but we hit paydirt when we wandered over to the boat dock and saw tons of little fishies and some barracudas hovering around. Lindsay spotted a huge black shape that she initially thought may be a shark but turned out to be a goliath grouper. These things are 400 pounds!
Here's a pic to give you an idea:

It was kind of eerie to watch it float around.  We wound down for the night by doing some amazing star gazing. It was a fairly clear night and we saw billions of stars. Jess and Lindsay wisely pointed out constellations while I just enjoyed the peace and quiet (minus the exception of me belting out Lion King songs).

Dry Tortugas: Part I

Day Five (Wednesday, March 14^th):

We got up bright and early to make our ferry to the Dry Tortugas. We had to have all our gear on board the Yankee Freedom Ferry at 6:30am even though the boat didn’t depart until 8:00am. The conditions look great for the trip!The boat ride out is 70 miles which is about a 2.5 hour ferry ride. Breakfast is included so after dining, I went out to enjoy the sea breeze since I didn’t want to be cooped up upside the air conditioned boat. The ride is mostly across open water with no land in sight so when the Fort finally comes into view it looks like an oasis. Before we could disembark we were lectured by Ranger Dustin on the dos and don’ts of camping on the Island. Basically beware of rats and Cubans storming the beaches at night.
Here is the small port where we disembarked:We got the tent set up and decided to go for a walk around the fort. I wasn’t expecting it to be so huge but it was amazing!!

The weather was absolutely perfect. Just hot enough that walking around the dark, cool fort felt refreshing.
The architecture is amazing as well and it photographs very well. Granite spiral staircase:
The contrast of the red brick and the bright blue waters outside are spectacular. Here is Island Key which is closed due to bird nesting:
Inside the magazine:

Key West

After leaving Bahia Honda, we drove down to Key West and checked into our hotel where we were pleasantly surprised to find that a free downtown shuttle was included in our rate. After getting ready we hopped on to check out downtown Key West. Our first stop was the Southernmost Point in the U.S. The Southernmost point was originally just marked with a sign, which was often stolen. In response to this, the city of Key West erected the now famous concrete buoy in 1983. Despite not being completely accurate it’s still a must see tourist stop. There was a line to get your picture taken and while we were waiting we heard a ruckus and saw that one of the famous chickens had suffered a hit and run. The chickens have been around for 175 years but their numbers grew in the 1950s, when thousands of Cubans fled the Revolution and came to Key West to support a booming cigar industry bringing their chickens with them. Many escaped or were released and now roam the streets of Key West. After leaving the Southernmost Point, we wandered by the Hemingway house which is home base for another Key West staple, the six toed cat. Ernest Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship's captain and some of the cats who live on the museum grounds are descendants of that original cat, named Snowball. Key West is a small island and it is possible that many of the cats on the island are related. We ambled down Duval street which is the main drag and ended up at Mallory Square for the famous Sunset Festival.My favorite of all the entertainment was this act. The man would perform his guitar and the dog wandered around and took the money from people's hands. The man wasn't very good but that is so freakin adorable that I bet he makes tons of money.It was so packed that we decided to go grab dinner before the crowds descended on the restaurants. We dined at Red Fish, Blue Fish and I had Mahi Sliders and Key Lime pie which were both so delicious. We wandered around the harbor and I loved this charter boat: "The High Class Hooker-You Know You'll Catch Something."If I were to hire a charter it would be this one for its sense of humor.Waiting for the shuttle to take us back I got my picture taken with this sponge man.I really loved Key West. It is so laid back and I think the architecture of the homes is so gorgeous. It reminded me somewhat of New Orleans (minus the wrought iron).

Key Largo, Islamadora and Bahia Honda

Day Four (Tuesday, March 13^th):

The day before Jess had gotten a call from John Pennekamp state park that warned we may not be able to do our snorkel tour due to rough seas. The next morning we headed over first thing to the park and were told that tours were a go. After sorting through and fitting all our snorkel gear we boarded the Dolphin.

  

We had to head 5 miles out to the reef. The park is America’s first undersea park. Jess informed the crew that I was an experienced snorkeler (not referencing my one freshwater experience where half the time my snorkel was underwater) so with that we hopped right in. We swam around for about 45 minutes checking out the reef and all the creatures.

 I saw a huge lobster!

There were also some barracuda floating around.

 My favorite are the brightly colored fish.

  

After about 45 minutes I was pretty tired. There’s no place to stand and rest from the constantly pounding waves and I was chilled from the lack of sun even though the water was about 76 degrees. Upon getting back on the boat I immediately knew that I was going to be sick. I had managed to swallow some sea water while getting tossed about by the waves and it was not sitting well. Before the boat even left the snorkeling grounds I was bent over the side. Jess kindly captured my misery.I continued to be sick most of the ride back. As my head has lolling over the side of the boat the whole way I wasn’t aware what was going on with the rest of the boat but Jess informed me that 5 other people had gotten sick as well. Back on dry land, we headed down to Robbie’s of Islamadora where they are famous for their tarpon feedings. Basically you pay a couple bucks and go out to a small pen filled with massive tarpon and hope they snag your fish before the pelicans do. The pelicans were quite menacing and one even stole my fish and bit Lindsay! There were also tons of tarpon floating around the docks as well. I had never seen such massive fish. Tarpons grow to about 5–8 ft. long and weigh 80–280 lbs. I managed to get one to snag my fish so I felt accomplished.

Next up was relaxing on the beach at Bahia Honda State Park.

The 2.5-mile natural, white sand beach was rated the #1 beach in 1992 in the United States by "Dr. Beach" Stephen Leatherman (the first Florida beach to be so honored).

The wildlife was great here as Lindsay and I saw an iguana and then we also saw a couple of manatees by the docks. I had never seen manatees in the wild before so that was really exciting. 

  
Bahia Honda is most famous for the old bridge. Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway once ran through the present parkland to Key West. It was destroyed by the severe Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Later, the railroad bridge foundations were used to build the Overseas Highway, which became U.S. 1. You can walk out on part of the old Bahia Honda Bridge which has a great panoramic view of the islands.