Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Dry Tortugas - May 10

May 10, 2025

Day 1,317 of the Adventure


Today we ventured beyond the "civilized" Keys to the part of the Gulf inaccessible to anyone not willing to travel by boat (big boat) or float plane. The Dry Tortugas is a cluster of ancient coral reefs lying just above the surface about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. Named in 1513 by Juan Ponce De Leon for the abundance of Sea Turtles (Tortugas) and Dry because there is no source of fresh water on any of the islands. Thus, the Dry Tortugas. Florida was acquired from Spain in 1819 along with the area of the Dry Tortugas. The US planned to build a massive fort on the site and began the construction of Fort Jefferson in 1847. The fort itself was never completed but stands to this day as the largest masonry structure in the western hemisphere composed of over 16 million bricks. 

The entire site comprising 47,125 acres was designated a national monument in 1935. The monument was expanded in 1983, then redesignated as "Dry Tortugas National Park" on October 26, 1992. Over 60,000 visitors per year voyage or fly to the park to tour Fort Jefferson and explore the marine and bird wildlife. The Dry Tortugas are not an easy destination. There are tour boats that bring guests seemingly on a daily basis. Float planes come and go throughout the day. Then there are the adventurous who will set course for the park in private vessels and simply anchor up in the harbor once they've made the day long trip from Key West. We are among that last group and plan to spend three or four days here. Fishing is allowed in portions of the park and that is exactly what we plan to do. The last time we were here, we caught and released six or eight large 7-9 foot sharks. We'll be trying that again as the entertainment value of Sharkin' is just too much to resist!

Carry On

Adventure Quote: “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” ― Andre Gide

Resources

Make sure to visit our website regularly to see new products and resources.

YouTube Channel: The Campfire Trail
YouTube Channel: Life of Treasures

Our Books
Treasures of Life - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Treasures of Life 2 - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Back to the Land - Planning your Back to the Land Roadmap by Martin
Wealth Creation - Principles of Wealth Creation by Martin

Please Consider Subscribing to our newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.









Receive a 15% Discount
when clicking the link above
and using Discount Code:
"CampfireT15"



Click Link to Product Information



on

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)