The Beavers go to Dry Tortugas 🐢

Welcome to Fort Jefferson!! This massive unfinished coastal fortress is on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas. It is the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas, needing over 16 million bricks to comprise it. Amazingly, getting to take this photo took more planning and tenacity than any other part of the trip. My Mom got us this trip for Christmas and we were SO excited. Then came a call from the Yankee Freedom III, which transports passengers from Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park. They had blown a transmission and would not be ready to sail until the day after our reservation and they are, of course, booked up until September!!! I refused to give in and called every day about camper cancellations. Then magically one came! It cut our stay from 3 nights to 2 but we were so happy we didn't care. Then we thought about parking. The Yankee Freedom III parks their passengers in a parking garage... we groaned, because we knew the Beaver Lodge would not fit in a parking garage space, and called the City of Key West for help. They told us to get a campsite and take a cab to the terminal. I almost cried with frustration!!! Then came John, a Yankee Freedom III employee, to save the day. He left his office, walked to the public parking area near the docks and sent me pictures of the requirements. We met them all. BOO City of Key West... YAAY employee of the year John. Then I panicked all the way to Key West wondering if there would be a spot for us.

When we got there, the lot was 90% empty and Mike got to say "See, you worried over nothing!" While Mike was checking out the pay station, a family came up and spoke to him in Spanish. Mike called out for me and between the two of us and Google Translate we helped them understand how to park All I could think was here they are in Florida, home to an enormous Spanish-speaking population, and they meet the two gringos. Because we had been so friendly with them in the parking lot, they came back and spoke to us several more times during the day. In these conversations we learned that they had driven their RV from Argentina to Florida! It's amazing to meet other dedicated long-distance drivers. Because of our abysmal Spanish performance, Mike and I have also pinky swore that when we get back we're going to go into night school for Spanish.

When we finally got to the ferry we were only 5 minutes late for our 6:30 a.m. loading time. As you can see, Mike and I didn't bring a ton of stuff with us. When we got off the boat at the other end, most people had enormous coolers, chairs, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I would have considered practically car camping.

The ride over on the ferry was very nice. They feed you breakfast on the boat and encourage you to take seconds and thirds. Mike and I packed up snacks as well for breakfast and lunch.

Most of the ride was very smooth and we spent it on the bow of the ship looking for turtles and dolphins. They have lots of turtles here: Green, Loggerhead and Hawkbill. In fact this island chain was discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and named Las Tortugas due to the abundance of turtles. The word dry was added to the name on maps and charts of the area to let mariners know that no fresh water was to be found here.

Here you can see us come into Dry Tortugas on the Ferry.

You may wonder why a Fort was built this far from any significant portion of the United States, but what is not obvious from any pictures of the island alone is that the waters around it are a very safe area for ships to anchor. Another amazing thing is that this Fort never fired any shots in offense or defense, even though it stayed in Union hands up through the Civil War.

After docking, all of the campers had to meet together for an orientation. This is where we first met Officer Reagan. We didn't know it at the time, but he turned out to be the best and most accommodating ranger we've met anywhere on the entire trip. He would do things like stop by at our campground to tell us what he and the other Rangers were doing in the evening and asked us if we wanted to join them.

After our orientation I made a break for the camping area. I wanted to make sure that we got a really great campsite for our two nights. Now here's where what was once bad luck, now turned out to be better luck.... Since the Yankee Freedom III had been down for more than a week, there was no one camping on the island when we arrived as they had been picked up on the ferry's test voyage the day before. We ended up with a shady site that had the only view of the ocean. It was truly lovely and we had spectacular neighbors, Sue and Steve.

The number of islands in Dry Tortugas keeps changing. When we were there Garden Key, which has Fort Jefferson, was hooked to Bush Key, which is the section you're looking at now. Just beyond the bounds of this picture is Long Key. Bush Key is closed to visitors for a lot of the year because of endangered bird colonies, up to 80,000 Sooty Terns and 4,500 Brown Noddies, that like to breed here. Long Key is closed year-round for the protection of the birds and a collection of nurse sharks. The enormous bird that you see in the top photograph is a Magnificent Frigate. They have the longest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird in the world.

Circumnavigating the fort is fun, but unfortunatly hurricane Irma blew a big hole on the back wall so you can't exactly go all the way around anymore. At Fort Jefferson there are more than 2,000 arches, and 415 cannons were meant to be placed here but that never happened.

One thing that you can see though are Portuguese Man o' War Jellyfish. I had never seen one in person so this was very cool.

Late in the afternoon, after the ferry had left, a huge Coast Guard vessel pulled in to port. She is the USCGC Richard Snyder (WPC-1127) and is the 27th Sentinel class cutter to be aquired. We saw her after she had been at sea for less than a month and she will not be commissioned until April of 2018! The crew was so nice and we heard them fishing for sharks late into the night. Oh, they also gave the rangers a tour of the ship... that would have been really cool!

We caught the sunset, had dinner and went off to bed. I loved not having to put up the fly on my tent! Lovely weather here.

The next day a lot of our neighbors were leaving because they were only staying for one night. A couple that we had met on the boat during orientation dropped by and said did we want the rest of their beer, and their hot dogs for bait? The answer was of course a resounding yes because you're able to fish for free on the island and we just didn't have anything to feed the fish with. Also Mike found the cast net and went to town learning to throw it. You can see him doing that on Youtube if you wish.

He managed to snare lots of things: needle fish, split-tailed mullet, two kinds of starfish and an enormous conch. The only thing he didn't catch is the cute isopod you can see on the bottom right.

Once the ferry pulled into dock, we decided to go on the 11:30 tour of Fort Jefferson. If you look at the top of the fort, you might notice that they're not flying the American Flag. I had never seen this flag before and had to ask what it was. The photo was taken while the US Coast Guard ship was in port, and this is a small craft warning flag. I thought it was cool so I included this photo of the fort at sundown. Even though Fort Jefferson never fired a shot, that doesn't mean that cool things didn't happen here. It was used as a prison until it was abandoned in 1874. Its most infamous prisoner was Samuel Mudd. If you remember your US history, he is famous for being the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth in the wake of the Lincoln assassination. He was convicted as a co-conspirator and was imprisoned here until early 1869. This is the man whose actions led to the famous adage Your name is Mudd!.

In one of the back portions of the fort there is a fascinating artifact. You might be tempted to think that this boat is from the same era as the fort, but it's not. In fact it is only three years old and carried 34 Cubans from their homeland to Fort Jefferson. They closed this location because it is the closest inhabited island to Cuba, and a Cuban caught on the waters between the two nations (with "wet feet") was sent home or to a third country. Any who made it to shore ("dry feet") got a chance to qualify for expedited "legal permanent residence". The policy ended in January 2017 as the Obama administration worked to normalize relations between Cuba and the US. I am appreciative that the Park Service has saved this vessel that stands in silent testimony to the tenacity of any person working to make a better life for themselves, at such great odds.

I know that I have put a lot of Rodman guns in the blogs, but before this trip I did not even know that they existed. They seem to be the linchpin of Tier 3 forts on the eastern seaboard. It has been fascinating to see the evolution of coastal defense as we moved south. This is the southernmost one in the series, and it was supposed to work in consort with forts such as Zachary Taylor, Pulaski and Sumter.

If you notice that almost all the windows at Fort Jefferson look impossibly large, and you would be correct, they were definitely not designed this way. They were not as thick as the main walls of the fort, so time and hurricanes have blown them apart and into the moat. Luckily they do add light to what would be dismal corridors, and give you a beautiful view out over the blue waters of the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico.

After our tour we decided to go fishing on the main dock. For some reason, all the fish congregate in the front right corner. Here is me holding my first Mangrove Snapper. Who knew that ocean-going fish would like hot dogs so much!

Then out from under the dock emerged two HUGE shadows. We had been told that there is a family of Goliath Groupers that like to hang out here, but I didn't think I was going to get lucky enough to see them. I thought I'd add in a second photograph of what they look like under water so you can get an idea how large they grow. The adult female under the dock is about 3/4 the size of the one in the photo.

Mike was also very lucky in the fishing department. Here he is holding his Gray Snapper.

Back in our campsite, we were inundated by an adorable "fling" (flock) of sandpipers. They clucked and pecked and fluttered over each other while I read my book. I'm still reading the book Adrift, Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan, and enjoying it immensely. It is my 13th book of the trip. I love not having a TV!

At night the hermit crabs come out to play. They loved the campground to the right of us and I'm not sure I've ever seen so many in one place. Dry Tortuga has done an excellent job stopping people from taking them and selling them, so there is actually a healthy wild population here. You can see a video of him on Youtube.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but Fort Jefferson is undergoing renovations and Pep is one of the masons doing the work. I met him while fishing on the dock and we just hit it off. He is hysterical and I can honestly say I've never met anyone like him before. Firstly, he used the word "nigga" as often as I use the word "the". In front of his boss, he explained to us that it's OK if he uses the word because of his cultural heritage... then later told us that he is 100% Puerto Rican, but Pep doesn't like to get caught up in details like that. He also gave us helpful advice such as the fact that his job requires all the workers to have a clean record, which is easy because they pay well enough to clear one's outstanding warrants. I omitted to point out that I'd never had an outstanding warrant, and just nodded knowingly. He also took us into the fort to see where the workers live... it was like boy scout camp for adults. They all sleep in bunk beds two tall and share a common room, bathroom and shower. We had an awesome night fishing with him and sharing the tropical punch that he made. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to think of Fort Jefferson without thinking of him.

If you ever plan to come to Dry Tortugas, you really need to camp on the island. It is magical to be there after the last sea plane has left at night and before the first one arrives in the morning. The island is so quiet and you can get perfect people-free photos.

Oh and of course you can also spend half your day fishing which is just what we did, up until right before the ferry was ready to leave for our return to Key West.

While fishing we met Jim and his family. They had just come out for the day and, amazingly, when we got on the ferry we sat right next to them for the ride back which was even smoother than the way out.

Before leaving the Keys, Mike and I thought we ought to actually get in the water and go snorkeling. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park was the first underwater park in the United States.

The visitor center has a lovely 30,000 gallon saltwater aquarium in which they house fish that can be seen on the reef. They also have natural history exhibits that discuss the park's different ecosystems and history.

Here is Mike getting ready to dive in. Luckily we brought our own snorkeling equipment because it is super expensive to rent it. The water was really clearer than it looked, but not as good as farther south.

While swimming, we spotted this Blue Point Crab hiding on the bottom.

For Christmas one of the things that I got us were underwater bags for our cell phones. I never thought we would use them so much but they have been on two kayak trips, Dry Tortugas and now snorkeling.

Another thing that this park protects is historic citrus farming on the Florida keys.

These groves are well over 50 years old and still producing lemons, limes and oranges. One of the other things that we did while we were here was to get our Florida Geocache. After doing this trail, we also walked another short trail that described the trees that are found in hammocks near the ocean. Because of over development in Florida, all of these old growth areas are rare.

One other really cool thing about the park is that they had sunk many objects underwater to encourage coral reef growth. Just off the beach in front of this Cannon, there is a man-created 1600's Spanish wreck. There are about half a dozen cannon, and anchor, and other sunken objects. Also much further offshore and in about 25' of water there is a statue called Christ of the Abyss. This one is the third casting of Il Cristo degli Abissi statue. The original is in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy.

Robert Is Here is an amazing family-owned fruit stand just outside the Everglades near the town of Homestead. It began as a single table where Robert, as a little child, sold cucumbers under a tree, and his Dad put out a little sign letting people know he was there. And now it has grown into this!

It's not just a little farmstand anymore; they also have an environmental message, and work to give a home to the Americas' largest Swallow, the Purple Martin Progne subis.

They also have a cute petting zoo in the back that caters to less domestic animals. I know this is my second Emu picture in a year but I think they're so adorable I just had to include him. This one was also fairly friendly and let me pet him a bit.

Robert is Here specializes in rare and exotic fruits and vegetables, that are mostly grown on his 40 acres of farm. Another great feature is that, on request, the employees will help you find a perfectly ripe piece and then cut it up for you at no charge. We got several fruits that I had had before... apple bananas, key limes, a mango, a Guanabana, Carambolas... but more exciting we had a Mamey Sapote and a Sapodilla, which was my favorite tasting like the best pear you've ever eaten, crossed with brown sugar.

The fruit that is sold here is comparable with ones that I have had straight off the tree in the Caribbean. They really produce an incredible product that is worth it even though it is not cheap. If you look at the unassuming gentleman in the back of the picture, that's Robert. Amazingly he still works here most days, and helped us personally to pick out some of our fruit.

Welcome back to the Everglades! This is the Royal Palm section of Everglades National Park and is where the entire park began. In 1919 this area became Royal Palm State Park, and was finally incorporated into the National Park system in 1947.

There is much more preserved in this area of the National Park than just wetland environments. It also contains the well-preserved remnants of a cold war missile base named Historic Nike Missile Site HM-69.

The most substantial building on property still houses a Nike and a Hercules missile. Inside there are a small number of boards that explain to you the importance of this missile site. You might think that its job was to shoot missiles at Cuba, but that's just too far away from here for these missiles. Instead they were defensive capability to shoot down any missiles or airplanes inbound from Cuba to the Miami region.

One of the historic displays showed this picture of an antiquated Cheerios Box. I have to say if I got to collect toy missiles I might eat more Cheerios in the morning!

The best of the buildings showed the equipment that was used to maintain and fire the missiles. This facility was on a 24-7 schedule and they were expected to be able to have the missiles ready to fire in less than 5 minutes. Also the entire facility was deemed top secret with secure access only. If you wanted to enter or exit this shed while it was functioning, you had to call in from the outside and be buzzed through.

After leaving the missile site we went back to do a traditional Everglades walk. We went on to do the Pine Island Walk and the Anhinga Trail. These were wonderful walks because the boardwalk took you out over the Everglades water which is very clear at this time of year. Right at the beginning of the walk we spotted this beautiful strangler fig.

Of course we also saw lots of other critters too. The Black and orange grasshopper, Romalea microptera, a Palm Warbler, and a Double Crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus.

I have been wanting to see one of these guys since the National Wildlife Refuge loop in Savannah. Colloquially he is a Purple Marsh Hen, but his proper name is the Purple Gallinule, Porphyrio martinicus. Loved watching him forage.

After the Everglades, we drove up towards Lake Okeechobee. Mike really wanted to see it and I was intrigued too because I've never seen it either. We found a cute little municipal park in a really poor town and pulled off. We knew we shouldn't stay but there were no signs so we risked it. At 2a.m. we got a knock and all three cops for the County were there. All I could think was "Really? Nothing else is going on anywhere? You all had to come and evict the tiny camper van?" The lead cop was actually really nice; he chatted with Mike and expressed his deep desire to be able to get away for two whole weeks... that's how long Mike told him we were out. Suddenly I felt really lucky, and on top of that he didn't even make us move, he just said be gone by 9 a.m.

On our way to the Ocala National Forest, we passed by the National Headquarters of Florida's Natural Orange Juice. I figured we've seen beer made... we're going to see Whisky made... why not see Orange Juice made?

Unfortunately you can't actually tour the production facility, but you can see a virtual tour. Florida’s Natural Growers became a cooperative of Florida citrus growers in 1933, so they have a lot of history to impart.

They gave an extensive history of how orange squeezing has changed over the decades. It started out as a hand-squeezing process and now the modern machines can do 500 a minute in peak performance.

I thought this was adorable when I saw it sitting there. When I was a 4-year-old kid and we went to Disney World, this is how I remember Donald Duck looking. For those of you who know me, Donald has always been my favorite classic Disney character.

Outside the visitor's center there were about 8 to 10 different species of orange trees growing. It said no picking but you know many of them were varieties I'd never seen before. For instance this one tasted like a Kumquat, and had the added bonus of having a honey bee nest in it.

The orange growers of Florida have had a long and hard history. Basically they spent their entire history moving down the State of Florida as they worked out where the frost line really is. Imagine waking up one morning and finding your entire Grove destroyed by one night of frost. Today the orange growers are in a pretty good position and they have advanced technology to help them keep the trees safe, but like all farming everything depends on the weather, and nothing's perfect when it comes to Mother Nature.

Welcome to Apalachicola National Forest. It is the largest U.S. National Forest in the State of Florida and is the only National Forest located in the Florida Panhandle, which is lucky for us because we needed a place to stay and shower.

I'm telling you I don't know how we would manage the budget if it weren't for National Forests and BLM land. We ended up with a lovely campground with shower and water-fill included.

I had no idea how diverse the geology of the United States was until we started this trip. We've run into more national geologic areas than I thought existed. I made Mike drive us out of our way so we could see a mature karstic area* of the Upper Floridan Aquifer. This area is one of the most extensive underwater cave systems in the world. And the water that you're going to see in these next pictures is paramount to the water security of Florida.

* landscape underlain by limestone that has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures and sinkholes.

Our campsite for tonight was really lovely. We didn't actually start the Leon Sinks Area because it was so late when we arrived. We sat outside and had dinner while watching the sun go down. We decided against a fire tonight because we thought that the brush was just a little too close to the Van.

The Leon Sinks area has done a beautiful job making the wet sinkholes viewable by visitors without harm to the animals and plants that call the sinkholes their home. There are freshwater eels here that I would love to have seen, but we weren't that lucky.

Some of the sinkholes look like this. They are a blue-green in color and incredibly clear. At this particular one you could see more than 20 feet down. Also this sinkhole connects to many others that are up to 50 miles away.

Sinkholes are amazing because they give you a view into a normally hidden world. Some States get the majority of their water from aquifers. For example, Florida's water supply is over 90% aquifers, and Texas is over 60%. This hidden source of water makes our modern American life possible in so many more places.

Through so many areas in which we have traveled, the threatened Longleaf Pine, Pinus palustris, has been with us. It is a slow-growing pine that takes 300 to 500 years to reach full maturity. Unfortunately, because of its tall straight trunk, most of the mature Longleaf Pines were cut down long ago for homes and ship masts. Most areas that they grow in have been protected for less than 75 years, so most pines that you see are less than 100 years old.

Here is one last wet sinkhole. You can see how this water is very dark, which is caused by the tannins in the trees which surround the hole.

The Leon Sinks area has a figure 8 hiking trail in it. The top of the figure 8 contains all of the protected sinkholes. The bottom portion contains a beautiful pine marsh area. We really enjoyed our visit and I'm so glad that we went out of our way to see this natural wonder.

On our way to Alabama we just stumbled across Florida's highest point. As you can imagine, we barely made it up the 345' hill. 😂 Once there we deeply enjoyed the vista of the driveway of the house next door! The funny thing is that this isn't actually the highest point in Florida. It's just the highest natural thing in Florida. The actual highest point in Florida is the top of a landfill in Volusia County. Well, goodbye Florida and your odd highest point, Hello Alabama...