Tales of the Dry Tortugas

Good mornin!

Happy belated birthday to Rhonda Holt and Aunt Laura!!

We're at Marco Island Marina- no, wait, I'll start from where I left off...
We left Key West on Thursday morning, headed for the Dry Tortugas. The plan was to anchor there Thursday and Friday night and head to Marco Island on Saturday. The trip over took a while- and it seemed even longer once we lost auto-pilot (we blew a fuse, but didn't know that was the problem until later). We got to the Dry Tortugas and decided it would be a good idea to have a quick lunch and then head over to the fort... the plan had changed: we had to leave in the morning to avoid winds of 20-30 knots... So, we loaded into the dinghy (using a functioning davit!) and headed over to Fort Jefferson to see what we could see! Check out the pictures we got!






The entrance and the moat:

View of the lighthouse from inside the fort:



Check out that brickwork! Trivia: 16 million bricks were used in the construction of Fort Jefferson!



BIG moat:

They're in the chapel!

I'm in the oven! It's huge!

Shot furnace:

Barry and the Shot Furnace:

This is me in the Magazine (where they keep all the powder):

View from outside the Magazine: ...by far my favorite part of the fort.







Alice "firing" a cannon:

Took this picture to show you our new toy: the bridle. It ties onto the bow cleats and then hooks to the anchor chain.

Also nearby is Loggerhead Key- and the lighthouse!


On the way up to the fort, we could see a whole bunch of these: They look pretty cool, but we didn't know what they were. I've done some research. They are "By-the-Wind Sailor Jellyfish." They have a purple "raft" and a translucent flexible sail. The sail catches the wind and propels them like a sailboat. Here's a picture I found on the internet... i.e. NOT my foot. There were also a whole bunch of Portuguese Man-o-War...? Men-o-war? haha
So, if you ever head over to the Dry Tortugas, watch your step.


We left the Dry Tortugas early on Friday morning ...headed for Marco Island. Barry fixed the auto pilot not too far into our trip up. Hallelujah!
The trip took 11.5 hours- long day... and the weather turned nasty for about an hour and a half of it:
I managed to get most of the salt off the boat, in the semi-dark, but will have to give it a once over again today I'm sure.
The weather is beautiful, just not ideal for traveling with all this wind...
From here we're headed to Ft Myers... will update you soon!
Thanks for readin! Don't forget to change your clocks tonight! Spring forward!