Dry Tortugas National Park - Fort Jefferson

Since I'm pretending that it's not a blizzard outside today &

 God knows you've seen enough pictures of  snow storms at our homestead this year...

I'm opting for someplace a little warmer for this first day of April

(warning, picture overload)

One of the highlights of our trip to the Florida Keys in February was visiting 

Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas National Park

Only two ways to get out to the Dry Tortugas, boat or plane -

We opted for the Seaplane - so much faster; plus if you opt for the late afternoon flight 

you'll basically be the only people on the Dry Tortugas - pretty cool

Once onboard, I couldn't help notice the age of the plane...

but then thought about how good they built them in those days and said a little prayer :-)

The plane was so loud so we all wore these 

and the pilot talked to us the entire flight the kids loved it

All of the arial photos were taken through the plane windows (so bear with me) 

but the scenery was so beautiful

 35 minutes later we arrived at the fort

 landing on water and jumping out onto the beach put a smile on all our faces

  

 The boys got straight to snorkeling

 The fort has so much history so once we were done snorkeling we took a self guided tour

 Some of the fort is crumbling and under restoration but much of it was open for viewing

Canons abounded and next to snorkeling with eels and dad sized Grouper 

we're Cole's favorite part

Photo by Nikki - not bad for an 8 yr old, is it?

 The Dry Tortugas makes you feel like you're in "Pirates of the Caribbean" 

Sunken treasure ships, cannons, forts - 

you can really imagine the Rum Runners hiding out on all the little slices of dry land

The pilot told the kids all about scenes like the one in the photo below 

-Cuban Refugee boats, often loaded with 20+ people - 

The Dry Tortugas are so close to Cuba that many set out in little row boats 

like this each year to try to make it to American soil 

We returned on the Seaplane just before sunset

 Key West Seaplane Adventures   gave us a wonderful trip we'll never forget

I highly recommend them if you're visiting the Keys

Next time we decided we want to camp on the Dry Tortugas overnight - 

Now that would be quite an adventure :-)

 Back soon with some skiing racing, I promise!

- Erin