County, Florida and the Lower Keys. The Dry Tortugas National Park consists of seven islands, or keys and the surrounding reef. Located on Garden Key is Fort Jefferson, the largest 19th century American coastal fort. The fort is surrounded by a moat which now serves to protect the walls of the fort from weather by breaking the waves before they reach the walls. The light that was built on Garden Key just visible in the center picture above the walls has now been replaced by a lighthouse on Loggerhead Key, the largest island of the Tortugas which can be seen in the map on the right and in the photo below.
We left Marathon and headed for Key West at 6:00AM to get on one of the two ferryboats to Dry Tortugas National Park at 7:30AM. The ferry we took was the less expensive and was run by Sunny Days (http://www.drytortugas.com/) and advertises itself as the fastest ferry and the name of the boat name is Fast Cat. The cost was $120/adult with a $10 discount for seniors (over 62). The other ferry was Yankee Freedom II (http://yankeefreedom.com/) and cost $149/adult. It advertises itself as the largest, most stable and comfortable way to get to the fort. Both vessels were there today. The tours advertised by the ferry services are actually run by a Park Service Ranger who conducts a guided tour of Fort Jefferson.
We would have preferred to sail Windreka the 70 miles from Key West to the Dry Tortugas and 
pictured her in the natural harbor in front of Fort Jefferson. However, the weather conditions weren't right and we were concerned about getting stuck for several days while we waited for the weather to clear. So, the second best thing was to take a ferry to the Dry Tortugas. As it was, the trip back was a bit rough and the Fast Cat wasn't as fast as it was advertised to be. In fact it frequently had to slow down to avoid bashing into high waves and deep troughs on the way back to Key West...but that was all right with those of us who value safety and comfort over recklessness and discomfort.
Bush Key is the closest to Garden Key and is not open to the public 
for several months of the year. It's the habitat for Sooty Terns which nest during the restricted months (September thru April) and we could see many of them flying above the island. The shoal area to the left of Bush Key is part of the channel into the harbor at Garden Key which is just visible at the lower left of the photo on the right.
Frigate birds are another winged inhabitant of the Dry Tortugas
. These amazing birds have a wing span of seven feet, yet only weigh about three pounds soaking wet. Hundreds of them can be seen soaring on the thermals above the fort. Except for flapping their wings to climb into the air to find the thermals and to land, they seem to glide effortlessly overhead enjoying themselves and not making any sound that we could hear. What a life!
In addition to the birds and the lovely water, Fort Jefferson is the main attraction at Dry Tortugas. The Fort was built as part of the system of coastal defenses built between 1817 and 1867. Within a half mile of Fort Jefferson is a natural anchorage bowl of approximately 50 feet deep and two miles in diameter...the only anchorage between Chesapeake Bay and the Rio Grande deep enough to host the battleships of 1898. The guns of Fort Jefferson commanded the anchorage and with a fleet of battleships berthed in the anchorage and scouts spread out over the navigable waters nearby, naval control could be exerted over the Gulf of Mexico and the nearby islands of the Caribbean and the Bahamas.
Construction of the fort was never completed and during the Civil War, it remained in Union hands and became a military prison for captured deserters. You can read more about the Dry Tortugas at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_Tortugas and enjoy the photos we took while we were there. The official National Park Service web site for the Dry Tortugas is: http://www.nps.gov/drto/
The big powder magazine is depicted on the first photo. There were several powder magazines planned or built and this was the largest. If it's readable on the weblog, the plans for the powder magazines is outlined on the next photo. The third photo shows the bins where the powder was to be stored inside the magazine.
Inside the fort looking north toward the US Park Service rangers' apartments and the foundations of the officers' barracks. The big magazine would be just behind the fort structure on the right hand side of the photo.
Fort Jefferson was constructed with arches everywhere. The cora
l limestone foundation for the fort was inadequate to support the heavy weight of the fort walls and the installed weapons and the arches helped reinforce the walls. In addition, well over a hundred cisterns were built into the walls all around the 
perimeter of the fort to catch and hold rainfall as the only source existing source of fresh water without having to import it.
Arches were also a strategic engineering plan to help deflect cannon shot from an attacking vessel and if the shot hit the fort and did damage, the arches helped ensure the walls would not collapse.
The old lighthouse on top of the fort is another example of the heavy weight the walls of the fort were asked to support.
Looking toward the west with the foundations of the officers' barracks and the Park rangers' apartments in the background.
The casement windows all around the fort were once protected by iron shutters that opened when the cannon was moved into firing position. After the cannon was fired, the recoil pushed the cannon back into the casement and the shutters closed automatically to protect the crew of the cannon until they were ready to fire the next shot. Unfortunately, the shutters were made of iron and didn't last long in the salt air. Neither did the bricks and mortar surrounding the casements. There is currently a three-year project going on to repair and restore the shutters, brick work and mortar around the casement windows.
Still another heavy item located on the top of the fort walls were the huge parrott rifles. The 
parrot rifles were an innovation that improved the accuracy, range and lethality of artillery. Grooves were cut into the barrel of the cannon to impart a spin on the artillery shells that stabilized them in flight and enabled them to travel further and do more damage (compare the range of a football to a basketball). Interestingly, the development of the parrott rifle also made the series of forts that made up the defenses of the coastal United States obsolete. That's one of the reasons Fort Jefferson was never finished.
The building on the right is a "hot shot" furnace, where cannon shot was heated to cherry red 
color before it was fired at enemy vessels. The idea was to set the enemy ships on fire. What's not clear is how the hot shot was to be moved to the cannon for firing...or maybe I missed a key part of the concept!
During its role as a Civil War Union prison, probably the most famous of the "residents" at Fort Jefferson was Dr. Samuel Mudd, one of four men convicted of complicity in Abraham Lincoln's assasination. These prisoners were housed in one of the casements and the walls were bricked over except for the narrow "gun slits" at the top of the walls. These slits represented the only ventilation the cell had. In addition, rainwater was collected by the prisoners by digging trenches and catch basins in the floor of the cell to catch the rain that leaked into the cell from the roof of the fort whenever it rained. It doesn't sound like life was pleasant for these prisoners! When the fort surgeon was stricken with malaria and died, Dr. Mudd volunteered to treat the soldiers and prisoners at the fort. For this action, Dr. Mudd was later pardoned.
Spiral staircases were the means of getting from one level to the next of the fort. The steps were large rectangular granite stones set into the walls of the fort around a central vertical axis. This technique of constructing steps was a common way of making strong stairwells. One other example of this construction is the Old Executive Office Building east of the White House. The steps in the OEOB were much larger and wider and just as strong. Neither steps moved when you stepped on them!
After the return trip to Key West, we ended the day at Mallory Square for one last viewing of the sunset and the various street performers. We didn't actually watch the sun set since it probably looked like it did the last time. We did catch a neat shot of the sun as it sank low behind the sailboat on the right. There are many opportunities for such interesting photos and if you don't have a camera, there is no shortage of street vendors who will sell you a photo they have on display. One act we wanted to see this time was the Great Rondini who was a Houdini-like "escape" artist. We
never saw Houdini perform, but the Great Rondini was both humorous and successfully "escaped" from a strait jacket and chains that volunteers from the audience wrapped around him. The volunteer in this photo was named Anna and her role was to be embarassed as Rondini cracked his jokes. All in all, not a bad act and we left a tip for him. It was interesting to see his children laying behind the green platform playing with their Ipods and ignoring their dad's performance...probably heard it one too many times.
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