Agile Trekker: Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
1/21/2025	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	18.6 miles

Parking:

Ferry ride via Yankee Freedom from Key West
Dry Tortugas National Park | Dry Tortugas Ferry | Yankee Freedom

Map:

Directions:

US National Parks

Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

We woke up at our campground at 5am, for a trip to Dry Tortugas National Park. We had wanted to camp at Dry Tortugas (an island), but they have very limited camping, so you need to book a year in advance. So, we took a ferry for a day trip to the island. We took the on-demand bus from our campground to the ferry dock in Key West. At 7am, they started telling us about the ride. I didn't catch most of it, because I was half asleep (4 1/2 hours of sleep last night). I purchased Dramamine at the ferry terminal (yes, now I'm even more sleepy). They told us we would have 4-6' waves, so the ride would be choppy. The previous day, they had 9' waves. They day after our trip, they didn't run the ferry at all due to high waves. I guess if you camp there (the only lodging available), you need to be prepared for extra days in case the ferry isn't running.

Many people got sick on the 2 1/2-hour ferry ride. The staff walk around with stacks of barf bags and rolls of paper towels. Oh boy. I did okay. I didn't each much, because I wanted to make sure I had an empty stomach, given how common it is for people to get sick on the ferry ride. I concentrated on staring at the horizon, which is supposed to help. The staff was amazingly kind to all of the people getting sick. The ferry ride comes with breakfast and a bag lunch.

Once we arrived at Dry Tortugas, we sat at a picnic table and had a snack before we went on the tour of Fort Jefferson. Many people like to snorkel here, but it was too chilly for us. I didn't even bother packing my bathing suit and snorkel today. We took the longer park tour and then had time on our own. After the tour, I got back on the boat to pick up some lunch. Then I walked on top of the fort and then sat down to sketch. You can also walk along the beach.

I took more Dramamine before the ferry ride back. The ride seemed less rough on the return trip - fewer people got sick, and maybe more people took Dramamine. We got back to the campground at 6:30pm. While hanging out at the campground pavilion, we met a woman from Clyde who works at Mission Hospital in the oncology x-ray unit. Her name is Kelly. She looked really familiar, so I asked her if she happened to be the person who did my recent x-rays and MRI, but she wasn't. I gave her my phone number in case she was looking for a hiking friend, though I'm not doing much hiking due to join pain that started last month. We've met a few local people. On this trip, I met 2 folks from Asheville plus the lady from Clyde, and Dian met 2 folks from Herndon. Dian also later met one of her prior co-workers, who is also one of her hiking friends.