Dry Tortugas
National Park
About Dry Tortugas
Visited – October 2019 (#14 of 63)
Established (as NP) October 1992
65K acres (about 3% of Yellowstone)
Where are the Dry Tortugas: About 80 miles west of Key West, accessible only by ferry/boat or seaplane.
Recommendations
Don’t miss: If you’re bold and don’t mind a little work, stay overnight. You get the fort to yourself and the sunset is amazingly peaceful. You may also get super dark night skies (was cloudy for us).
When to visit: Spring and fall are best for dry, manageable days. Supposedly the seas are more calm in the fall for the trip over. Summer can be brutal as there’s limited shade around the islands.
How long to stay: Day trips are most convenient, but an overnight is most memorable.
Definitely check out the Photo Gallery of our best pictures.
Photo Gallery
The benefit of being one of the 10 or so visitors who make more than a day trip to Dry Tortugas is you get sunsets and isolated snorkeling.
Link to NPS Info
Click to visit the park’s website with maps, history, and lots of great info on things to do and places to see.
Trip Report
Read about our adventure to Dry Tortugas…..
Primitive camping, the historic fort, stellar snorkeling, and unfortunately, the rats.
Dry Tortugas Blog Posts
Dry Tortugas Trip Report
After our 2019 eight week southern US National Parks trip, friends would ask us which park we liked best. Our answer – Dry Tortugas. Then they’d ask which one we liked least. The answer – Dry Tortugas. Yes, it's an amazing park, but it can also be a hot mess. ...