Day 11: Dry Tortugas

Todd here. My first time on the blog because Mrs Berry was a little under the weather - no pun intended. Actually 5 of 8 are not feeling well so we are down to 3 of us willing to take a 4-1/2 hour round trip ferry ride to Dry Tortugas. It was raining a little when we departed and we were chasing a small front so the seas were a little rough hence lots of seasick passengers - not a great start.

Dry Tortugas is the home of Fort Jefferson, a massive fortress guarding a very strategic waterway in the Gulf of Mexico called the Florida straits. After arriving we listened to a quick presentation which hit all the key points (highly recommended).

The islands were originally named Las Tortugas by Ponce De Leon who discovered they had a huge population of sea turtles. These were vital to sailors because they could keep the turtles alive on the ship and eat them over several days or weeks so basically a food source. Later renamed Dry Tortugas by the British because there is no fresh water so a warning to sailors - “byow” (bring your own water).

This group of islands is also one of a few natural deep water harbors in the gulf. So when the big storms hit that’s where the ships headed to wait out the storm. This is a map to show where we were (the green tree), where Cuba is below us, and where the other 5 sick people are (they are the blue dot).

These islands are also at the end of a huge barrier reef - the 3rd largest in the world - extending from Miami to Dry Tortugas including all the Florida keys. So if sailing from The east coast or Europe it was the corner where you turn right to head to the gulf ports like Pensacola, Mobile, or New Orleans.

So when the US bought the Louisiana purchase which encompassed the Midwest US and the huge Mississippi Valley waterways, Dry Tortugas became very important as it protected the Florida straights which is where the gulf current carries everything out of the Gulf of Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean. So if you wanted to get raw materials from the heartland of America to the east coast or Europe you had to go right by Dry Tortugas, basically the Gibraltar of the Gulf. This shipping route was so important to the US that we bought Florida and all the islands from Spain.

However since the early US didn’t have a big navy to compete with Britain, France or Spain they decided to build a huge fort that could withstand any assault from the big 3. The fort is the 3rd largest American fort. It took 16 million bricks. The floors were built out of granite and huge slabs of rock to withstand the recoil from huge 15” cannons - that’s a cannon the shoots cannonballs 15” in diameter! It also had a furnace that could heat the cannon balls red hot before they were fired at ships!  Ironically the fort never saw any fighting. But that was the idea - a fortress so feared it would never be attacked.  The fact that it was built out in the middle of the Gulf was a huge feat! There were seaplanes out there because that’s another, albeit faster, way to get to the island.

The water color was awesome. After viewing the 3 story fort (yes 3 stories!) we snorkeled and walked the beaches. The island had a spit of sand connecting it to a bird sanctuary in the next island over.  Can’t remember if they were boobies or terns. (Insert adolescent joke here!) Lots of huge conch shells but don’t take anything from the island or it’s a huge fine!

The 2 1/4 hour ride back gave me plenty of time to reflect and write this for y’all. And we got to go home to some slow roasted baby back ribs. Thanks mom!