5 Facts You Didn’t Know about Dry Tortugas National Park
The incredibly remote Dry Tortugas National Park is a watery wonderland sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles off the coast of Key West, FL. This unbelievable location offers so much more than meets the eye! Read on to learn 5 facts about the stunning National Park so you can be ready to explore this amazing landscape on your next trip to Dry Tortugas National Park.
Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park
It’s Bigger Than You Think!
While the entire land mass of Dry Tortugas National Park covers a miniscule 144 acres, the actual protected area within the park’s boundaries encompasses a massive 10 million acres! As you would expect, this means Dry Tortugas National Park is 99% water, so be sure to bring your boat, or just your fins & snorkels (which can be rented/borrowed with many boat tours) to truly explore everything the park has to offer!
Boats scattered around Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park
2. The Park Rangers Do More Than You Think
While most National Parks offer housing to their Park Rangers, the locations of those parks also allows them to still lead a normal life of visiting friends, shopping, and basically doing all the things that normal people do. That is not the case at Dry Tortugas National Park! Here, Park Rangers typically work 2 week shifts on Garden Key before having the opportunity to return to Key West for a brief taste of civilization. They sleep within the retrofitted houses within the walls of Fort Jefferson without any of the conveniences that many of us take for granted, such as groceries, shopping, and even artificial light! Additionally, refugees have repeatedly landed at Dry Tortugas National Park, putting Park Rangers on the front lines of protecting our borders and managing day to day park activities.
A Park Ranger inducting two prospective Junior Rangers at Dry Tortugas National Park
3. There Is Nothing To Drink Here
For a park made up almost entirely of water, one might think there is plenty to keep you hydrated in this seemingly tropical paradise, but that is not the case! Dry Tortugas National Park has no fresh water, which is actually the reasoning for the “Dry” in the name of the park.
The moat walk around Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park
4. 16 Million Bricks And Still Only Half-Way Done
The iconic Fort Jefferson of Dry Tortugas National Park represents the largest masonry structure in the Western hemisphere, and was constructed using more than 16 million bricks! After 13 years of construction, work was halted with the massive fortress being half-way finished. While Fort Jefferson has been many different things over its many years of standing on Garden Key, today it is one of the first sights seen by many visitors coming to Dry Tortugas National Park!
The expansive courtyard of Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park
5. Welcome To The End
The 7 keys (not islands!) that make up Dry Tortugas National Park mark the western terminus of the Florida Keys. Beginning in Biscayne Bay, the Florida Keys extend around the southern tip of Florida and are relatively tightly grouped up to Key West. After that, the Marquesas Keys are found approximately 20 miles west of Key West, and then it is a long, lonely 50 miles before reaching the 7 keys of Dry Tortugas National Park. The Dry Tortugas Light found on Loggerhead Key marks the western edge of this incredible archipelago!
