JULY 24 & 25, 2014

Tanner's birthday, skydiving, and Dry Tortugas NP

This wonderful trip was planned around Tanner's 40th birthday.  For his birthday, his friends Carl and Jaime gave him a skydiving jump as a birthday present.  On his birthday, the 3 of them did a jump. Kristi and I opted out and were able to get some shots from the ground.  These are tandem jumps. The instructors are also outfitted with GO

 Then, it was Carl and Jaime's turn.  Carl jumped first followed by Jaime.

 After a little bit of a reprieve from the heat and humidity that greeted Kristi and I when we first arrived, Thursday was a hot and humid nightmare.  We were pretty wiped out.  We spent the evening at home.  Tanner and Carl cooked the rest of the fish that Tanner had caught when he went deep sea fishing at the beginning of the trip.

THE DRY TORTUGAS

The Dry Tortugas are a group of small islands located about 67 miles west of Key West.  These islands were named Tortugas by the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, during his first visit in1513.  His men took about 170 sea turtles off of the islands during this visit.  The word dry was later added because there are no natural spring...meaning no fresh water.  The construction of Fort Jefferson on Garden Key began in 1846.  It was intended to be an advance post for the defense of the waters of the Gulf Coast.  It was in active use as a fort and a prison from 1860-1930.  In 1865, four special prisoners arrived.  Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen had all been convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  In 1888 the military turned the fort over to the Marine Hospital Service to be used as a quarantine station.  Today, it is a National Park and a beautiful tourist attraction.  It is remote and there are no services, but you can camp there overnight.  You must take everything with you and pack it back out.  We snorkeled, explored the fort and relaxed at the beach.  The Yankee Freedom Ferry provided us with a wonderful on board lunch.  I would highly recommend this day long excursion for visitors to the area.  

We boarded the Yankee Freedom at 7:30 am and departed for the 2.5 hour ride at 8:00.  We were provided a breakfast and a beautiful, scenic ride.  We did see a few sea turtles.  We did not see any whales.  I asked about this and was told that the waters are too shallow for whales in most of the area. I could actually see the bottom of the sea in many areas.  There are a few shots of sea turtles, but they are not very good....

GARDEN KEY, FORT JEFFERSON 

IN DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK