Dry Tortugas National Park is the least visited NP in the United States, but one of the most beautiful! 70 miles from Key West, it is only accessible by boat or Sea Plane. Getting there is half the fun! Made up of 7 small islands and lots of open water, it is the home of historic Fort Jefferson. We could not wait to visit!

I had NO idea that riding in a sea plane was gonna be this great! Afterward, my brother told me it’s on his bucket list and now I see why! Just an incredible experience!

We booked an all day excursion with SeaPlane Adventures , and arrived to a small check in building before daylight. We boarded the 10-seater plane where our barefoot pilot, Kris, (@tailwinds11 on Instagram) gave us some info about our De Havilland Otter sea plane, “preferred by Alaskan bush pilots”.He suggested we wear the headsets at our seats, where we listened to ocean and island themed music during take off. In case you’re wondering, as I did, the plane has wheels to take off and land on land, and the wheels can slide up into the float panels for take off and landing on the water.

Once we were airborne, Pilot Kris talked to us through the headsets to guide us through what we were seeing. He described how sharks, dolphins, sting rays, and loggerhead turtles would appear to us from our cruising altitude of 500 feet. The scenery all around us was breathtaking!

We flew over 2 shipwrecks; one was The Patricia – a Navy ship sunk on purpose in WW2 to use for bombing practice. Second was the Arbutus- a 70 foot work vessel used by Mel Fishers crew in locating Spanish treasure ships- and while the treasure ships cannot be seen from the air, the Arbuttus marks the northern edge of the Atocha treasure site.

The 45 minute plane ride was absolutely fabulous start to finish, and as we deplaned at the Dry Tortugas I said that if that’s all we’d done the whole trip I’d have been happy!

As usual on our trips, Shannon had us well prepared. There is nothing out at the Dry Tortugas that you don’t take in yourself. There are tent camping sites with shower heads at each site for those who camp but day trippers don’t have the option to shower there. There are typical national park toilets meant for the campers, which are open for use unless the ferry is present in which case you are to use the ferry bathrooms. We brought coolers of ice with lunches and plenty of water. We also brought our own snorkeling gear. The snorkeling around the perimeter of Fort Jefferson is outstanding! We got into our snorkeling gear and after finding one of the rare shady areas to make our “spot” for the day, went strait to snorkel. This was an excellent plan, as the ferry that comes daily from Key West holds a couple hundred people. Once they got there, it felt a bit crowded. We had about 2 hours to spread out on our own and it was well worth it!

Fort Jefferson, it says in the linked site, “ was built to protect one of the most strategic deep water anchorages in North America.

By fortifying this spacious harbor, the United States maintained an important “advance post” for ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida. Nestled within the islands and shoals that make up the Dry Tortugas, the harbor offered ships the chance to resupply, refit, or seek refuge from storms. The location of the Tortugas along one the world’s busiest shipping lanes was its greatest military asset. Though passing ships could easily avoid the largest of Fort Jefferson’s guns, they could not avoid the warships that used its harbor.

As it was built in the 1840’s, the sea wall is now covered in sea coral and sea life around the outside perimeter. Walking through the old fort was a perfect mid-day snorkeling break.

Krista and I asked pilot Kris if he owned the plane and he laughed out loud. The plane costs well over a million dollars and is owned by the seaplane adventures company. We were surprised to learn how much it cost- but having no idea what planes cost in general I had no reference point.

On the flight back, Pilot Kris spotted some dolphins from above and in an effort to make sure we all got to see dolphins, did some fancy aerobatic flying to make it happen. We were able to see loggerhead turtles, sharks, dolphin, and one big manta ray from the plane- absolutely incredible!

We chose the full day excursion because we wanted to be able to stick around all day. It was the right decision for us and we are so glad we did it. We were right to take more water than we thought we’d want, and right to re-apply sunscreen hourly. Even still we all came back with a little burn ( all but Tom who never burns).

I still can’t get over the thrill of this experience. It was a day I’ll never forget!