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THE DRY TORTUGAS !!!!!

So, we spent about six weeks traveling from Tavernier, FL to the Dry Tortugas with a stopover in Key West. Along the way we made stops in Islamorada, Long Key, Horseshoe Key, Indian Key State Park, Marathon, Looe Key Reef, Key West and Marquesa Key. Listing all of those here, I feel like there should be an entry for all of those stopovers as well….so stay tuned!!

Random facts ……

The United States aquired Florida and the Keys from Spain in 1821.

The fort originally had a sewage system that drained into the moat….yuk

The fort had a bakery and a chapel.

The fort served as a prison.

Over 16,000,000 bricks were used in the construction.

Three days is about all you can spend at the fort before you’ve seen everything….haha

The invention of the rifled cannon and armored ships made the fort obsolete since it’s brick walls could be easily penetrated from greater distances.

This turned out to be an odd vintage type shot without intending to be one.

From the National Park Service website about the Fort….

“The fort’s remote location, the extreme summer heat, disease and hurricanes all hindered construction. Materials for construction of the fort came from as far away as Maine (bricks), and as close as Pensacola, Florida. The only local materials were sea water, sand, and coral. Coral for the concrete was mined from nearby Bush Key by slave labor. Typically, local slaves from Key West composed 20% of the workforce while most hired labor came from the north in the form of Irish im- migrants. This civilian workforce was overseen by o cers from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The most famous prisoner to reside here was Dr. Samuel Mudd. He was one of the four conspirators sentenced to life imprisonment for their participation in the assassination of President Lincoln. Mudd re- sided in the fort until 1869, when he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson.”

read the full information here…..

https://www.nps.gov/drto/planyourvisit/upload/sgftweb.pdf

Samuel Mudd was the Doctor who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth…..and the origin of the phrase ….”your name is Mudd”. He serve three years at Fort Jefferson.

They discovered something interesting as they tried to build up some of the walls of the fort. The weight of the bricks couldn’t be supported by some of the underlying sand and seabed…..so, they left the outer moat wall much lower than intended ….according to one of the park rangers anyway…..

This is the view from Kitty Hawk, of the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key which is west of Fort Jefferson.

The view from one of the observation points from inside the fort.

Another observation port.

Kim popping out in the powder magazine (gunpowder storage bunker)….

A view of the parade grounds….and the lighthouse

These passages were used for communications between the different gun batteries in the fort.

The “hot shot furnace”…..This is where the projectiles (cannonballs) were forged….it s a pretty cool design where the metal was poured in at the high end and it rolled down a chute to shape the cannonball.

Kim popping out again….this time from the lighthouse ….

Random fun photos and places we have been….

I had a few photos that weren’t really related to each other. Each, on its own, didn’t seem to be enough to warrant a full blog entry. I thought I’d share these together with a little note about what each one is.

The Lobster Crawl bar at the Fiesta Key RV park in Long Key / Layton, FL

This is a great hot sauce. It is sold at Dunn’s Ocean View resort (aka the OV)and restaurant/bar in Islamaorada, Florida (mile marker 84.5). It is a Datil Pepper sauce that has a hint of sweetness to it and isn’t so hot you can enjoy it AND your food. The owner Gary Dunn, who is a super nice guy, played for the Pittsburgh Steelers 1976 to 1987.

The nice bartender at Dunn’s Ocean View aka The OV modeling the bottle of hot sauce for the blog

Fun things we find wrapped around the prop….this was an old crab pot line….not fun to remove….

Me snorkeling….well….sort of snorkeling anyway….

Kim taking an important call from Jimmy Buffett…..

Spotted Eagle Rays At Looe Key Reef

In mid April we arrived in Marathon. We picked up my sister, Jo, at the Fort Lauderdale airport and she accompanied us for the next few days as we travelled from Marathon to Key West with a stopover at Looe Key Reef.

Looe Key Reef, like many of the reef areas in the Keys has several permanent mooring balls. (A mooring ball is a floating buoy that is connected to the bottom or a large concrete, or other heavy material, anchor that has been placed on the bottom) boats are permitted to spend the day and/or the night on most of these mooring balls, so we decided to stay at Looe Key. My he eather was perfectly calm and the snorkeling was great. It’s pretty nice when you can just hang on the swim platform, or near it, and see sharks, Rays, Goliath Grouper, Parrotfish and a large variety of other sea life without snorkeling over a larger area. It also made a perfect place for a stopover since it is almost exactly halfway between Marathon and KW. The Stars were amazing that night, the water was as flat as glass all night and the entire next day. The only small issue was….no wind….so we had to motor from Looe Key to Key West but it was well worth the trade off!!!

Looe Key in relation to Marathon and Key West

You can get to Looe Key Reef even if you don’t own a boat. It is a very popular destination for the local dive and snorkel operations. We highly recommend it.

IMG_0355 <——this is the link to the Spotted Eagle Ray Video…..

A Visit to Windley Key Fossil Park

While we were traveling West down the Keys, we stopped over for a week near Islamorada. Now, I never imagined that I’d find a coral fossil park to be interesting but this place was pretty cool. It’s located near MM85 in Islamorada.

The land was formed of Key Largo limestone, fossilized coral, dating back to approximately 100,000 years ago. The land was sold to the Florida East Coast Railroad, which used the stone to build Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad in the early 1900s. After the railroad was built, the quarry was used until the 1960s to produce exquisite pieces of decorative stone called “Keystone”. The limestone was used on many historic buildings such as the St. Louis Post Office, an altar in a chapel in NYC, a courthouse in Miami and the nearby Hurricane Monument in Islamorada. After that, it was designated as an historic and geologically significant area and has been maintained by the Florida Park Services.

The machines would cut vertically and then horizontally to allow workers to remove slabs of the coral.

Aw…..!!! Sea Turtles !!!

IMG_0341

The above link is a short video of a Sea Turtle at the Marathon Sea Turtle Hospital. You may have seen it on Facebook but I thought it was also worth posting here since they are so cute.

Bond….James Bond…..

There has been a lot of moving lately and not much reliable wifi, especially during our trip to the Dry Tortugas where there was nothing for five days. So, there will be a blitz of posts once we get more consistent connectivity.

I thought I’d post this as a little teaser of our lower Keys adventures….can anyone name this Bond movie ? Hint: filmed partially on location in Key West.

Timothy Dalton as James Bind in front of the Bikini Barrelhead Bar — Timothy Dalton as James Bond in front of the Bimini Barrelhead Bar

Me as....well....me in front of the Bimini Barrelhead Bar — Me as….well….me in front of the Bimini Barrelhead Bar

Sadly, the Bimini Barrelhead is no more and is now the Thai Island Restaurant. It’s a good place to eat, but hasn’t been in a Bond Movie. Who knows how long the sign will last now that the business has changed themes.

Lobster – Palooza……or this guy caught a huge lobster and then THIS happened…

I’m not sure what the lobster season has been like offshore near the reefs but if it’s been anything like it has been on our little part of the bay it must have been great so far. I was hesitant to spend the $25 for the five year license initially but at $12 or $13 per pound (even at the places that buy them straight off of the boats) it paid for itself in about the first day. The season runs from August to the end of March and there are two “mini-seasons” that are two days each in the summer time.

Does that size 11 shoe make my lobster look big ??? Haha

and what happened next ??? He ate it….

Fun with Visitors …..and what’s a “Toilet Seat Pass” ???

Over the last month, or so, we’ve had quite a few visitors….some for a short stay and some for longer…..some weren’t staying close enough to get more than a quick meal together before they had to depart…but we have enjoyed seeing them all…here’s a few shots of what’s been going on……

Johnny and Shari with Toilet seat pass in the background

Sunset at Lorelei's — Sunset at Lorelei’s

One life ring speaks 1000 words.... — One life ring speaks a 1000 words….

So, toilet seat pass is an area that was originally marked by locals and fishermen to show an area where boats could pass through the shallow area near the end of Tavernier and Islamorada. Somewhere along the way, decorated toilet seats began adorning the PVC poles that were driven into the bottom to mark the small channel.

Just so Jan doesn’t feel bad about her first Conch horn attempt….(VIDEO)

A still shot from the video…..link is below

IMG_0270 <—–click this link to watch the video ! There may have been a few beverages consumed prior to the making of this video…..

Since we had an extra Conch horn lying around, I was convinced to give it a shot with the veterans here at our marina. Not my best work…..we can’t wait to see your video Jan !!

Some Conch related facts…..

The tradition of blowing a conch shell in the Florida Keys began hundreds of years ago. In the 1800s, when the local economy was largely based on salvaging cargoes from ships wrecked on the nearby reef, sailors attracted attention by blowing piercing blasts on the shell.

There is a yearly conch horn blowing contest every March in Key West.

Conch horns are used in religious ceremonies around the world.

Conch horns are also listed by the US Coast Guard as an approved sound making device under the requirements of Rule 33.b and Annex III (C).

Accessing the whole blog….and prior posts…using most tablets

I was asked by someone who was reading our blog on an iPad about the link to access the posts. Since I use an iPad I realized that link is not overly obvious and that a photo highlighting the button might help folks out….I’m not sure where it appears on other devices so if anyone uses a Samsung or other tablet and has a different display please let me know. Thanks !!