Sailing to the Dry Tortugas
05 January 2010 | Dry Tortugas, Fort Jefferson
Brian
We had a fun and expensive time in Marco Island and we were ready to push farther down the coast to the Dry Tortugas. We have read a lot about this interesting place and really wanted to see it for ourselves... it is an island that the "North" built, a brick fort on a small island, during the Civil War. I recommend you google it and check it out....very interesting. After insuring we were ready to leave we set sail on Wednesday (12-30-09) at around 2:30pm in the afternoon. The distance is about 95nm from Marco Island and North-East winds of about 15 knots were forecasted.
Offshore Marco Island the wind was light so we motored sailed for a couple of hours. Our biggest concern was the amount of crab traps everywhere with prop fouling potential. We had to have a constant watch and steer around the small floats, which mark each trap. At times we could count 15 traps around us, which worried us once nightfall came. The wind started turning on and we stopped the engine and cruised under sail alone. We watched a beautiful sunset as we sailed offshore to the Dry Tortugas. Somehow we didn't get our propeller wrapped in any traps during the night. We sailed towards the main island, Garden Key, through a very choppy Rebecca Channel. The entrance is shallow and can only be entered during day light hours. We anchored safety in a beautiful spot right off Fort Jefferson in 25 feet of water with a sandy bottom. As soon as we anchored a huge Goliath Grouper decided to hang out in the shade under our boat. He looked at least 180lbs.... I grabbed my dive mask and jumped into the warm water and the Grouper let me dive right up to him and we met face to face. We sat on the anchor for the day and got up early the next day to tour the Fort. Wow, what an interesting place. We walked around and took pictures and enjoyed the views. We met some of the Federal employees who stay on the island for 10 days at a time with 4 days off the island. At 10:30am two boats arrive with tourists from Key West a 70 mile trip. Most come for the day, but some bring their camping gear and stay the night. We hunted down the Captain of one of the tourist boats and asked about the best route to Key West. Captain Graham was helpful and we went over a navigation chart and discussed the best way to cross the cranky Rebecca Channel. Him and his crew were a big help; local knowledge is always great to have.
We knew a storm was coming so I dove to check on the anchor and let out some scope to ensure we wouldn't drag. Well, we watched the thunderhead approach and then the wind and rain came hard. The wind hit 35 knots and the other two sailboats in the anchorage started dragging their anchors, also a 128 foot motor yacht dragged and ended up running aground. Our anchor held but one of the other sailboats had to grab the National Park mooring buoy and we were just up wind of them. This was a cause for concern for us because if we did drag we would end up running into them. This meant we had to pick up anchor and re-set in heavy wind. Well, our maneuver went well and in a short time we were re-anchored in a better spot. The wind blew hard all night. We stayed another couple days to let the weather pass. What a great place.... We wish the weather were better when we were here so we could explore some of the outer Keys. If you visit Key West save some time to explore Dry Tortugas.