Visiting Dry Tortugas National Park is a once-in-a-lifetime event for many of the nearly 60,000 annual visitors to Florida’s southernmost park. Proper advanced planning is essential to provide a smooth visit to this iconic tropical destination.
Here are some things you’ll want to know before visiting Dry Tortugas.
Guide to Dry Tortugas
Where is Dry Tortugas
Dry Tortugas National Park is comprised of seven small islands that lie isolated in the Gulf of Mexico, just north of the Straights of Florida, some 70 miles west of Key West. The mileage from the mainland makes this the most remote national park in the lower 48.
Entrance Fee
The park charges an entrance fee. This fee will be collected by your transportation company at the time of booking, or at the park visitor center for those who arrive via private watercraft or private plane.
The Interagency Pass and other authorized park passes are accepted at Dry Tortugas National Park. A refund of the entrance fee will be applied to the card used to reserve the trip upon presentation of a valid park pass to the transportation provider at the time of check in.
How to Get to Dry Tortugas
Would-be visitors must find a way to navigate the vast, open waters that separate the park from the mainland. This can be accomplished via a seaplane, charter boat, ferry system, or by private watercraft.
Yankee Freedom III
Most visitors to the islands arrive by ferry on a 110′ long, 30′ wide aluminum catamaran named the Yankee Freedom III. This boat is operated out of Key West and is the park’s official water transportation concessioner, offering daily trips to the park for up to 150 passengers.
The boat departs Key West at 8:00am daily, and arrives at Fort Jefferson at approximately 10:15am. A return trip departs Fort Jefferson at 3:00pm and returns to Key West at approximately 5:15pm. Arrival time are weather dependent. The boat cruises at a speed of 27 knots and provides a rather smooth ride, depending on nautical conditions.
Accommodations aboard the vessel are quite comfortable, with adequate seating and deck space available. Heads (restrooms) are available onboard, as well as a snack and beverage bar. Passengers are welcome to be seated inside the cabin both downstairs and up, as well as on an open deck outside.
Included in the cost of your trip is access to snorkel equipment, and a guided tour of the fort. Also included is a breakfast bar and coffee, along with a lunch. The food is standard fare, with a sandwich bar, chips, potato salad and cookies. Overall, it’s pretty good and after a couple of days camping, you may really enjoy it.
To learn more, or to book your trip, visit the Yankee Freedom III website and set your trip in motion.
Seaplane
The fastest, and arguably most scenic way, to get to the park is by seaplane. The flight averages a mere 45 minutes each way and this option can provide time for a more relaxing single-day visit.
Key West Seaplane Charters offers daily service to the park, which includes the option of a half-day, or full-day-trip. The half-day-trip is just under 4 hours long and provides at least 2.5 hours on Garden Key, while the full-day-trip will give visitors 6.5 hours on the island.
The trips include bottled water and soft drinks, along with a small cooler and ice to keep your drinks cold. The seaplane also offers complimentary snorkel gear, including a mask, snorkel, fins and floatation vest. You may also bring your own beverages and snorkel gear. For those on a full-day trip, don’t forget to pack a lunch.
Key West Seaplane Adventures is the sole authorized provider of seaplane transportation to the islands and operates two DHC-3 DeHavilland Turbine Otter Amphibians. The planes are powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6 turbine engine that produces 750 hp. Each plane carries 10 passengers and a pilot.
For more information or to take to the air asap, visit their website.
Day Trip or Camp?
The boat offers services to both day trippers and campers, although there are a limited number of campers permitted per trip. This means you’ll want to reserve your space EARLY, as these spots fill up fast!
Personally, I found the day trip to be nice, but my partner and I were in a constant rush while on the island, as this option provides just over 4 hours in the park. We took a guided tour of the fort, which was excellent for the informative value, but time consuming. With all of the photos I took after the tour, we found no time for swimming or snorkeling.
Camping at Dry Tortugas
A true Park Junkie will certainly want more than four hours in the park. So for my next visit, I arranged a camping trip which was much more enjoyable, as the park becomes a different world after the day-trippers leave.
Once everyone vacates the premises, the fort becomes eerily quiet and the beginnings and ends of days in this park are simply unforgettable.
Campers also have the luxury of exploration. With the addition of a kayak to your camping and snorkeling gear, the options of ways to spend your hours in the park explode.
The campground is primitive, but there are nice restrooms available near the tent sites. Picnic tables and charcoal grills are provided. The ferry prohibits the transportation of fuel canisters, (& a Coast Guard agent will search your bags thoroughly prior to boarding) so charcoal is the only way to go.
Absolutely nothing is available on the island in the way of services or provisions. You’ll need to bring all of your drinking water (1 gallon per day, per person) and your food, along with any luxury items such as alcohol or chocolate.
Be prepared for rodent activity at the camp. During my stay, several campers fell victim to the assault of rats. Yes, the island has rats.
These creatures live in a harsh environment and are in constant search of water. Their sharp little teeth will easily chew through the typical thin plastic water containers sold in stores, and they will drink your milkshake (and water).
Several of my neighbors suffered the loss of water, and one unfortunate couple awoke to find that a rat had chewed through their nice new North Face tent during the night. They were not stoked.
I found it wise to store all food and water in a thick cooler. Some people use the plastic rubbermaid storage bins, and this provided adequate protection as well.
To prevent these rodents from entering your tent, do not store ANYTHING in your tent that has ANY form of scent. This includes toothpaste, toiletries, sunscreen, food, drinks, snacks, fruit, or ANYTHING that provides a scent. Just store that stuff in your cooler or rubbermaid storage bin and enjoy a good night’s sleep.
There is a nightly fee for camping in the park. This fee is not included in your transportation charge, so bring a little cash for that. Follow the link below to access the park website to determine the current fee for campsites.
Campers are required to be at the Key West Ferry Terminal on Grinnell Street at 6:00am on the day of departure. Here campers can unload gear and line up for Coast Guard baggage inspection prior to boarding the Yankee Freedom.
Multi-day parking is available in nearby parking garages and several outdoor parking lots are located nearby as well.
See the Dry Tortugas National Park and the Yankee Freedom camping pages for more information on camping.
Key West
Key West, Florida is the jumping off point for a trip to Dry Tortugas. There are adequate options for lodging and food in this small history-rich island town, and there is plenty of parking available both on the streets and in parking lots and garages near the ferry terminal on Grinnell Street.
There is no longer a camping option in town, however. For those who wish to camp, the new destination is Stock Island, at mile marker 5, just north of Key West.
Try Boyd’s Campground, but be prepared to enjoy the smallest, yet most expensive campsite of your life. That said, there is a pool, laundry and showers, and the accommodations are really nice.
Key West has always been an expensive camping destination. I recall paying nearly $50 a site at Jabour’s campground in Key West way back in the 1900s… There is now a condominium built on this site, so they must’ve not been charging enough.
I stayed at Boyd’s during my first trip to Dry Tortugas. Since it was a day trip, we just reserved a campsite for three nights and road our bikes from Stock Island to the Key West Ferry Terminal. We simply locked the bikes at the ferry terminal and enjoyed our day without paying a fortune for parking in addition to the campsite.
I prefer to bike in Key West anyway, as parking is easier, cheaper and DUIs are less likely as nearly everyone on a bike here is at least slightly intoxicated. Bikes also provide a great way to just cruise the town at a leisurely pace and enjoy the laid back atmosphere.
You may be well advised to spend a couple of days here, or well, you may not. Personally, I always seem to eke out a really good time drinking and sunning my skin in the former home town of Earnest Hemingway. Enjoy…
Here is a link to Boyd’s Campground.
Guide to Dry Tortugas
Relevant Links
Yankee Freedome III – Ferry Service
National Park Guides
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