Dry Tortugas and Beyond

If there is such a thing as Paradise; the Dry Tortugas must be it - or at least it’s a very close call. We arrived in the D.T. on April 15th after a slow (twelve hour) but beautiful sail straight west from Key West . On the way across we encountered a school of about thirty dolphins riding our bow for about twenty minutes. It was quite a remarkable show they put on for us without the $52.00 entry Seaworld charges. We stayed there for forty-seven most delightful and happy days.


The D.T, almost 70 miles (112.9 km) west of Key West are a cluster of seven islands, composed of coral reefs and sand. The area is known for its famous bird and marine life, and its legends of pirates and sunken gold. Fort Jefferson, one of the largest coastal forts ever built, is a central feature. Since the days of Spanish exploration in 1513, the reefs and shoals of the Dry Tortugas have been a serious hazard to navigation and the site of hundreds of shipwrecks.
One could ask what in the world anyone can do for that long in a place there is nothing to do. But we had a most delightful time; exploring the old military fort, snorkeling, fishing, swimming in the 91 degree water and just relaxing. We have met some very nice people out there, had some great meals with new friends and traded Margit’s fresh baked cookies with the Cuban fisherman for snapper. The Tortugas are a national park, so no commercial activity whatsoever and too far away for any communication other than the single sideband email. Our provisioning stood the test of +50 days and the Watermaker kept us in drinking water and showers without a problem. We ran out of Rum, Gin and ultimately red wine, so it was time to head back to civilization.
We have met Carl and Judy on S/V Southern Cross who invited to watch Captain Ron (which we have never seen and I am sure it’s a “must see” for all cruisers), eat popcorn, drink their wine and rum drinks and on top of all we got five huge potatoes, a bottle of rum and they took all our empty bottles with them when they left. As you can imagine there were a few of those bottles …
We have met Daralee and Tim on S/V Sound Spirit with their friend Leslie who came all the way from Texas, shared several meals together and Daralee spared her precious two tomatoes, an onion, Pringles; their rum and wine and lots of happy laughs and great talks.
We have met Paul and Rosemary on S/V Peter Rabbit who shared pork filet, salad, rum and a very nice evening together, their friend Rick cooked steak and the worlds biggest potatoes for us.
We have met Mike and Carey on S/V Carey Ann from Cape Coral. Mike, Carey, Chris, Jackie and I spend a lot of evenings in the two weeks they were visiting the D.T. together. We shared the food we had and the last drinks we could possible make out of anything we had – and as you know, we Austrians are very inventive when it comes to making alcohol out of anything…
Life was great and we had not worries and thoughts about the rest of the world. Being so isolated from everything has sure a lot of advantages and after a while you loose sight of “reality” or of what is reality for most of the people. Out there nothing matters, as long as you have enough to eat and the water is flowing out of the tap and the weather gods favor you. We have certainly put Lucky Star to the test. Our generator worked perfect and made power for our freezer, refrigerator and Watermaker. The people we have met out there are part of the beauty we have encountered with this cruising life. Under extreme situations friendships develop much deeper quickly and you know if you can count on the people if something happens. And of course, we had a few things “happen” while we were out there. The weather was mostly incredible but since Murphy never moved off our boat, we had some storms that hit us hard. Our anchor has been the most reliable anchor ever and we had never a problem dragging. Not so for some boats in the anchorage – one late afternoon when we had thirty six boats in the small anchorage and thirty knot winds hit us with some heavy downpour. Boats were all over the place; people falling in the water and I am sure if was raining frogs it was so black. Chris went and helped people to set their anchors and managed to avoid hitting other boats and ripping more anchors out.
The wildlife was vast and beautiful. We have seen so many species of birds, some only known to life in the D.T. – Jackie did not care, she was interested in all of them. The Loggerhead turtles were amazing, they nest between April and September and we have seen many of them close to shore. An adult turtle weighs between 200 to 350 pounds and measure about 3 feet in length. We were able to observe a very large adult which swam for more than thirty minutes about three feet away close to the moat wall – what a sight. Even Jackie was mesmerized. Yellow Snapper are plentiful but hard to catch since the Barracudas are faster and there are a lot of them, too. To Jackie’s disappointment, Chris lost more fishing lures than he caught fish. Jackie is the first dog we have seen who dives with her whole head under the water in order to catch fish. She went in three feet of water trying to catch fish head first. What a crazy dog – what a sight – and sometimes a worry since there were a few larger sand-sharks very close to shore.
Leaving the Dry Tortugas was quite hard for us and we were sad to leave. So many new great friendships, worry free lives, sun, beaches everything our hearts desired. But I guess the need for some fresh food and some rum drinks was stronger … Actually our fear of hurricanes made our decision to leave more and more urgent. And so we decided to head back to Key West. We stayed one night two-thirds of the way in Boca Grande which was all right but nothing compare to the crystal clear waters of the Dry Tortugas. We stayed three nights at the Conch Marina in Key West and headed North to Shark River in the Ten-Thousand Islands in the Everglades. The remarkable thing was that the mangroves there were thirty feet and higher but it also seems that the flies were much bigger and plentiful.
Next day we set off for another part of the Ten-Thausend islands called Panther Key, where we had stayed on the trip down. Again, a very protected and beautiful anchorage where we had planned to sit out the current spell of bad weather. Unfortunately, Chris discovered a broken bracket on our generator that will require a decent amount of repair so we decided to make the run to Cape Coral yesterday before the weather truly socked us in. The morning was a great sail with good steady wind, but the afternoon deteriorated significantly with very high winds and downpours to rival Noah’s forty days. We were ready though and had everything battened down (including the Jackie Dog), so we just powered through it until about 7pm. We arrived safe and sound in Cape Coral and we are well up the canal system, so apart from some little wind and rain we are safe and sound. Mike and Carey from S/V Carey Ann graciously offered us their dock and house to stay. If you remember, we have met Mike and Carey in the D.T’s; both of them are very warm and kind people and we have been already introduced and invited by friends of theirs for dinners. Chris and I consider ourselves very lucky and fortunate to have met such wonderful people and hope that we can share a long and wonderful new friendship.
We will spend a week or in Cape Coral as we have to have the boat hauled out for an insurance survey and to get the generator fixed. After that, we plan on heading North to St Petersburg to see some old Florida friends, then on to Yankeetown and Dan & Joanne for the hurricane season. Their home is 7-8 miles up a river and very protected, so we should be OK from all but a direct hurricane hit.