Offering a glimpse into the 1800s set amidst amazing variety of marine life and beautiful turquoise waters, Dry Tortugas National Park is the best reason to come to Key West. Visitors to this National Park will return home with an intangible souvenir – an appreciation for life in the 1800s on a sub-tropical island, and respect for the marine world and their place in it.
That’s because Dry Tortugas National Park features a still-standing fort from the Civil War era, Fort Jefferson. Tour the fort with a knowledgeable guide and learn the surprising way of life for US army soldiers 150 years ago. If you’re the adventurous type, you can even camp at the fort overnight, imagining life as it was for the soldiers who toiled in the heat to build the fort.
But Dry Tortugas is more importantly a beacon of marine conservation, with some of the loveliest coral reef, fish, and other marine life. It’s 80 miles out from civilization, so there’s nothing out here to spoil the reef and the world that exists just under the surface of the turquoise waters that surround the Dry Tortugas. On your day trip, go snorkeling and see it for yourself, or take a walk on the ramparts of Fort Jefferson and look down into the clear flats below. You’re bound to see fish even from atop the high wall of the fort. A day at Dry Tortugas offers all this plus sweeping views of the ocean around you, a lighthouse in the distance, bird watching on the surrounding islands, and a fresh look back into the history of our nation through Fort Jefferson.