Dry Tortugas National Park & Key West

Aaron Gurley
Mar 15, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Jun 28

After over 1,600 miles of driving Emmie down to Key West, we celebrated with a few cocktails under our private tiki hut at our campsite! The weather was fantastic, the views were breathtaking and the food in the Keys were delicious! Goals for Key West were: 1 - Eat all the food and drink all the drink, 2 - Watch a Key West sunset (and compare it to a California sunset), and 3- Visit Dry Tortugas NP

Trip Details:

Where: Dry Tortugas National Park and Key West, FL

Campsite: Bluewater Key RV Resort - site 29 (each site has a private tiki hut. Some sites had a bay or canal view, we had an interior view called a tropic view). It was the nicest resort we've ever been and will ever be at!

Length: 3 days

Itinerary:

Day 1: Rest day/pool day/drive around Key West

Day 2: Dry Tortugas National Park/Key West sunset

Day 3: Exploring Key West

Charlotte's Highlights: Mallory Square to watch all the performers and see the sunset.

Paige's Highlights: View from the sea plane and snorkeling along the moat at Dry Tortugas NP

Adult's Highlights: So many... sipping rum at Hemingways Rum Distillery, enjoyed taking the golf cart around Key West with the girls and Cooper, snorkeling at Dry Tortugas NP.

On our way down to Florida, we stopped at the historic Buc-ee's Gas Station just north of Atlanta to see what all the fuss was about. It was a HUGE gas station which accommodated our camper easily. We went into the store and looked around and ended up buying the best fudge assortment to enjoy on the trip. It was pretty cool.

After arriving at our campsite at Bluewater Key Luxury RV Resort in Key West, we checked out our Tiki Hut before finding a delicious place to eat. This campground (if you even call it that) was over-the-top gorgeous. Every spot was unique and beautiful. Our tiki hut was bigger than our camper and it came with a bar, full size fridge, 2 ceiling fans, a sectional, dining table and a large TV. The pool was heated and full of sunshine.

We went to The Backside of Paradise for dinner, where we got to sit right on the waters edge. It was dog friendly, so Cooper got to join us at our table! They even had a dog menu and brought him a bowl of water! We learned that Key West tends to be a very dog friendly area, and we took him everywhere we went (except Dry Tortugas NP, of course). We enjoyed some yummy seafood and a slice of Key Lime pie before heading back to the campground for some much needed pool time! We headed to bed early that night to be ready for our big day the next day.

The next day, we got up and headed to Key West airport to Dry Tortugas National Park. There are two ways to get to Dry Tortugas: by ferry or by sea plane. If you take the ferry, it will be 2 1/2 hours to get out there in the ferry. If you take a sea plane, it takes about 40 minutes to get there. We did the half day trip since we needed to get back to Cooper. The big question - was it enough time. Yes and no is the answer. Yes, we were hopping from activity to activity. If we had just an hour more, we could have taken our time. But our choices were either a 4-hour or 8-hour (plus double the cost for the flight), so that would have been a great amount of time at the fort, but we needed to get back to our puppy so the half day was perfect.

And oh that blue water!!

Dry Tortugas is home to Fort Jefferson, which was built to protect and patrol the Gulf of Mexico in the 1840s. We learned that it was originally found in 1513 by Ponce de Leon. Once he discovered the island, he found it full of turtles (tortugas), which is how it got its name. After the fort was built, it not only protected the US from enemy ships but also housed one of the most famous prisoners, Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

We stayed busy during our stay by checking out the island, snorkeling and earning the girl's junior ranger badges. We walked through the hallways of the fort and up winding staircases to hike the Fort Jefferson Loop.

The Fort Jefferson Loop was a half mile loop on the top of the fort. This was a really cool view of the ocean, the interior and exterior areas of the fort and we were able to see all the cannons at each of the 6 bastions.

Then we went snorkeling near the moat and out toward some coral reef. The water was nice and warm and we got to see some colorful fish on our trip out and back! Afterwards, we walked the moat wall (aka counterscarp) for some beautiful pictures! Before hopping back on the plane, we got the girls their junior ranger badges.

Surprisingly, the day wasn't over yet! We grabbed Cooper at the camper and went out to Key West to Mallory Square to watch the sunset, be entertained by all the street shows and have some drinks and some ice cream on Duval Street at Wicked Lick! Charlotte and Paige LOVED the street shows. They went from the guy with the ladder show, to the guy with the unicycle with juggling knives to the guy with the whip. It was very entertaining for us to experience.

Our final day, we rented a golf cart to go all over Key West. We started at the southernmost point for an obvious photo op.

Then we headed to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory and saw a ton of butterflies from all over the world and lots of chrysalis. There were a lot from South America and Africa. There were some butterflies that were as big as our hands! Also, there was 2 really loud flamingos! It was a fun experience!

After driving around Duval Street, we stopped at Hank's Hair of the Dog Saloon for drinks and lunch. We had the best tacos from Garbo's Food Truck. This was a perfect spot for Cooper, There were other dogs around and they provided a water bowl for him!

We drove the golf cart around a lot of the afternoon, driving by the Key West Lighthouse, Mallory Square (again) and Little Truman Whitehouse. While in the Little Truman Whitehouse area, we stumbled upon the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center. While Cooper took a nap outside with Aaron (no dogs allowed), the girls and I explored coral, learned about the underwater ecosystem and got to touch a dried seahorse, dolphin skull and horseshoe crab, which is all part of the free experience provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Finally, we ended our day at Hemingway Rum Distillery (aka Papa's Pilar Rum). We got a tasting of their blonde and dark rums. Both were delicious, so we bought a bottle each! We'll see if they make it home. After the tasting, we went to their bar (The Library.... get it.. it's cute right?) and the girls enjoyed a mocktail while Aaron and I sampled another rum beverage including the best mojito we've ever had! Cheers!