The Dry Tortugas

Fort Jefferson and Garden Key (from Wikipedia)

There is no question that the high point of our trip to Florida was our trip to Dry Tortugas National Park. We were looking forward to it all week with mingled excitement and trepidation. After all, visiting these remote islands requires a two and a half hour boat trip from Key West. And, then, you have to come back for another two and a half hours. What if we got sea sick on the way out? And then we had to come back? On the other hand, it offered a totally new experience - the long boat ride itself was the longest we'd ever been "at sea", and the destination itself was tantalizing.

Well, our experience more than fulfilled our expectations without realizing any of our fears. The boat trip out was wonderful. The catamaran roared along at high speed on a glassy sea with little to no swell. In a few of the channels it would rise to 3 or 4 feet, but that was just fun. Along the way we saw sea turtles, flying fish, and lots of Portuguese Man O' Wars. Best of all we saw several pelagic species - Northern Gannets were flying by in lines, Brown Boobies sat on the water, a Bridled Tern flew by, and a few Audubon's Shearwaters skimmed the water in the distance. As we approached the islands, our first Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns joined in the fray. These species nest only here in the continental U.S.

Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Boobies perch on a channel marker.

Once moored on the island we hurried into the fort to look for landbird migrants. Garden Key is a well known migrant trap in the birding world. It provides the only patch of land between Cuba and Florida for trans-Caribbean migrants, and those that stop are concentrated into small buttonwood trees. We immediately started seeing birds. There were Prairie Warblers, Black and White Warblers, a couple of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and a bunch of Yellow-billed Cuckoos. We covered the parade grounds thoroughly, but were a little disappointed. There were a few migrants, sure, and they were fun to see, but there weren't a lot. We knew the place wasn't living up to its potential.

Ah well, the fort was interesting on its own right! There were original rusting canons, intricate brickwork, molding dark stairwells, and all the time the brilliant tropical sea just outside its buttresses glinted in aquamarine splendor through the canon ports.

Then we had lunch, and walked around the sea wall enjoying the tropical fish. Most people come to the Tortugas to snorkel. That seems like a great idea, and if we'd had a little more time we would have done so, ourselves. Instead, after dropping by the coaling deck to scan for Black Noddies and get close views at Brown ones and checking the nearby bushes for possible migrant thrushes, swallows, and owls (unsuccessfully), we popped back into the fort for one last sweep of the grounds.

Brown Noddy perching on an old piling.

By now time was running out. We only had four hours on the island, and we'd used more than three of those. Unfortunately, it turned out. As we took a seat on a shaded bench, we noticed some activity in the trees. Warblers had arrived! There must have been a wave of migration that arrived mid-day because all of a sudden we were seeing multiple Hooded Warblers, our first ever Worm-eating Warbler, a Black-whiskered Vireo, more Prairie Warblers, and a few Summer Tanagers. We took notice, and approaching another birder, I asked him what he'd been seeing. While we were talking, I saw the uniquely golden flash of a Prothonotary Warbler! I beckoned to Libby, and she proceeded to have very satisfying life views of this incredible bird.

A Hooded Warbler that got in our faces.

Meanwhile, a male Scarlet Tanager had arrived, and there were Orioles and a Yellow-throated Vireo, and another Prothonotary Warbler, and... it was time to go! It was so difficult to pull ourselves away from the feast of birds. There were dozens, and there was no way we'd seen them all. Still, the boat was leaving, and we were leaving with it, so we scurried for the dock as quickly as we could. Along with a pair of birders from Vermont we'd been birding with in the fort, we were the last people on board.

We weren't done with birds, though. On the way out the boat took a stop (just for us!) at Hospital Key to drink in some distant views of the Masked Booby colony. And, just after steaming for home, one came flying right over the foredeck.

We spent most of the trip back resting in the shade, satisfied and worn out by the constant sun and humid heat.

When we arrived back in Key West we followed the advice of the birders we talked to on the trip and dropped by Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. Fort Zachary Taylor was an old Civil War brick fort, too, but it was covered in concrete and updated to hold modern armaments during the world wars, so it's much less pretty. On the grounds, though, we saw our first ever Wood Thrush, and picked up the only Kentucky Warbler we saw on the trip.

We wound up the day with Thai Food and Key Lime Pie - only this time it was a meringue pie. Awesome!

More pictures are on Flickr.