Dry Tortugas - Garden Key

5.16 - 5.23

We left on Sunday morning for the Dry Tortugas, 70 miles west of Key West - our first "big" trip as sailboat owners. We figured it best to get out there before the oil did! We sailed the first 20miles out to a group of islands called the Marquesas. It was an easy sail with the wind off our beam the whole time; we made great time and had set the anchor by 4pm. We had an early dinner and went to bed so we would be ready for the long trek the following morning.
There were three other boats anchored off the Marquesas the same time that we were and it was comforting to see that when we hauled up our anchor the following morning at 7am, so did the sailboat closest to us. Obviously they were on the same schedule as us and heading the same way - always nice to have someone to travel with! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The wind was a perfect 15knots off our beam again and with the chain of Keys soon at our back, the water opened up into a gorgeous azure paradise. We saw lots of turtles surface for air and had a few pods of dolphins join us for short durations of the trek. Being out at sea for 5hour with no sight of land can be quite daunting your first time, but with the scenery as exquisite as it was, we quickly forgot to be nervous and just took in the beauty of it all.
Finally, although much sooner than we had planned, we could make out the looming structure of a building on the horizon. The 3story, 18million brick structure that covers the majority of Garden Key is the first thing that welcomes weary sailors as they come upon the westerly islands. We sailed around the fort through the marked channel which opened up into a small harbor right off the beach of the island. There were only 3other sailboats there when we arrived, one of which was the couple we had been following all day. We quickly found a spot along the edge to anchor (away from all the other boats, as we are still not completely sure of our anchoring abilities). The water is so clear it is like looking down into a fish tank. I was at the helm while Brad was at the bow getting ready to drop the anchor. Brad told me to stop the boat, he could see the bottom at what he assumed was about 10 feet and he didn't want to be in water that was too shallow, so I complied and held the boat still while he dropped the anchor. As soon as he dropped the anchor, he leaned over the bow and looked down, then back at me with a confused look and then back down into the water before he yelled back at me - " We are in over 30 feet of water here!" After lifting the anchor and resetting it elsewhere, where we finally determined there was actually shallow water, we cracked open a celebratory bottle of wine and cooked some steaks and sat back to watch the sunset.
The following day we dinghy-ed into the fort - only a short 2 minute ride (unbelievable to us who are used to 30 minute dinghy rides daily!!). We took a self-guided tour of the fort and took lots of pictures - albeit mostly of our boat as we were looking down from the top of the fort. What can we say - she's a beauty! Then we meandered over to the beach to try our hand at snorkeling. There are two "fastboats" that ferry people out to the Tortugas daily from Key West. They arrive by 10am and leave by 3pm, bringing over 200 pesky tourists, I mean people, to the very small island. We quickly learned that if you want peace and quiet while enjoying the nature around you, go early in the morning and go back to the boat for a rest while all the tourists are there, returning to the island when those boats pull out.
The snorkeling around the moat of the fort was beautiful, the water so clear that you barely even needed the goggles. Exotically colored yellow, purple and blue fish weaved their way in and out of brain coral and beautiful purple fan coral heads. Small black and yellow striped fish (sergeants maybe?!) were the greeters of the reef, often swimming right up to you before darting away when you reached out to them. They followed closely behind us on our entire journey around the moat, as interested in us as we were in them. And of course, the reef wouldn't be complete without the predators. Although we were lucky enough not to see any sharks, we did see our fair share of large barracuda.
We snorkeled daily for about 3 days, following everyday with an evening on the beach with the dog. We would take his orange toy and he would play fetch for hours in the water; he thought this place was heaven too.
After about 4 days on Garden Key, we started to get restless so decided to go ahead over to the other islands that make up the Tortugas. We left the safety and the harbor and anchored at another nearby, somewhat less protected harbor. Once we were sure the anchor was set, we saw what looked to be a small island that appeared to be only visible during low tide. We dinghy-ed over and sure enough, there was a small patch of beach covered by only 1foot of water. We beached the dinghy and snorkeled around the small beach for a few minutes, basking in the knowledge that we were the only ones to step foot on this island all day.
Tomorrow, the last island in the group of the Tortugas, Loggerhead Key.