Day 35 - Key West/Dry Tortugas

The adventure continues as the crew of Kite pondered a voyage 60 nautical miles further west to Dry Tortugas. The timing was complicated by the competition between the weather forecast and Kevin's need to fly out of Key West by 4 May. The weather forecast was horrid - strong easterly winds at 25 knots continuing through 1 May, kicking up 5 to 7 foot seas. We would not take Kite out into such weather. The alternative was to take the Yankee Freedom III ferry, a fast, motorized catamaran that would get us to Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas by 10:30, give us 4 hours to tour the fort and snorkel in the surrounding waters, and get us back to Key West by 17:30 the same day. We enquired, only to learn that the ferry was booked through 7 May. Eveline suggested that we go to the ferry terminal early Sunday morning to see if there would be any cancellations from too much celebration on Saturday night. We thought that was an excellent idea, but when she saw the weather forecast for Sunday, Eveline thought it would be too rough on a ferry speeding through such tall waves. She and Vince decided to wait for another opportunity, but Lyn, Peter and Kevin got up at 06:00 Sunday morning and walked to the ferry terminal just as they were opening and got to be first on the standby list. We had breakfast and returned to the terminal at 07:30 as boarding was starting. By 7:50 there were a few no-shows and we boarded just before the ferry left the dock.

Eveline had correctly judged the conditions. It was rough as the ferry roller-coasted over the large seas at 25 knots. We made the crossing in 2.5 hours, as advertised, and managed to avoid seasickness, unlike many of the less fortunate other passengers. Fort Jefferson was impressive. It's sheer size is immense, taking up the entire land area of Garden Key. We attended an hour-long guided tour and learned much about the fort's history and design features and failures. There is a colony of frigate birds that effortlessly soar just above the walls of the fort, seemingly suspended in air, as their speed matches that of the wind. The interior of the fort encloses several acres parade grounds, ammunition magazines, cannon ball heaters and other necessities of war. Later, we snorkeled in the protected waters in the lee of the fort, avoiding the large waves that were still crashing in from the east. 

Frigate birds soaring above Ft. Jefferson

Magazine inside the immense walls of Ft. Jefferson

Gunner's view of the sea, moat wall (foreground)

Ft. Jefferson as we departed for Key West

Promptly at 15:00, Yankee Freedom III departed Ft. Jefferson for Key West. The return trip was heading into the winds and seas, or rather crashing through the seas. We salty sailors were quite comfortable on this rough ride back, but a large number of unfortunate land-lubbers were making frequent use of the barf bags. As advertised, we pulled up to the ferry dock promptly at 17:30 and disembarked. 

We met Vince and Eveline as we walked up the dock to Kite and agreed to walk to Mallory Square for the sunset, and then find a place to have dinner. There were lots of schooners giving sunset cruises out to the west of Mallory Square, adding to the charm.

Schooners in the sunset

A Key West sunset

Kevin, Lyn, Eveline and Vince at Mallory Square

After sunset, we stopped at Hog's Breath Saloon for a drink and hoping to find dinner there too. It turned out not to be to our liking, and we walked over to Pepe's, the oldest restaurant on Key West, established in 1909, and had an excellent meal in a very comfortable setting. We then returned to Kite for showers and sleep in her air-conditioned cabin.

While the crew of Kite was at Dry Tortugas, Vince and Eveline arranged for an extra day at the Key West Bight Marina. The weather forecast for tomorrow, Tuesday, provided an opportunity for us to sail back to Marathon in small seas and with favorable wind direction from the south-southeast. Consequently, today we are preparing to leave Key West (doing laundry, getting a pumpout, topping off our water tanks). In the morning Kite will leave at 07:30, top off her fuel tank, and by 08:00 start the journey to Marathon.