Video
Plan Your Visit
Transcript
How are you guys? Be very careful here. We have breakfast inside the main cabin. The area that we just pulled out of is known as the Historic Seaport. Or, the Lands End Marina. Very historic place for Key West. I do want to give you a run down of the itinerary. Now, keep in mind this is your vacation. And, today is your day to do as you wish with. We are going to be arriving at the fort at approximately 10:30. Once we get there, we are going to convene for a guided tour of Fort Jefferson. Otherwise, you can go in on your own time and do a self-guided tour. It is up to you. Well, welcome to Dry Tortugas National Park. My name is Chris Ziegler. I am the lead Interpretive Ranger and Historian for the park. Sooo, Dry Tortugas National Park began its life in the National Park Service back in 1935 as Fort Jefferson National Monument. Back then, it was set aside to protect the big fort here and the surrounding waters. However, in 1992, they elevated that status to national park. And, the main reason is this cluster of islands represents the end of the Florida reef system. That is approximately the third largest reef in the world. We became a national park because we are not only the end of it, but that also makes us the most pristine. Because it has had the least amount of human activity out here. So, we have some of the best coral you are going to find anywhere in the Florida Keys for snorkeling. It is very nice right here around the fort. But, we also have a lot of cultural resources. We have this magnificent fort. The third largest seacoast fort the United States ever built. We also have numerous submerged cultural resources and terrestrial archaeological resources. The centerpiece, of course, for most visitors will be Garden Key where historic Fort Jefferson is located. The large 19th century fortification encompasses approximately 10 acres. It is where your trip will spend most of your day as you are here. This is where the ferry boats as well as seaplanes tie up. Now, you are probably wondering, well why the heck would they build a fort out here of this size? Out here in the middle of nowhere, if you will. Well, if you think about it, when we left Key West this morning: Here is Key West. We got Cuba to the south of us and the Dry Tortugas is to the west of us, 70 miles. These islands that we are on right now are smack dab in the middle of that trade route. The U.S. wanted to occupy these islands so that nobody else could. So that they could continue to try to protect the coastline. As far as snorkeling goes today, this is going to be your best bet over here off of South Beach. Go to the right, follow that moat wall. You can go all the way around to the backside of the wall here. The other thing that I really like to do is get in off of South Beach and go to the left. And, you see those pilings that are sticking out of the water over there. There is a set here and a set over here off North Beach. And, you can go in either one. The water is clear, it is beautiful. Along the wall, there is a lot of soft corals and some hard coral heads out a little farther. But, we saw some purple fans. We saw a little Green Moray eel. A few fish. Tons of different kinds of mollusks on the bottom. We saw a Horse conch with a bright orange body. He was slowly moving his way across the bottom. Pretty neat critter. If you come out in the summer time, especially beginning in lets say May to June, that is when we have a great number of our sea turtles coming in. So, on the ferry ride or seaplane ride out, you are likely to see numerous turtles in the water. For those coming in the Spring and a few months even in the Fall, the migratory birds are really spectacular. So, we have many species of warblers. Occasionally even have the Burrowing Owl that frequents out here. We have, of course, the Sooty Terns and the Brown Noddys that inhabit the islands behind me and nest. The frigate birds are here year-round. In addition to that, we have a lot of other wildlife. Of course, the fish species here are just absolutely amazing. You will see some of the best coral reef fishes anywhere, just anywhere that you are going to find snorkeling from a beach especially. We have a great number of Nurse sharks that inhabit the bay behind me. It is actually one of the premiere areas for Nurse shark research. So, lots of different species of marine animals and pelagic birds that use the area. Dry Tortugas is definitely a unique national park. Out of all of them that I have seen. Just being on this island setting and the vast majority of it being this giant fort. The fort itself is actually a lot larger than what I was anticipating. The beaches are absolutely beautiful here. I would like to say to visitors that this is probably a pretty cool spot to camp overnight. Next time I come back here, I think I would probably plan a camping trip and stay overnight here. Well, we are here for the day. We are down from Montreal, Canada. And, just came in this morning and about to board the ferry and go back home soon. We took the tour of the fort this morning. We learned about the horrible life conditions that they had up here for many years as it seems. It was probably a pitiful place to be back in time. But, now it has become paradise I think. Well, when you land, you get a tour for about 45 minutes. And then, you get to walk around and do a little bit of what you like. And, have a bit of lunch on the boat. After that, we headed out to the beach, got our snorkeling gear on and went off into the water. The diving is amazing, the day is amazing, the water is amazing. It is a hard place to miss if you can get to it. If you are a visitor wanting to come and see Dry Tortugas, there is really three main ways you can get here. The most frequent way is our commercial ferry service that comes out. It is called the Yankee Freedom. You can purchase tickets and board that vessel at the Historic Bight in Key West, Florida. The other main option is the seaplane service that flies out daily from the Key West airport. It is a float plane. You take off on land at the airport and then you get to land on the water here at the fort. It is really a unique experience. A lot different than most of your commercial aircraft that you get to fly on. The normal seaplane tours, you are out here for about two hours. They offer a small, guided tour. And, once again, the day is kinda yours. You can explore the fort. Or, a lot of people like to snorkel and just take it easy. And, of course, the third option is to still come out on your own private boat if you are brave enough and have a vessel. Seventy miles out on open water, it does require a little bit of seamanship to get here and of course, the right equipment. But, for those that come out on their vessel, it is a rewarding experience in some of the most beautiful water you can actually come out and see in the United States. Camping is also provided. Campers that come out on the ferry are usually limited to three days due to the amount of gear that you can carry on the boat. However, the park service has a rule, you can actually stay fourteen days if you come out on something other than the ferry. Camping is very primitive. So, you have to pack in your own water and everything like that. As well as pack out all of your trash. This is my fourth day, three nights, four days leaving today. It is the DRY Tortugas so you have to bring your own water with you. So, you got to bring everything. You got to bring your own food. You got to bring your snorkel stuff, your clothes, your tent, your sleeping bag. You know, any kind of stuff that you need to eat with. Over the past four years, I have come here six times camping. Keep coming back because it is an amazing place. Amazing snorkeling with like tons of fish and really big fish. The fort is really neat just to wander around in. And then, also, when the boat is not here, there is like nobody here and you have the whole place to yourself. And, it is just really neat. At night, there is 18 gazillion stars. But, other than that, you are, like, stranded on a tropical island. The biggest challenge here for the park, of course, is protecting all of the resources. Most people are not aware. But, the National Park Service is the only federal agency whose primary goal is to be a steward of cultural and natural resources. No other agency has that mandate, has that responsibility. Our job is to take care of that for future generations to enjoy that which does not exist in the same form anywhere else. It is one of the most spectacular national parks I have ever been to. It is nothing like I expected. It is the setting, the history, the water, the reef, everything. I think it is something that not only a national park enthusiast, but I just think that everybody should see this. If you are coming down in the summer, especially anything from June up until August or September, expect very little wind, very smooth, glassy seas and wonderful visibility. But, quite warm. We are talking average temperatures in the low to mid 90s, high humidity and pretty much no breeze. Once you start to get into September and October, you start getting a little bit more wind coming in. And, by the time you get to late October and November, we are starting to have our cold fronts that come down from the north and can stir up the ocean a little bit. So, it can be a little interesting coming out on the ferry boat. But, always check with the ferry boat or the seaplane before you try to come out and make sure it is running. It is a very dynamic place. And, there is a lot of human history here that goes back to 1513. And, that is what a lot of visitors do not really understand is when the first Europeans were coming over here. So, it has a lot longer tale to be told than commonly gets shared with visitors.
Descriptive Transcript
Description Narrator: Plan Your Visit: Dry Tortugas National Park. National Park Service logo.
Ferry Terminal in Key West.
Visitors line up to board the Yankee Freedom II ferry tour. An employee greets the visitors as they enter.
Ferry boarding starts at 7:30 AM daily.
Speaker 1: How are you guys? Be very careful here. We have breakfast inside the main cabin.
Description Narrator: The ferry leaves the dock.
Rebecca Daiessio, Ferry Tour Guide.
Rebecca Daiessio: The area that we just pulled out of is known as the Historic Seaport, or the Lands’ End Marina. Very historic place for Key West.
I do want to give you a rundown of the itinerary. Now keep in mind, this is your vacation, and today is your day to do as you wish with. We're going to be arriving at the Fort at approximately 10:30.
Description Narrator: A satellite map of Key West and Dry Tortugas National Park. A dashed yellow line marks the path taken by the ferry, which travels 70 miles in 2.5 hours.
Rebecca Daiessio: Once we get there, we're going to convene for a guided tour of Fort Jefferson.
Otherwise, you can go in on your own time and do a self-guided tour, it’s up to you.
Description Narrator: Views of Fort Jefferson as the ferry approaches and arrives at the dock. Guests exit the ferry and walk towards the Fort.
Ranger Chris: Welcome to Dry Tortugas National Park. My name is Chris Ziegler, I'm the lead interpretive ranger and historian for the park. So, Dry Tortugas National Park began its life in the National Park Service back in 1935 as Fort Jefferson National Monument.
Back then, it was set aside to protect the big fort here and the surrounding waters. However, in 1992 they elevated that status to National Park, and the main reason is, is this cluster of islands represents the end of the Florida reef system that's approximately the third largest reef in the world.
Description Narrator: A map of Dry Tortugas National Park. Footage of fish swimming around the coral reefs.
Ranger Chris: We became a national park because we’re not only the end of it, but that also makes us the most pristine because it's had the least amount of human activity out here. So, we have some of the best coral you're going to find anywhere in the Florida Keys for snorkeling. It's very nice right here around the fort. But we also have a lot of cultural resources, we have this magnificent fort, the third largest seacoast fort the United States ever built. We also have numerous submerged cultural resources and terrestrial archeological resources.
Description Narrator: Footage of Fort Jefferson and surrounding views.
Ranger Chris: The centerpiece, of course, for most visitors will be Garden Key, where historic Fort Jefferson is located. The large 19th-century fortification encompasses approximately ten acres. It's where your trip will spend most of your day as you're here. This is where the ferry boats, as well as sea planes tie up.
Description Narrator: A seaplane in the water pulls up to a remote beach.
Angela Robb, a Ferry Tour Guide, speaks to a crowd of visitors.
Angela Robb: And you're probably wondering, well, why the heck would they build a fort out here of this size? Out here in the middle of nowhere if you will. Well, if you think about it, when we left Key West this morning, here's Key West, we got Cuba to the south of us and the Dry Tortugas is to the west of us, 70 miles.
Description Narrator: A satellite map of Florida and the Caribbean. The area between Cuba and Key West is labeled Shipping Channel.
Angela Robb: These islands that we're on right now and are smack dab in the middle of that trade route, the US wanted to occupy these islands so that nobody else could, so that they can continue to try to protect the coastline.
Description Narrator: A view of crystal clear blue water.
Angela Robb: As far as snorkeling goes today, this is going to be your best bet over here off of South Beach and go to the right, follow that moat wall, you can go all the way around the back side of the wall here.
Description Narrator: A group of pilings in the water.
Angela Robb: The other thing that I really like to do is get in on South Beach and go to the left and you see those pilings that are sticking out of the water over there. There's a set here and a set over here off North Beach, you can go in either one.
Description Narrator: A visitor swims by.
Ferry includes snorkeling instruction & gear.
Underwater footage of coral growing on pilings.
Chris & Andrea Collins, park visitors, snorkel next to Fort Jefferson.
Chris Collins: Water’s clear, it’s beautiful. Along the wall, there's a lot of soft corals and some hard coral heads out a little further, but, we saw some purple fans and we saw a little green Moray eel, few fish, tons of different kinds of mollusks on the bottom. We saw a horse conch a bright orange body, and he was slowly moving his way across the bottom. Pretty neat critter.
Ranger Chris: If you come out in the summertime, especially beginning in, let's say, May to June, that's when we have a great number of our sea turtles coming in. So, on the ferry ride or seaplane ride out, you're likely to see numerous turtles in the water.
Description Narrator: A juvenile sea turtle swims in the water.
Ranger Chris: For those coming in the spring and a few months, even in the fall, the migratory birds are really spectacular. So, we have many species of warblers, occasionally even have the burrowing owl that frequents out here.
Description Narrator: A burrowing owl sitting in a tree near the Fort.
Ranger Chris: We have, of course, the sooty terns and the brown noddies that inhabit the islands behind me and nest.
Description Narrator: A sooty tern and pair of brown noddies in their nests with eggs. A sign reads: Island Closed. Nesting Area. Do Not Approach. A brown noddy sits atop the sign.
Ranger Chris: The frigatebirds are here year-round.
Description Narrator: Birds fly around a lighthouse at the fort.
Underwater footage of tropical fish and nurse sharks swimming around the reef.
Ranger Chris: In addition to that, we have a lot of other wildlife, of course, the fish species here are just absolutely amazing. You'll see some of the best coral reef fishes anywhere, just anywhere you’re going to find snorkeling from a beach, especially.
We have a great number of nurse sharks that inhabit the bay behind me. It's actually one of the premiere areas for nurse shark research. So, lots of different species of marine animals and pelagic birds that use the area.
Description Narrator: Jodi Harrington, a park visitor, sits in front of coral skeletons on a deserted beach.
Jodi Harrington: Dry Tortugas is definitely a unique national park out of all of them that I've seen, just being on this island setting and the vast majority of it being this giant fort. The fort itself is actually a lot larger than what I was anticipating. The beaches are absolutely beautiful here. I would like to say to visitors that this is probably a pretty cool spot to camp overnight. Next time I come back here, I think I probably would plan a camping trip and stay overnight here.
Description Narrator: Mark Assayag, a park visitor, stands in front of the Fort Jefferson sign.
Mark Assayag: Well, we're here for the day. We're down from Montreal, Canada, and just came in this morning, and about to board the ferry, and go back home soon. We took the tour of the fort this morning. We learned about the horrible life conditions they had up here for many years, as it seems.
Description Narrator: Black-and-white photographs of the Fort, and the people who lived there.
Mark Assayag: It was probably a pitiful place to be back in time, but now it's become paradise, I think.
Well, when you land, you get a tour for about 45 minutes and then you get to walk around, do a little bit of what you like and have a bit of lunch on the boat. After that, we headed out to the beach, got our snorkeling gear on, and went off into the water. The diving is amazing. The day is amazing. The water is amazing. It's a hard place to miss if you can get to it.
Ranger Chris: If you're a visitor wanting to come see you Dry Tortugas, there's really three main ways you can get here.
Description Narrator: The ferry departs from the island.
Ferry departs for Key West at 3:00 PM.
Ranger Chris: The most frequent way is our commercial ferry service that comes out, it's called the Yankee Freedom. You can purchase tickets aboard that vessel at the Historic Bight in Key West, Florida.
The other main option is the seaplane service that flies out daily from the Key West airport. It's a float plane, you take off on land at the airport and then you get to land on the water here at the fort.
It's really a unique experience, a lot different than most of your commercial aircraft you get to fly on.
Description Narrator: Visitors board the seaplane from the beach.
Ranger Chris: The normal seaplane tours, you're out here for about two hours. They offer a small, guided tour and once again, the day is kind of yours.
You can explore the fort or a lot of people like to snorkel and just take it easy.
Description Narrator: A seaplane takes off from the water next to the fort. Views from the seaplane as it leaves the island.
Ranger Chris: And of course, the third option is still, come out on your own private boat if you're brave enough and have a vessel. 70 miles out in open water, it does require a little bit of seamanship to get here and of course, the right equipment.
But for those that come out on their vessel, it's a rewarding experience and some of the most beautiful water you can actually come out and see in the United States.
Description Narrator: A private boat cruises by a small island as the sun sets.
Ranger Chris: Camping is also provided. Campers that come out on the ferry are usually limited to three days, due to the amount of gear that you can carry on the boat. However, the park service has a rule you can actually stay 14 days if you come out on something other than the ferry. Camping is very primitive, so you have to pack in your own water and everything like that, as well as pack out all of your trash.
Description Narrator: Scott Hedrick, park visitor, holds a gallon water bottle at his campsite.
Scott Hedrick: This is my fourth day. Three nights, four days, leaving today. It’s the Dry Tortugas, so you have to bring your own water with you. So you got to bring everything. So you got to bring your own food, you got to bring your snorkel stuff, your clothes, your tent, your sleeping bag, you know, any kind of stuff you need to eat with.
Over the past four years I’ve come here six times camping. Keep coming back because it's an amazing place. Amazing snorkeling with like tons of fish and really big fish. The fort is really neat just to wander around in. And then also, when the boat isn’t here, there's like nobody here and you have the whole place to yourself, and it's just really neat.
Description Narrator: The sun sets over a silhouette of a cannon at the fort.
Scott Hedrick: At night, there's 18 gazillion stars. But other than that, you’re like stranded on a tropical island.
Ranger Chris: The biggest challenge here for the park, of course, is protecting all the resources. Most people are not aware, but, the National Park Service is the only federal agency whose primary goal is to be a steward of cultural natural resources.
No other agency has that mandate, has that responsibility. Our job is to take care of that for future generations to enjoy that which doesn't exist in the same form anywhere else.
Description Narrator: Visitors wade into the water from a pristine beach.
Paul Dagres, park visitor, stands on the seawall surrounding the Fort.
Paul Dagres: It's one of the most spectacular national parks I've ever been to. It's nothing like I expected. It's the setting, it's the history, the water, the reef. Everything is just…I think it's something that not only a national park enthusiast, but I just think everybody should see this.
Ranger Chris: Coming down in the summer, especially anything from June up until August or September, expect very little wind, very smooth glassy seas, and wonderful visibility, but quite warm. We're talking average temperatures in the low to mid-nineties, high humidity, and pretty much no breeze.
Description Narrator: Views of the visitor center, a seaplane landing at the airport, and a ferry coming into the dock.
Ranger Chris: Once you start to get into September and October, you start getting a little bit more wind coming in, and by the time you get to late October, November, we're starting to have our cold fronts that come down through the north and can stir up the ocean a little bit. So, it can be a little interesting coming out on the ferry boat, but always check with the ferry boat or the seaplane before we try to come out, make sure it's running.
Description Narrator: Tourists walk along the docks looking at boats near the ferry office in Key West.
Ranger Chris: It's a very dynamic place, and there's a lot of human history here that goes back to 1513, and that's what a lot of visitors don't really understand, when the first Europeans were coming over here. So it's, it has a has a lot longer tale to be told than commonly gets shared with visitors.
Description Narrator: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Dry Tortugas National Park. National Park Service logo.
Dry Tortugas National Park video.
Featuring (in order of appearance):
Rebecca Daiessio (Ferry Guide), Christopher Ziegler (Park Ranger), Angela Robb (Ferry Guide), Chris Collins (Visitor), Jodi Harrington (Visitor), Mark Assayag (Visitor), Scott Hedrick (Visitor), Paul Dagres (Visitor).
Producer, Director, Editor: Jennifer Brown.
Executive Producers: Allyson Gantt, Alan Scott.
Underwater footage courtesy of: Brett Seymour, NPS Submerged Resources Center.
Underwater Conch photo courtesy of: Chris Collins.
Map images courtesy of: Google Earth.
Music performed by: Petar Alargic, ‘InD VoD fin,’ ‘EeR NR1,’ ‘IndVOX IV’ & ‘172 Seconds’ from the Classient Vinyl L1 album. Magnatunes Records, www.magnatunes.com.
Special thanks: Christopher Ziegler, Dry Tortugas National Park Staff, Yankee Freedom Ferry Boat Staff, Key West Seaplane Adventures Staff.
Description
Informational video about visiting and exploring Dry Tortugas National Park.
Duration
10 minutes, 15 seconds
Credit
NPS Video by Jennifer Brown
Date Created
10/14/2011
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