Key West is the end of the road, but it is not the end of Florida. Seventy miles further west, in open water, seven small islands make up Dry Tortugas National Park. Ponce de León found them in 1513 and named them Las Tortugas for the sea turtles; sailors added "Dry" as a warning that there is no fresh water. On one of them, Garden Key, the United States spent 30 years and more than 16 million bricks building a fort it never finished.
Fort Jefferson
Construction began in 1846. The idea was to control the shipping lane between the Gulf and the Atlantic. The fort is a six-sided ring of brick with walls 45 feet high and eight feet thick, surrounded by a moat, designed for 420 heavy guns and 1,500 men. It is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. It was also obsolete before it was done: rifled artillery, which could crack brick walls, arrived during construction, and the whole thing was never completed.
During the Civil War the Union used it as a prison. Its most famous inmate was Dr. Samuel Mudd, the Maryland doctor who set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg the night after Lincoln was shot. Mudd was convicted of conspiracy and sent to the Tortugas in 1865. When yellow fever swept the fort in 1867 and killed the post surgeon, Mudd took over the hospital, and the soldiers he treated petitioned for his release. President Johnson pardoned him in 1869. The prisoners called the place Devil's Island.
Franklin Roosevelt made it a national monument in 1935; it became a national park in 1992. Six of the original 25-ton Rodman cannons are still on the walls.
The treasure ship
The water between Key West and the Tortugas is a graveyard. In September 1622 a Spanish treasure fleet sailed into a hurricane off the Marquesas Keys, about halfway out. The galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha went down with some 40 tons of silver and gold, and the Spanish never recovered it. Mel Fisher looked for it for 16 years. On July 20, 1985, his divers found the main pile: silver bars stacked like cordwood, chests of coins, emeralds, gold chains. Fisher's daily line to his crew was "Today's the day." The haul was valued at about $400 million and is on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum on Greene Street in Key West.
Getting there: Boat or seaplane only. The Yankee Freedom ferry leaves Key West at 7:30 a.m. and returns by 5:30 p.m.; the crossing is about two and a quarter hours each way and includes lunch and snorkel gear. Seaplanes do half-day and full-day trips. Book weeks ahead; the ferry sells out. There is no food, water or fuel on the island.
What to do once you are there
Snorkel the moat wall, where the coral has grown onto the brick, and the pilings of the old coaling dock. Walk the top of the fort. Watch the frigatebirds. In spring, Garden Key is one of the great bird-migration stopovers in North America. Camping is allowed with a reservation, and the night sky 70 miles from the nearest light is the reason to do it.
The rest of your Key West days
The Tortugas is one full day. For the others, Key West's water is the point: reef snorkel trips to the barrier reef seven miles out, sunset sails past Mallory Square, dolphin and backcountry sandbar trips into the flats, and charter fishing for tarpon, mahi and grouper. On the way down, stop at Coral Castle; while in town, meet Robert the Doll.
Questions people ask
How do you get to the Dry Tortugas?
By ferry or seaplane from Key West only. The Yankee Freedom ferry departs at 7:30 a.m. and returns by 5:30 p.m., about two and a quarter hours each way. Seaplanes run half- and full-day trips. Book well ahead.
What is Fort Jefferson?
A six-sided brick fort on Garden Key, begun in 1846, built with more than 16 million bricks and never finished. It is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere and served as a Civil War prison.
Who was imprisoned at Fort Jefferson?
Most famously Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set John Wilkes Booth's leg after the Lincoln assassination. He was pardoned in 1869 after treating soldiers during the 1867 yellow fever outbreak.
Why is it called Dry Tortugas?
Ponce de León named the islands Las Tortugas (the turtles) in 1513. 'Dry' was added to warn sailors that there is no fresh water.
What was the Atocha?
Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon that sank in a 1622 hurricane off the Marquesas Keys, between Key West and the Tortugas. Mel Fisher's team found its main treasure pile on July 20, 1985; it is displayed at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West.