Was is beautiful or stressful?

It was 90% beautiful and about 10% stressful, I’d say. William might have a different opinion, but for the most part, our 80-mile trek from the Mooring Field in Key West to Bird Key Harbor in Dry Tortugas was pretty smooth.

Step 1 – Fuel!

Okay, I’ll admit the stress of getting into the fuel dock was pretty high. The fuel dock was full and we had to idle in the crowded inlet for a few minutes until we got ahold of the dockmaster who suggested a really tight maneuver to make it work.

My initial thought was, “Uhhh, no. We’ll wait.” But Captain Will knows his limits and made the perfect turn-around with about 3-feet to spare on our bow and stern (with the whaler in tow!). Seriously, his docking and maneuvering never cease to amaze me.

After topping off both tanks and the dinghy with fuel ($604), and filling our water tank, we were off!

Step 2 – Avoid Lobster Traps

We knew from our trip to Boca Grande that the lobster traps were plentiful. So for this trip, we planned to go about 6-miles offshore, where the ledge drops from the 25ft reef to 100-200ft of water pretty quickly. In the deep water, there aren’t any traps, which makes using the auto-pilot easier and a smoother trip all around.

Step 3 – Crank It Up!

To save fuel, we usually cruise at about 9-knots or around 1100-rpms. That’s where we are most fuel-efficient. We had following seas on the way out, which boosted our speed to about 10-knots. It felt like we were surfing the waves a bit, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Once we made the turn towards Fort Jefferson from being in the deeper water, however, we were taking the waves on the side. As you see in the video below, that made for a wet ride! Luckily, we had planned to stretch the engines out for this last 11 miles, so we cranked it up to about 20-knots to finish the trip in about 45 mins.

Step 4 – Anchor & Check-in

We made it before sunset, which was our goal. We chose to anchor in Bird Key Harbor, as we read that it had better holding. After getting the anchor set (on the second try), we hopped in the dinghy and headed to the Fort.

There was no ranger there when we arrived, so we used the paper forms to check-in, and then made our way to the top of the fort to watch the sunset behind RumHaven.

Watch the video!