State(s): Florida
Link: https://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm
Days: 1
Month: January
Hotel: Fitch Lodge
Hikes: N/A
Ice Cream: Gladiators Ice Cream (Key West)
For this trip, we flew into Miami and took a road-trip from there to Key West. Along the way, we went to the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Biscayne National Park, and Dry Tortugas National Park.
Day 0
Continuing the day after our trip to Biscayne National Park, we headed for the Turtle Hospital in Marathon. Was both cool and sad at the same time. We highly recommend going there and supporting their efforts. You can pay to go on a tour to hear and see how they are helping sea turtles. In the end, we adopted Tater and Tot.
Next, we headed to Lazy Days for lunch. We were able to sit right by the water and watch the boats. I had the Lazy Days Lobster Sandwich and Colleen had the Caesar Salad with Lobster. We both enjoyed our food here.
Once we made it to Key West, we walked around to many different stores. Along the way we went to the Kermit’s Key Lime Pie Shop and had to try their strawberry key lime pie – yum!
Then we headed to the 0 Mile Marker.
Once we were done with that, we went to the Southernmost Point Buoy. While Colleen stayed in line so we could take pictures, I purchased a fresh coconut to try coconut water; neither of us liked it but it’s something to try when you’re there.
For dinner we headed to Seaside Cafe at the Mansion for their famous Lobster Bianca Pizza and Honey-Butter Lobster Biscuits. Both were amazing!
After eating all that food, we had to walk around more. After walking for a bit we were ready for Mattheessen’s Ice Cream. We shared ice cream and a peanut butter fancy cookie. So yummy!
Day 1
We started our morning early, but thankfully we only had a short walk from our hotel. This was the day to take the Yankee Freedom boat to Dry Tortugas National Park. We arrived there 5 minutes before they said we needed to be there for check-in and we were already #72 and #73 (out of 175). They warned everyone that the boat was going to be bouncing for the last hour of the trip because of 4-6 feet waves and highly encouraged everyone to take Dramamine. For people who didn’t have any, it could be purchased for $1.
On the way there we saw Christmas Tree Island – boats can dock up for the cost of a sticker. Then we came across Sunset Key, it has houses and places you can rent.
The second half of the 2.5 hour boat ride got very rocky, just as they said. Around 1/4 of the boat ended up getting sick. The crew was great; they came around with souvenir bags, paper towels, water, ice, and ginger ale until we docked.
Unfortunately, one of us got sick and felt miserable even while on the island. If you are prone to sea sickness, we highly recommend taking the seaplane.
Once we arrived, we were able to go on a ~20 minute tour or a ~20 minute tour + an extended tour, which added another hour. We took extended option. During the tours, Hollywood (one of the crew from the boat) gave us a history lesson and (during the extended portion) took us around the fort. Neither of us are that into history but Hollywood was the perfect mix of having a great personality, really know his information, and a fantastic communicator/story teller.
A few of the things we learned about the fort:
- The US built this fort to control the Golf of Mexico because the island had a safe harbor and it had an endless supply of sea turtles (which at the time were considered a luxury meal)
- At the time our Navy was much smaller than the military of other countries around
- It was built large enough to have supplies for an entire year
- It was considered the most powerful fort the US built and the 3rd biggest
- 300 rooms were built to hold a cannon in each room, across 2 levels. Additionally, the top level had flexibility for cannons to move around.
- Designed so 125 cannons can shoot a single target at the same time no matter what direction the threat is coming from!
- On the defensive side, the walls are 8 feet thick; nothing at that time could penetrate that. Even the shutters were made out of iron and automatically closed, then opened when the compressed air from the cannons blew out so soldiers were only were exposed for a couple seconds.
- 16 million bricks used to build the fort
- Lots of people would get sick from the food they were eating because it would be expired by the time it got to the fort
- Yellow fever spread through mosquitos but they didn’t know what it was at the time. They sent sick people to hospital island. Everyone started getting sick and dying.
- Dr Samuel Mudd was a prisoner but started helping people and documenting the yellow fever epidemic after the medical staff started dying. He ended up getting pardoned by the president once the soldiers wrote a letter telling how he helped them.
- The fort was never completed or fully armed.
Next we headed back to the boat to pickup our lunch. Both lunch and breakfast were included in the cost of the boat ride.
After lunch, we explored on our own. We checked out the lighthouses; Tortugas Harbor Lighthouse on the fort, and Loggerhead Lighthouse in the distance. We also saw Dr Mudd’s cell and checked out the beach by the dock.
On the way back we found staying outside on the back deck of the boat was the best place to stay to minimize the impact of the seasickness. The entire crew was great. It was impressive that they even remembered who previously was sick and made sure they had supplies in case they started feeling unwell.
When the water was rough, they brought over ice water so I didn’t have to get up. In fact, they asked people to stay seated and they would bring anything over they needed.
At the end of the ride, they made tipping them into a fun game by passing out tickets for people who gave them tips. They pulled a ticket and the person got to pick any item from their store. Separately, they had comment cards. Everyone who filled one out got entered into a drawing. The person who’s card was picked got a free ride back out on a future trip.
We headed back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and relax in a stable area for a bit. When we were ready to go out, we headed for dinner at Kaya Island Eats. I had the Island BBQ Pork Sandwich and Colleen had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Despite the long wait, the food was really good! It had great flavors.
After walking around a bit, we headed to Gladiators Ice Cream (homemade). The had great flavors!
Day 2
This was our travel day back to Miami. Unfortunately, it started with finding the car tire very deflated. We called and waited for AAA to inflate it enough to start heading back and later ended up filling it with air again.
When we finally made it back to Miami, we went to Little Havana for our Little Havana Food and Walking Tour. Our guide, Toni, was awesome! She shared with us her connection to the town and the history of it. She took us to several different places to learn the culture and try some food & drinks. Here’s some of the stops we made:
- El Pub Restaurant – I had a beef empanada and Colleen had a spinach & cheese one. They were amazing! We also tasted Cuban coffee. It was actually pretty good despite not really drinking coffee.
- Sala’o Cuban Restaurant & Bar – I had a Cuban sandwich and Colleen had tostones rellenos (veggie). Again, the food was really good. We both also had virgin mojitos. While we were there, there was a live band and a guy going around dancing with people.
- Domino Park – This was pretty cool, older people literally play dominoes here. We also were able to (later) check out the street festival there since it was a Friday, when the festival happens each week.
- Stopped in an area that had a lot of painted murals. Really cool artwork.
- Party Cake Bakery – Guava and cheese pastry. Really good!
- Havana Classic Cigar – we learned about the cigars and got to see them make some
- Had churros while checking out the outdoor section of the Havana Collection Experience to see some artwork.
- We ended the tour at Ball and Chain. This is the place that made little Havana what it is today. We had some sort of (very good tasting) drink here
