We were really glad to see Fort Jefferson. The pictures do not do the waves justice. We had spent the night pitching and rolling in the confused seas. We were looking forward to a bit calmer water as we entered the bank that supported the fort.

We followed a surreptitious route into the marked anchorage along the western route. The normal channel had some time ago shoaled over forbidding passage. We arrived to find only one other boat in the anchorage.

I picked the nicest spot I could find according to the charts and tried to set the anchor. After several attempts and failures, we moved a little bit and tried again, this time with success. The bottom is covered in shifting sands and therefore very loose. It takes a bit to find some solid sand to dig into.

The anchorage view from the top of the fort, all two boats.

The anchorage was rough and rolling as the small shoaled area provided little protection from the open sea. There would be no real relaxing for a while, no matter how tired we were.

As we settled in and cleaned up from last nights passage the National Park Service police force came out into the anchorage and tied up to the only other boat there. Inspection time I guess.

We stayed up as long as we could waiting on our turn to be inspected. Going below and taking a nap we would wait for their knock on the hull. I suppose they felt sorry for our haggard appearance and didn’t disturb us knowing we just completed an all night passage.

It was the fact that we were dragging anchor that awoke us. We were heading out to sea a little at a time. The strong rolling and pitching kept popping the anchor loose of the soft sand on the bottom. We went through our anchor resetting drill and this time let out three times too much anchor rode. Normally you should not need 100’ of chain out in 10’ of water, but I was determined to not drag again.

The view from in the fort, the AbbyGale at anchor

We rolled and rocked and rocked and rolled all night. The water was the prettiest teal blue we had seen in quite some time. The colors and hues were awesome. Postcard perfect. The visibility was amazing as well. Except for the whitecaps in the anchorage, we should have been able to see the anchor 100 feet away on the bottom.

Sunrise, stunning against the fort. It is a wonder why someone would have picked this place to defend. No water on the tiny island, and no other resources either. Everything you wanted had to be brought in, and eventually taken out. Enemy ships of long ago simply avoided this place once it was built so they made a prison out of it.

We explored the fort and really enjoyed the history lesson. Looking at the millions of bricks… each one hand made, shipped over, carried in and placed. One by one. Wow.

The mortar holding the bricks in place was made from the local sand, and not holding very well. The fort is literally falling apart, and under constant restoration.

Welcome to Fort Jefferson, the Dry Tortugas

Out to the west is a small island called Loggerhead Key. It has a light house and several small buildings on it. The lighthouse is now computer controlled with solar and the buildings unoccupied. Earlier photos show lots of trees.

All the trees, sans a few palms by the lighthouse, were erased by the last hurricane that went through here leaving this a deserted island.

We arrived by dinghy on the one day it did calm to less than 15 knots of wind. I believe it went down to 14 knots for three hours. While taking the dink to the calm side of the island I thought about bringing the AbbyGale over here and conducting an invasion of the island with one of my many Coast Guard inspected flare guns.

Taking over, and renaming the island I would immediately form my own government and declare independence from the US. Any attempt to remove me would be an act of war at which point I would immediately surrender and demand reparations.

Loggerhead Key, my new island home... (pre invasion)

Anyhow, we found a rather beautiful reef on the outside of the island. We jumped overboard and we floated along with the dink. I can’t really describe what we saw, and how pretty it was, so just enjoy the photos. Think warm tropical breezes when viewing…

Back on the rolling boat at anchor we met our new friends Barry and Dave.

They sailed down from the west coast of Florida and experienced the same kind of weather. Dave spent all of his spare time fishing from the boat. He would catch a small fish and then just wait a minute. His pole would double over and the reel would smoke.

Turns out they had unofficially adopted a 300 pound Goliath Grouper who called the bottom of his boat home. We pulled up in our dinghy and met the Grouper. He was about the size of the dink, at 9’6” and outweighed us by a couple of hundred pounds. He stayed just out of reach lurking in the shadow of ‘As You Wish’, Berry and Dave’s boat.

When we left a day or so later the grouper was still affixed to his feeding station at Berry and Dave’s boat.

Early in the morning we saw an inflatable approach the fort. It was a green rigid inflatable with a 40hp outboard. The vessel contained 7 Cuban refugees who had just made a night crossing. The fort’s law enforcement team took custody of the new immigrants until the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard. They were all dressed identical in the common tropical white linen pants and long sleeve shirts. They were happy to be in America and were all smiles as we waved at each other.

New arrivals to the fort.

A good size powerboat arrived in the anchorage and we met him and his wife. They were traveling the entire Caribbean. It is really nice how in an anchorage like this everyone stops by to introduce themselves and say hi. What a friendly group of folks.

So, with three whole boats in the anchorage it was time for another inspection. This time the Florida Wildlife Commission decided to stop by and inspect everyone here. (all 3 of us) When we were boarded I showed him all my papers, ID’s, Coast Guard inspection certificates and on and on… he still wanted to go below. He was a nice and polite officer who said, ‘let’s look below’ and headed down the companionway ladder with me in silent trail.

Abby, our Cockatoo, is a bit territorial and came at him with her feathers crowned up and wings poked out. This startled the officer who stepped back and lost his footing and an unseen step in the unfamiliar cockpit.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2iubDlMbl8

I’m glad he didn’t fall all the way over, lest the other two officers standing guard thought I started some sort of a fight with this fellow, and then the real problems begin.

I would have locked the boat guard parrot up before he headed below had he said something. I think that the training they received taught them to do the ‘surprise’ go below thing and not let the owner down there unsupervised.

All worked out well and a thorough inspection showed I was very well protected against hurting myself, maybe. Of course if my boat ever starts on fire, I seriously doubt that my inspected fire extinguishers are strong enough to put out all of my inspected safety flares… another story perhaps.

We had seen what this beautiful place had to offer while not getting much sleep and it was becoming time to move on. We would head east in the morning, pointing towards Key West.

Ahoy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWsjM1VDJ9U

Xanadu, Panache, The Rachael, Casa Mia, Second Love, Sailacious, and Celebration made up the expedition.

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

We hop scotched down Florida’s west coast stopping at Venice, Pelican Bay, Ft. Meyers Beach and Marco Island before embarking on our overnight passage to Key West. Each of these stops along the way could be a story unto itself, but in the interest of time, we’ll leave those stories for the porch.

We arrived at daybreak in Key West after an 18 hour or so passage from Marco Island. This was my first passage of any length, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I was somewhat apprehensive about this long, overnight ordeal. Our group stayed in contact via the VHF, at most separated by 2 or 3 miles. Every hour during the night we reported in stating our condition and our position relative to the Key West marker. I was surprised how quickly the night passed. Thank God it was daylight as we entered the Key West channel. I say this because looking at the lights marking the channels, shoals, etc. approaching Key West, it was the most confusing set of visual aids I had ever seen. Being a 30-year, multiengine instrument pilot, licensed to fly in zero visibility, navigating by instruments is something that comes easy to me. However, having little or no sleep while lining up the paper charts, with the plotter, watching your depth meter for conformation, and coordinating all this with what you visually see which was a myriad of lights blinking and flashing in every direction, I can only say that whoever the guy was who sold Key West the hundreds of lights marking the waterways must have made a lot of money.

Most of us stayed at the Conch Harbor Marina for Thursday and Friday and we departed Saturday morning. Conch Harbor is a Latin phrase meaning “over priced”. However, it was one of the nicest marina’s I’ve been to. Great pool, good food and drinks, showers, laundry…all the amenities. Bill Casey and his crew aboard Second Love had some mechanical difficulties and anchored out. So, we didn’t see Bill or his crew very much until we were on our way back days later. But the rest of us did our thing in Key West. We were a short walk to Duval Street where as they say, “the action is.” We also made a pilgrimage to Mallory Square at sundown to watch and toast the sundown and enjoy the circus like atmosphere that is so Key West. Restaurants, bars, streets, music, lifestyles, it is so different but so neat to see. We decided to rent a motor scooter which made getting around Key West very easy.

Before we knew it Saturday morning had come. Panache left the dock begrudgingly around 6:30 am. Coffee was hot, weather was good, wind was wrong, sun at our backs and the big W on the compass told us go west young man, go west. So west we went. We passed the Marquesas, a string of uninhabited islands 25 miles or so west of Key West. Then, hours and hours of hours and hours, until finally, late in the day Fort Jefferson started rising above the horizon. We had made it. We were still alive. One by one, all of the remaining BCYC boats entered the crystal clear waters of the anchorage abutting Fort Jefferson, dropped our hooks, and settled in. I had never been there before. What a sight. A fortress, in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to drop my dingy in the water and rush over to get a first hand up close look at this thing. But first, there was relaxing to do, wine to open, and a cigar was calling my name. There would be plenty of time to explore. It was only Saturday, and we weren’t leaving until Tuesday afternoon. On the other hand, a quick trip to shore would be nice. We could walk and get some exercise, see and touch Fort Jefferson up close, plus check out the scene in general. We dropped the dingy and headed through the crowded anchorage. We eased through the gin clear water and up on the beach. We had landed at Fort Jefferson. Our feet were on solid ground. The highlight of this first, short, shore expedition was discovering where the visitor’s center was. It had a lot of interesting stuff, but the best part about it, it was air-conditioned. Over the next few days we would visit that air-conditioned center a lot. I personally watched their orientation movie 12 times.

A little later, back on the boat, wine was flowing and cigars were glowing. A big dinner of pan fried pork chops, grilled onions, real mashed potatoes, and salad was devoured with all the gusto of a pack of hound dogs. Panache’s water tanks were full so hot showers were in order. I crawled in my bunk thinking I might read but fell asleep way too fast for that.

Sunday & Monday at Fort Jefferson

The crowded anchorage got less crowded as a few non-BCYC boats departed Sunday. We had 6 BCYC boats and I’m guessing there was probably another 10 or so in the anchorage with us. Like any cruise, we had a lot of comradery going on between club boats, and in doing so, we managed to make friends with other boats as well. One boat in particular, from Cortez, had a father/son on board who lived to fish. We had some killer pot luck dinners onshore that went on late into the night. We invited the father/son team, Mike & Mike Jr., to our pot luck. That day, they caught a yellowfin tuna that they lightly seared and brought to the potluck providing all 6 boats with all the delicious sushi we could eat. While we were there, Mike & Mike Jr. would come by Panache once or twice a day offering us fresh snapper, yellowtail, and grouper.

All this fresh fish got us excited, so Guy O’Conner, our marvelous trip leader, and I jumped in my dingy and went on a fishing expedition. We caught nothing, zip, nada in the way of fish. Guy managed to “fish” a baby bird out of the water who had somehow managed to fall into the sea. Unfortunately, the little bird didn’t make it but it wasn’t for lack of effort on Guy’s part. For those of you who don’t know Guy O’Connor, he is one terrific person. He’s honest and kind, dedicated and knowledgeable, considerate, loyal and just such a good man. He did such a good job in planning and leading this trip.

Later that day our BCYC group had fun snorkeling and saw some awesome sights including some pretty big fish. I think that almost everyone in our group took advantage of the wonderful snorkeling opportunities surrounding Fort Jefferson.

I’ve got to write a little bit about the birds, as they were a complete surprise to me. As it turns out, our anchorage was bordered to the west by Garden Key which houses Fort Jefferson. Bush Key borders it to the north, which house about 100,000 birds. These are not the normal run of the mill seabirds we are used to seeing. These birds, about 4 different varieties, come from as far away as Africa to nest on this one particular island in the Dry Tortugas. For some of the species, it’s the only spot on earth where they do so. I guess it’s a bird watching paradise for some and interesting to all of us. Now these birds make a lot of noise…day and night. I thought birds roosted at night and went to sleep. Honestly, the noise of the birds was no match for comfort and serenity of our bunks, and sleep came easily.

Tuesday morning was approaching. Some of us were leaving early morning and heading for Ft. Meyers Beach, the rest of us were leaving early afternoon and heading for Marco Island. Everyone had a safe passage and rested well Wednesday night. Thursday night we all wound up in the Cayo Costa area and we reunited with Bill Casey and his crew aboard Second Love. This crew was unable to get to the Tortugas due to mechanical problems, but they made lemonade out of lemons and had a great time in and around Key West. Friday night was spent in Venice where about 2 weeks earlier we had spent our first night. Then Saturday afternoon, our little fleet from BCYC passed through structure C and into the home waters of Boca Ciega Bay.

Many thanks to Guy O’Conner and Cathy Tallisman, our cruise directors, who put together a simply marvelous cruise. Well planned from beginning to end. Panache, along with Casa Mia, Sailacious and Celebration were first timers on this cruise. Xanadu and The Rachael both had made the trip and crossings before and were veterans. I also have to give thanks to Dave Brangaccio aboard Xanadu for coming to our aid on more than one occasion with his mechanical expertise. Looking back, I learned a lot about myself and a lot about my boat and was surprised how enjoyable the long crossings were. I envisioned being on pins and needles while 60 or 70 miles offshore. That wasn’t the case. Of course it helped that the weather was good and other boats were close by.

This may have been the best adventure of my life…so far! Thanks BCYC.

Written by Jeff Reckson, Fleet Captain BCYC.

(reprinted with permission)  Photos stolen from Wikipedia and added for dramatic effect