Our Trip Blog

Events of Wednesday, January 19, 2010

                With the RV situated right on the street, you can assume that those of us in the RV enjoyed a night of sporadic sleep, waking at every passing car. At 3:30 this morning, Dad awoke to the sound of heavy metal machinery clanking, beeping, and flashing lights. Peeking out his window, he was shocked to find a man beckoning someone to back up toward the RV. Luckily, we weren’t being towed as he had thought; it was only a small road repair 3 feet from our vehicle. Inside, Lindsey and Mom also endured a sleepless night, blinded by the hotel sign blazing through the window and deafened by the noisy hum of the refrigerator and A/C. Turns out our best solution to parking an RV in Key West didn’t guarantee the best night’s sleep.

                Once Dad’s alarm beeped at 6:30, we hopped up and got dressed for the day. No time to make beds, no need for breakfast. Slinging on our backpacks loaded with towels and suits, we stepped into the muggy, humid air of Key West. Walking through the now quiet neighborhoods through the slight fog, we made our way to the sleepy harbor. On the way, I saw a dollar bill plastered to the ground by the thick dew. Why do people consistently leave their money for me to find? After picking up our tickets at the pier, we stepped into a long line of passengers. Deb, a crew member of the Yankee Freedom II, gave us boarding instructions before we climbed aboard. This catamaran fit all our needs—it serves breakfast and lunch, provides snorkel gear, and is the fastest and least expensive boat to the “remotest of national parks”.

                Once aboard, we headed upstairs to snag some seats. We listened to the introductory announcements before going back down the stairs to the breakfast line. Compared to our typical RV fare, this was deluxe. There was cereal, juice, milk, fruit salad, bagels, cream cheese, jam, butter, slices of ham, chunks of cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Our plates were full as we headed up the stairs to enjoy this treat. As we ate, the boat sped and rocked over the waves of the Gulf of Mexico. And Mom’s stomach rocked with it. As the tour went on, we received some informational tidbits from Deb and Michael, the first mate, about the passing scenery, the aquatic life, the history of the park, and snorkeling around the main island. Deb showed us a fantastic informational video about the abundance of life in the Florida coral reef.

                Between all these lessons, we enjoyed our time exploring the decks. In the bow of the vessel, we all enjoyed the sensation of the salty sea air whipping in our faces and, for the girls, through their hair. Since the cabins, although slightly air conditioned, were still quite warm, this was the best way to cool off. The surrounding aquamarine water stretching to the horizon only perfected the moment. As we neared the end of our 75-mile voyage, a few sandy islands came into view. Then, right in front of us, a mass of bricks rose from the clear water. We had arrived at Fort Jefferson.

                Once docked, a mass of passengers poured off the boat onto the warm sand. There was a mad rush for the picnic tables scattered around the shore—we were lucky to get one in the shade. After dropping off our heavy backpacks, we joined the guided tour of the fort. Our guide was the ship’s first mate, Michael. He led us across a shallow moat and the central parade ground before telling us about the fort’s origins.

                After the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans became a bustling port for goods going down the Mississippi. Since the easiest passage to the eastern seaboard was around Florida’s Keys, the Dry Tortugas were an important location to defend the important trade route. The fort’s construction began in 1846 but was never fully completed. It remains here, on an isolated island in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, a historical treasure.

                We went into a gunroom, one of many on the bottom level of the fort, to talk about the fort’s weapon and defense systems. Each gunroom would have held a cannon on an iron track. The cannon fired through a window towards the water. Michael added an interesting tidbit: although the window was small, it was psychologically challenging for the gun crew if the fort was under attack. No one wanted to get shot at while reloading. So a Totten shutter system was invented. These iron shutters, whose default position was closed, would close off the window while the gun crew was working. When the gun was fired, the force of the expelled air would blow open the curtain a fraction of a second before the shot flew through. Based on the size and power of cannon in the mid-1800s, I think these shutters were more for psychological purposes than for defensive purposes.

                We next climbed up a spiral staircase to a bastion on the second level—this one served as a chapel. Here, we learned all about the fort’s design and construction. Of interest was the brickwork and the freshwater system. Most of the 16 million bricks in the fort were set and painted for lighting and decoration. The design is fabulous: precise, artistic curves, ornate decorations—you’d think this wasn’t a fort but a cathedral. Abby spotted one brick with a name and year (1859) written. Freshwater was a bit of a problem for the 2000 people occupying the fort. There is no freshwater available on the island, hence the name Dry Tortugas. To deal with this, the fort was built over 109 cisterns that collected rainwater, one under each gunport. However, since the fort was built on sand, the heavy brickwork settled, causing all but 6 of the cisterns to crack and let in saltwater. Isn’t there a Sunday school song about building a house on the sand?

                Heading up to the final level, we saw the 15 inch, smoothbore Rodman cannon. This gun was quite impressive, able to lob a 425 pound shell a distance of three miles. This was a unique cannon; it is one of only 25 Rodman guns left in existence. The 25 ton gun and carriage had to be hauled by 50 soldiers (I wouldn’t want to be on that work crew!) up to the third tier. The carriage is set on a track that can rotate a full 360° so, if the fort were under attack, all six Rodmans could be fired in the same direction. That would be quite a sight!

                The fort, although strategically located, was never engaged in battle. During the Civil War, it was used as a prison for deserters and other notorious criminals. The most famous of these prisoners was Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg. He later received a presidential pardon for “helping” prisoners suffering from an epidemic of yellow fever.

                After our tour, we were heading back to the ferry for lunch when Dad and I engaged in a heated discussion about the “hot shot”. The shot furnace, a long angular building, was used to heat cannonballs before they were launched at the hulls of wooden ships. This proved to be quite effective, as the hot shot burned everything it touched and could set fire to a ship and sink it with just one well placed shot. I wanted to know how they put a red hot ball of iron down a cannon packed with 20 pounds of black powder without causing an instant explosion. Overhearing our debate, Michael came over and explained that, to avoid instantaneous combustion, they used a chunk of wet clay to separate the ball and powder. That’s smart!

                After hustling back to the boat, we waited in a short line to make our fabulous sandwiches. This was a feast: a variety of breads, spreads, cheeses, and meats, potato, chicken, and fruit salads, chips, sodas, and cookies. As we enjoyed this food, the line got longer and longer and longer and longer. We were glad we beat the crowd, otherwise lunch might be over before we got to the front of the line!

                Even though mothers say never to swim after you eat, we wanted to get snorkeling. According to the crew, the best snorkeling spot was on the other side of the fort, so we changed into suits and rash guards, picked up our gear, and headed around the moat wall to the old coal pilings. We dropped our gear and crossed the white sand to the shallow water. We all played around, swimming around the beach area, before we grouped up to head to the coral heads. Although the water on the other side of the island was very shallow, this got deep and fast. We got to the reefs, looked around for a bit, and started to see some aquatic life. I got a few feet from a barracuda about two feet long. Shimmering silver and sleek, it looked at me inquisitively as I passed. Once we reached the coral heads, I was so absolutely freezing that my hands were purple, so I decided to head back. As I slowly swam back to lie on the warm sand, the rest of the family saw huge schools of colorful fish.

                The cold  got to all of us, so a walk around the moat to a different beach warmed us up. As we sauntered around a bend, we saw two huge sand dollars, one gray and one white. Through the water, these appeared to be the largest sand dollars I have ever seen. So while Abby exchanged her snorkel mask, we walked out to investigate. Not only were they five inches in diameter, they were about two inches thick! I never knew that a sand dollar was a living creature; what we typically find on the beach is just their remains.

                As a family, we wanted to explore the larger coral heads about 50 yards from shore. Walking part of the way out made the venture a bit warmer and more pleasant. Once we started swimming, the underwater scenery diversified. The seagrass prairie and its small, gray fish turned to large heads of brain and boulder coral full of exotic tropical life. Statistically, the biodiversity of a coral reef is ranked second to that of a tropical rainforest. We saw much evidence of this fact, as every shape, shade, and size of fish was here in great numbers. I got distracted following a huge blue and gray fish, while the others gaped at what appeared to be a five foot long sturgeon. Here, the cold did not affect us as much, so we were able to fully appreciate every organism in the ecosystem.

                Utilizing the ferry’s rinses, our bodies were cleansed of the salt and sand of the sea. Heading back on shore, we changed into our street clothes before finally boarding the ferry for the return trip. As the boat sailed under grey and cloudy skies, we remained inside on the lower deck. The highlight of the return trip was a History Channel documentary about the salvaging of the Atocha. This Spanish treasure ship was sunk in 1622 in a hurricane as it returned home. After years of searching in the wrong spot, treasure hunter Mel Fisher stumbled upon the ship’s anchor. Nearby, he and his team of salvage divers found thousands of “pieces of eight”. Through some archival work, historic analysis, and additional discoveries, they finally proved this to be the long lost Atocha. In the 1990s, they finally stumbled upon the “mother lode”: the cargo of silver. This precious metal has remained intact, packed on some timbers of the original hull. The mass of silver bars was 10 feet wide, 20 feet long, and 5 feet high. Additionally, they have found five pounds of green emeralds. All in all, the team has salvaged over $500 million—and there’s still more to bring ashore.

                As we pulled into the harbor in a foggy Key West, we noticed the pier lined with people - another celebration of sunset in Mallory Square. Although the sunset was half an hour away, the festivities and partying had already begun. Sore and tired, we ambled through the quiet streets to the motel and our RV.

                Now you’d think that we would have had dinner and then rested our tired bodies and minds in the motel and RV, right? Since we didn’t want the sleeplessness and problems of last night, we decided to head back up the Keys to the campground we stayed at Monday night.

                At dinnertime, Mom found a nice spot for a dinner of fish tacos by a beach bathed in the moon’s soft glow. It was dark, secluded, and simply breathtaking. If we didn’t have the RV, we’d be in the stuffy atmosphere of a cheesy, overpriced restaurant swallowing stale and overcooked entrees. But since we have the freedom to pull over and cook dinner, we can have fantastic food, stunning scenery, and great family time.