Key West, Florida is a popular destination for bachelorette parties and winter getaways, but did you know that it’s also the gateway to the most remote national park in the contiguous United States? Dry Tortugas National Park, which lies 70 miles off the coast of Key West, offers a vibrant coral reef that’s teeming with life, white sandy beaches, and Fort Jefferson, which holds the impressive title of being the largest brick structure in the entire Western Hemisphere.
If you want to experience one of Florida’s best hidden gems, here’s exactly how to get to Dry Tortugas National Park, one of the most remote places in the United States.
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What is Dry Tortugas National Park?
Dry Tortugas National Park, located off Key West, consists of seven small islands that actually mark the westernmost end of the Florida Keys. The park has a 100 square mile footprint, most of which is just open sea water. In this watery expanse, you’ll find a colorful coral reef that’s teeming with life, from sea turtles to over 400 species of tropical fish.
While there are several islands in Dry Tortugas, there’s only a handful that are regularly visited, including the park’s largest one and the only one that most visitors step foot on, Garden Key. Within this island’s 14 acre footprint, there are some white sandy beaches, coconut trees, and, most famously, the gargantuan Fort Jefferson, which is constructed out of 16 MILLION bricks!
This massive fort was originally constructed to provide additional coastal defense in the Gulf of Mexico, but, in reality, primarily acted as a prison during the Civil War for Union deserters and other war criminals. The prison’s most famous inmate was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who conspired with John Wilkes Booth to murder Abraham Lincoln. Fort Jefferson was eventually abandoned in 1874 before construction of this massive structure was ever completed and before a single cannon was ever fired here.
How to get to Dry Tortugas National Park
As mentioned above, Dry Tortugas is located off Key West, Florida, so the first part of your journey is reaching this quirky city.
How to get to Key West
Key West is a popular tourist destination, but it’s fairly remote, as the southernmost point in the continental United States and is actually closer to Havana, Cuba than the mainland of the United States!
Still, you luckily have a few different ways of reaching Key West.
Flying
The city is home to Key West International Airport, with direct flights to more than a dozen cities around the U.S.
Depending on where you’re staying and what you plan on doing in the city, you may be able to get by just fine using ride share, as the most popular things to do in Key West are concentrated in the very walkable Old Town area.
Driving
Alternatively, you’re likely to find more affordable airfare flying into either Miami or Fort Lauderdale, which is approximately four hours north of Key West on the mainland of Florida.
From either of those city’s airports, pick up a rental car and go on a road trip through the Florida Keys. There are so many fun things to do in the Florida Keys, from campy tiki bars and world class snorkeling to the world’s largest lobster sculpture and unique wildlife—if you can take a day or two to drive Key West and make some stops along the way, I highly recommend it!
How to get from Key West to Dry Tortugas National Park
Once you’re in Key West, you have a few options of how to get to Dry Tortugas National Park.
Yankee Freedom Ferry
The most popular way of getting to Dry Tortugas is aboard the Yankee Freedom Ferry, which runs once per day (weather permitting) from the Historic Seaport of Key West to Garden Key.
The ferry leaves Key West at 8 AM and takes about two and a half hours to get to the park. Passengers can enjoy about four hours on Garden Key, before heading back to Key West and arriving in its port around 5:30 PM. While my husband, Justin, and I passed some patches of beautifully colored ocean water during our ride on the Yankee Freedom, most of our time aboard was pretty unremarkable, both in terms of any gnarly waves or wildlife (sadly, we didn’t spot any turtles or dolphins along the way!).
Tickets cost $250 roundtrip for adult passengers or $255 USD roundtrip if you’re camping in Dry Tortugas National Park. The ferry ticket includes breakfast, lunch, drinking water, and snorkeling gear rentals.
The ferry holds about 170 passengers, so, in busier time periods, like from November through March, tickets can sell out weeks, if not months in advance (with tickets for camping selling out almost immediately after going on sale six months in advance), so be sure to book your tickets as soon as you know you’re visiting Dry Tortugas National Park!
Insider tip: About half of the ferry’s seating is outside, a lot of which is uncovered. Even if you’re heading to Key West on a perfect day, the sun can feel pretty intense after sitting outside for two and a half hours. Accordingly, if you can snag one, I’d highly recommend grabbing a seat inside, giving you the option to pop outside to look for wildlife and soak up the sun as you please.
You’re allowed to board the ferry in order of when you arrive at the ferry terminal and pick up your tickets. So, I’d strongly recommend arriving there early, so you get the pick of the seats!
Key West Seaplane Adventures
The second most popular way to get to Dry Tortugas National Park is on the public seaplane service, offered by Key West Seaplane Adventures, which leaves out of the Key West International Airport.
Flying to Dry Tortugas has some HUGE advantages—you get jaw dropping birds eye views of the turquoise water and can spot wildlife from above, including sea turtles and sharks. Plus, the ride is quite a bit shorter—just about 40 minutes from Key West—and there’s obviously no risk of sea sickness!
The biggest disadvantage is the high price point.
There are two options that you can choose from. There’s a half-day trip, in either the morning or the afternoon, which gives you about two and a half hours on Garden Key and costs $494 USD per person. Alternatively, there’s a full-day trip, which provides six and a half hours in the park and costs $868 USD per person.
It’s worth noting that, if you’re interested in camping in Dry Tortugas, you cannot take the seaplane as, per the company’s contract with the National Park Service, they’re only allowed to take day trippers to and from the park.
Tickets include coolers and ice, with your choice of bottled water or soft drinks, and snorkeling gear.
You’ll need to pack your own food, as Key West Seaplane Adventures doesn’t provide any and there isn’t any available in the park. It also does not include the $15 per person entry fee to Dry Tortugas, which you’ll need to pay in addition to your ticket, unless you have a valid interagency pass, like the America the Beautiful Pass, which gets you an entire year of unlimited visits to the U.S. National Parks and over 2,000 federally managed lands for just $80!
For both the morning and afternoon sessions, the company has two 10 seater planes that fly to the park, for a total of 20 available seats per session. Accordingly, these seats can definitely fill up during busier timeframes, like around the December holidays or during spring break.
Private boats or seaplanes
Finally, if you’re lucky enough to have a private plane or boat of your own (hi! wanna be friends?) or have a REALLY dope friend that has one, you are free to come to the park on your own.
If you have a boat, there are mooring buoys in the park (you can check out more information about the park’s mooring buoys here) and overnight anchoring is allowed on the sandy bottom within one nautical mile of the Garden Key lighthouse (although some areas are restricted for the protection of wildlife).
Alternatively, there are a handful of companies that you can charter a private boat to Dry Tortugas with, like this option.
The biggest advantage to arriving on a private boat is that you can more easily travel around the park outside of Garden Key and experience some of the coolest things to do in Dry Tortugas National Park that the vast majority of visitors miss. For example, you can take a dinghy to Loggerhead Key to explore the lighthouse or head out to the many incredible dive sites sprinkled throughout the park.
If you arrive via private boat or seaplane, remember to bring some cash for the park’s entrance fee, which you can pay at the registration box on the main dock.
I hope you have a better idea of how to get to Dry Tortugas National Park—it’s definitely not the easiest park to get to, but it’s absolutely worth it, in my opinion! Do you have any questions about visiting this remote place? Let me know in the comments below!
