Love all the cool architecture in Key West. We walked around the Harbor walk to find our restaurant on the harbor and spotted this neat old house. There are streets all over lined with these cool houses. 
The full moon on December 20th was absolutely beautiful. We didn't get to stay up long enough to see the eclipse because we had to get up so early the next morning to get on our catamaran for our
ride out to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park.
Dry Tortugas National Park is 68 nautical miles from Key West
and only 90 nautical miles from Cuba.
It is a 2 1/2 hour ride on the catamaran, most of the ride within the coral reef. Only the last 45 miles was in the open seas (which mean the swells were higher). Fort Jefferson was built between 1846-1875, but it was never fully completed. These are the "DRY" Tortugas. Meaning there is no water on the island. All water had to be captured from the very low rainfall the region receives and saved in cisterns. The architect for Ft. Jefferson also did the Washington Monument in Washington D.C., but with Ft.
Jefferson the amount and the location of the fort settling were
miscalculated. Part of the fort was built right on the ocean and it sunk faster than the side that had some land. The cisterns were engineered into the structure of the walls and the ramparts, but the cisterns eventually cracked so very little "fresh" water was available. The first picture of Fort Jefferson is of the entrance to the fort taken from the boat. The second picture is of the 8000 square foot parade field within the fort.
All the wall and ceilings are curved so that what little water falls will be channeled down into the cisterns below each of these chambers. The brickwork was absolutely beautiful! Each brick had to be brought to the location by boat, some from as far away as Maine!
The cannon would point through these windows. There were cannons all the way around and on each of 6 ramparts at each corner of the fort. This Key had a natural harbor and we were protecting the harbor from occupation by any other country. Why? Because the Dry Tortugas are east of the Yucatan Peninsula and at the edge of the shipping lanes to the Gulf coast and the Mississippi River traffic. A very vital location during its day.
What you can see of this very small boat is one that landed on Dry Tortugas with a boatload of Cubans. If they make it to land safely, they can stay and become citizens. One year there were 1,100 Cubans who landed on this key. Lots of paperwork for the two Forest Service officers who worked here at the time!
This is again the parade field, but from the ramparts and yes there was quite a bit of cactus growing on the key. The key actually gets very little rain water per year.
This is Bird Key and is closed to visitors because there are some very rare birds who nest here. Our guide said on a good bird day she will see up to 91 varieties of birds on the Key.
One of the armories from the rampart. That is the ocean beyond the wall.
The water is very shallow with the coral reef and has lots of different colors. REALLY PRETTY!
This map shows where Fort Jefferson is located in the Gulf. If you double click on the map and make it bigger you can even see how far we were from Key West. Key West is only 143 miles from Florida City just south of Miami.
The lighthouse was a must because of the coral reef which surrounds this Key. Coral reefs and wooden boats didn't get along real well! There are still a lot of ship wrecks in these waters!
The Yankee Freedom is the name of our boat and it was a pretty neat trip out and back. It held about 150 people, including a great crew who did a great job taking care of us on our trip. The boat was also the only source of drinking water and restrooms while we were on the Key.
This was taken from the moat wall as we walked around the fort. It's about a half a mile all the way around the fort, but it is a really neat walk. The water is crystal clear and the birds are everywhere.
This side of the fort is built right on the ocean. We're walking on the moat wall with the ocean on one side and the moat on the other side.
This is the lighthouse again. I just liked this picture.
At lunch we looked up at the people sitting at the table next to ours and saw this Tshirt! We had to ask, yes she is a student at the University of Idaho in Moscow. The are from northern Idaho! I asked if I could take their picture because it was so cool to see some people from Idaho on our trip clear out to Dry Tortugas!
After taking the picture, I sat down and these guys asked if we were from Idaho. We said yes. They said "Well, we're from Sandpoint!" The daughter and son-in-law now live in Key West and they were down to visit. Small world!!!!
If you look real close you can see Key West with a cruise ship leaving. It was pretty close to sunset when we docked so we ran to Mallory Square so we could see the Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square.
It was worth hurrying! It was really beautiful to see the sun sink into the Gulf and all the music and booths around the square. Quite a finish to a great day!
As we were leaving the square, a rickshaw driver asked if we'd like a ride to our car. We said why not, we've never ridden in one before and it's been a day of new experiences! Our driver was a student from Serbia and it was a cool experience. What a day! This was our 20th anniversary celebration and it was a doozy!!!!!!!
