After we spent 5 nights and 6 days in the Dry Tortugas, it was time to start thinking about heading to Key West. For the latter part of the week, we were expecting higher winds and wave reports. We decided to leave a day earlier than planned because the next day was calling for 3-5 …
Cruising
We lucked out with beautiful weather and calm seas the first 3 days which provided us with excellent diving and snorkeling, however, the latter part of the week the wind kicked up and seas weren’t as calm. Since diving was out, we spent a couple of days snorkeling around Garden Key and exploring Fort Jefferson. …
On our second day of diving in the Dry Tortugas, we decided to check out a group of mooring buoys that were all in the same vicinity of location. These buoys are Off Ramp, Davis Rock and Texas Rock: We dove the first two sites (Off Ramp and Davis Rock) and were completely stoked that …
Loggerhead Key, the largest island in the Dry Tortugas, is named for its abundance of loggerhead sea turtles with approximately 250 nests yielding 15,000 hatchlings each summer. It has also seen its share of shipwrecks. With more than 250 wrecks in the Dry Tortugas, a lighthouse was constructed in 1856 to protect mariners from the …
The Windjammer Wreck, located less than a mile southwest of Loggerhead Key, is the most complete wreck site in the Dry Tortugas. In 1907, the large sailing vessel named Avanti struck the Loggerhead reef after a navigational error. The heavily damaged ship eventually broke apart and sank though the crew was saved. The wreck site …
Since our weather forecast for the beginning of the week continued to be perfectly calm, we decided to take advantage and get in as much diving and snorkeling as possible. Later in the week called for windy and choppy conditions which would be too rough to moor to a ball and dive. We brought along …
Randy set an alarm for 2 a.m. Saturday morning and he pulled up anchor and started our journey to the Dry Tortugas while Corey and I slept. We estimated DT was about 18 hours from New Pass and we knew it would be a long day. Randy drove the dark hours at the helm below …
It’s Friday and we are off the dock! Our current plan is to head south to New Pass to anchor for the night. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, we will begin our trip to the Dry Tortugas. If all goes well, we should be in the Dry Tortugas by Saturday evening. I won’t …
As I mentioned in my last post, we’ve been traveling (by car) the last couple of weeks and now coming up this weekend, we leave for the Dry Torugas. So this week, we are working with laser-sharp focus trying to tie up loose ends with work, plan our trip and provision the boat for anchoring out …
I’m finally getting around to posting about our fantastic Memorial Day weekend (last weekend) on anchor at Captiva and then Cayo Costa. Randy, Corey and I first anchored for a night in our favorite Captiva spot where we dinghied to shore at Jenson’s Marina and hiked over to the beach near The Mucky Duck. After …
This past Easter weekend, Corey had plans to spend it with his mother so Randy and I decided to get off the dock once more. We decided to anchor near Tween Waters on Captiva Island. We’ve stayed at Tween Waters Marina several times but decided to anchor out instead this time, figuring the marina would …
Last weekend, Randy, Corey and I headed to Cayo Costa for the weekend. We were expecting a cold front which makes for great surfable waves on the gulf coast. It did rain a full day with 25-35 mph winds, but the rest of the weekend was absolutely beautiful—low humidity and upper 70’s to lower 80’s …