With our big trip to the Keys and Dry Tortugas being over Randy and I decided it was time to “hunker down” for August and September and stay land-locked. Staying land-locked will help us pay off some credit card debt after we had a few unexpected repairs in the Keys. While it’s pretty much hot year-round here, August and September are “Africa hot” coupled with 100% (it seems) humidity. The only thing to do is stay indoors, or if you plan to be outside, stay in the water.
Yesterday, we put the dinghy in the water and headed to New Pass. Normally, we can’t make the trip to New Pass by dinghy because it is too far to go slow. We can’t go fast because we usually can’t get on plane in the dinghy with the 3 of us plus all our gear (cooler, chairs, umbrella, boogie board, cast net, etc.). Corey’s Grandpa, Johnny, came along in his dinghy and let Corey drive. Corey was excited to drive the much faster, 15hp engine on Johnny’s dinghy. We left early-ish (9:45am) and spent the morning at the beach relaxing, fishing and skim boarding. Corey threw in a line and hooked a nice sized jack. We headed home around 1:30pm to beat the afternoon showers back to the marina.
What can you tell us about traveling to Dry Tortugas? Things to avoid, or be cautious about, thing that are are must see/do. It is on our bucket list and we’re trying to get a couple others from our Marina to join us . Figured traveling with at least one other boat the first time would be safer. Thanks
Hi Todd,
A good place to start is to take a look at the posts we’ve made about our 4 trips to the Dry Tortugas. They are located here: https://blueturtlecruising.com/tag/dry-tortugas
We’ve also posted our TrawlerFest presentation on cruising to the Dry Tortugas on the website. It contains notes and images about anchoring, provisioning, etc. You can find the presentation as well as links and resources here: https://blueturtlecruising.com/cruising-dry-tortugas-trawlerfest-seminar
I would say the biggest thing about cruising there is making sure you have an adequate weather window and being open to adjusting your schedule should weather arise. We’ve stayed longer and left early to return home due to weather, so a flexible schedule is the best. Other than that, make sure you’re prepared with extra food and water should you need to delay your return trip home due to weather.
Hope this helps!
Kim