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 …
Dry Tortugas
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 …
So tomorrow it’s back to the grind—the routine, the work, the clients. I worked some last week, but was out some due to us breaking down in Naples and retrieving the car. I just watched this video and soooo wanted to be back there (Dry Tortugas). Don’t get me wrong, I love my work and clients …
This is some video that was taken on our way from Fort Myers Beach to the Dry Tortugas from June 27-29, 2014 on 40′ DeFever Passagemaker, Blue Turtle.
After the storm and winds came through the previous evening, we were hoping for the winds to calm down some. We wanted to take the boat over to Loggerhead Key and check out the lighthouse and windjammer wreck. One thing we didn’t realize about the Dry Tortugas is that the other little islands are just …
After our towing in, Randy continued through the night to get our engine started. We were lucky he was able to get the generator started. After a sleepless night for Randy, he awoke early and began again to get the engine starting batteries charged up enough to start the engine and finish bleeding the lines. …
On our third day, we awoke early at our Jewfish Basin anchorage with our boat listing to port. We’ve had our boat list before, but since Randy replaced our cracked water tank, it solved the problem. In the past, our listing issues had to do with missing a water tank or taking on fuel. Randy …