The trip down to the Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Holiday campground was longer than we prefer, taking about 6 hours and requiring a stop to fuel up while hauling the fifth wheel. But we made it without incident. We had to wake up around 6am the next morning to make it to the Yankee Freedom ferry by 7am. Then it took about 2.5 hours for the ferry to reach the Dry Tortugas National Park. It’s definitely not the easiest National Park to get to, but I’m glad we did it.
Our ferry’s activities guide gave a great guided tour of Fort Jefferson once we arrived. He had experience restoring old buildings and was very enthusiastic about the design and forethought in the security of the fort. Like, the spiral stairs wind clockwise since most people are right-handed and can’t sight their gun while looking over their shoulder to ascend the steps. And there were iron shutters over the slim windows that would get pushed open by the cannon’s blast immediately before the ball went through, then would swing back shut automatically to prevent enemy shots from getting through. Unfortunately/Fortunately, the fort was never completed, and no shots were ever fired at enemies from it. It took a long time to build, since getting materials was difficult; and technology and weapons improved before it was finished.
After the tour, we ate our Jersey Mike lunches that the ferry provided, then walked around the island until the ferry was ready to leave. We got back to Key West around dinner time and decided to eat out. The first place we tried was super crowded with no parking for the truck, so we kept driving. We ended up at a place across from the KOA, called Mangrove Mama’s. The food was great and we enjoyed listening to some live music while we ate, too.
The next day, we went to the Turtle Hospital and learned lots about turtles and how the hospital works to keep them healthy. Most of the turtles they help have “bubble butt” because of getting hit by boats. The boat damages the shell and traps air under it so that the turtle floats instead of being able to stay submerged. It was an interesting tour as well as educational.
The weather was (finally) hot, so we stopped at a beach in the Bahia Honda State Park. We just laid around in the sun for a few hours, enjoying the break from all the activities. We also took the opportunity to try out our new beach/shade tent for the first time. (It worked great!)
We went back to the RV for a while, then left Marissa napping while Randy and I drove back to Key West to walk around. We hung around Mallory Square to watch the sunset and a street magician entertaining the crowd. It was funny to see chickens and roosters wandering around town, too, even sitting in trees. On the way back to the truck, Randy bought himself a Key Lime Pie, since Key West is supposedly its birthplace.
As we were walking around the campground one evening, we heard some excited kids at the marina. We walked over to see a manatee poking his nose up out of the water to drink from a water hose they were holding. It was cute. Too bad it was too dark for pictures to turn out well.
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