Dry Tortugas by WILL
Fort Jefferson takes up most of Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas.
When we got off the Yankee Freedom 3 ferry at the Dry Tortugas, we were one of the last people off.
We were camping there and, it was so remote, we had to bring our own water with us. There is no fresh water available on the island - that's why it's called the Dry Tortugas.
Dry Tortugas National Park is home to Fort Jefferson, a civil war fort. It never saw action because by the time it was done being built, the advancements to naval gun power and metal ships were more than a match for this brick fort.
When it was finished , they decided to make use of Fort Jefferson and they turned it into a prison.
The prison held a suspected co-conspirator for the Lincoln assassination, Dr. Samuel Mudd.
The prison had basins to collect rain water to drink, even though they only got about 30-35 inches of rain a year.
Click here to read an 1890 story in The New York Times about the fort's history, military purpose and what life was like for prisoners.
Here's a 1935 story about Fort Jefferson being made into a national park.
I met a seaplane pilot on Dry Tortugas while he was waiting for his passengers. He told me that if you take the seaplane to the fort nowadays, you actually are in Mexican airspace for a little while and if you're in their airspace too long, they'll send F-18's to check you out.
Seaplanes bring passengers from Key West to visit Fort Jefferson.
The pilot also told me there's a Top Gun training school in Key West, and every once in a while those pilots will do a flyby of the fort. If they go supersonic, then some bricks may fall.
While we were on the ferry, a military jet did a flyby of the Yankee Freedom 3. Just one, though. I thought the first thing they teach you is to never fly without your wingman.
