Monday Feb 4 Dry Tortugas

Today was the day to achieve our goal of visiting all 50 National Parks - Dry Tortugas NP! We Ubered over to the ferry terminal and boarded the Freedom III at 7:00AM Its a 2.5 hour cruise in each direction. The double hulled catamaran holds about 200 passengers. They have a little buffet line set up and they provide us with a nice breakfast and later, a lunch. In addition, while on the island they provide snorkeling equipment.

Today's weather is a disappointment. (The local forecasts seem to be terribly suspect!) Its cloudy, with occasional bright spots, temps in the mid 70s but cooling off as the day progressed. By the time we got back to Key West at 5:30PM it was downright cold - and we didn't have jackets. We didn't use the snorkeling gear!

Fort Jefferson is an interesting history lesson. Built by the Union during the Civil War, but never completed, as a fortification to protect the American coastline, it never saw any action and ended being used as a prison holding Union deserters. Its most famous "prisoner" was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who had set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg after assassinating Abraham Lincoln. Its a huge, three level brick structure designed to have 250 large canon, which it never did.

Upon returning to Key West we had dinner at Conch Republic Seafood Co.

DISASTER HAS STRUCK! THE SD CARD IN MY CAMERA HAS FAILED! I DOWNLOAD PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA TO THE LAPTOP EVERY NIGHT, BUT NOW WE HAVE NO PHOTOS FROM THIS DAY. BIGGEST PROBLEM - NOW WE CAN'T PROVE WE WERE HERE, AT OUR 50TH PARK! THESE PHOTOS CAME FROM THE INTERNET AND GIVE YOU THE IDEA. We had staged a photo just for this purpose - we made a sign that said "N.P. #50 2-4-19". Dang!!