Day trip to Park #278- Dry Tortougas National Park 75 miles from Key West

The Derry's (David, Ryan, and Christopher) and I made the long trek to this park yesterday, #278. We boarded a boat at 0700 in the morning and made the 2.5 hour trip across the Gulf of Mexico to this old fort, Fort Jefferson, which formerly was a National Monument, until in 1992 when they included the environs around the 11 islands that make up the Dry Tortougas chain, added elements of underwater habitat, and bird sanctuaries, and such, and named it Dry Tortougas.  

It was a bit of a rough ride out, a big storm having past through the previous night, and several riders got quite sea sick.   

We were able to spend about 4 hours on the island before having to make the return voyage, which was much smoother and much more enjoyable.  

Got all 5 stamps listed for here, a site stamp, a 25th anniversary, and an Underground Railroad one as well.  I also got two lighthouse stamps,  

 A view down the halls of the fort at the casement level 

 The boat that took us out to the island-  Nice ride, great crew, super food. 

 View from the stern on the way back 

 Views of the big cannon 

 A view seaward 

 2 Views of the lighthouse on the island.  

 Another seaward view from the 3rd deck, overlooking the moat 

 Entrance sign  

 View to loggerhead Light, 3 miles distant 

 The main powder magazine 

One of the more interesting parts of the fort was the actual cell that Dr Mudd is said to have served his 4 years at the fort for setting John Wilkes Booth's leg after he shot President Lincoln.  Pretty cool