affenschlaf: May 2008

Friday, May 30, 2008

Dry Tortugas Adventure.

the seven mile bridge,
as seen reflected in cptn. scott's glasses.

objects in mirror.
scott and i drove down to key west in the bronco,
to meet up with the others on the sailboat.
from there we sailed 70 nautical miles to the dry tortugas,
explored for a few days,
then sailed all the way back to miami.
fun times.

tarpon party.
key west.
most of these guys were over six feet long.
we fed them some leftover mahi filets and they went crazy.

down in the tortugas the tarpon were everywhere.
from the top of the fort, you could see them rolling in the
late afternoon sun, their silver sides glistening in the golden light.
and off the beach at loggerhead key, we saw them in numbers;
ominous silhouettes, lurking in the clear shallows.

sundown.
somewhere between key west and the dry tortugas.
we had great weather on the crossing over,
which allowed for plenty of fishing and snorkeling,
as well as gourmet fresh fish meals from the galley.
we even had boxed wine.

kevin chu catches a fish.

l to r: spanish mackerel, scott gregory virgin, gregory scott virgin.

it don't get fresher.

greg hoists the gennaker.

a billion birds.
bush key, dry tortugas.
a nesting island for all kinds of birds.

john james audubon visited bush key in the 1830's,
where he drew many of the florida plates in his birds of america collection.
this was still years before construction of the fort on neighboring garden key was begun.

the beach at loggerhead key.
we anchored here one day and walked around the oblong island.
not a single footprint in the sand when we got there.

snorkeling at loggerhead key.
crystal turquoise and tons of nice fish.

dry tortugas sunrise.

tortugas sunrise #2.
the best part about sleeping on deck is seeing the sunrise.
just reach over for the camera; snap, and snooze.

fort jefferson inside wall.
the six-sided fortress was built of 16 million hand-made bricks between 1846 and 1862.
not really ever finished, it was used as a prison for a while, as well as a quarantine facility, before being designated a national park in 1992.