Dry Tortugas

You want refrigerator to work or look cool. I like my beer cold. Guess it attracts fish and small ones get eaten by big ones
On idea.
I get your battery reference for the fridge but I doubt the park ranger cares about that or you could be running the genny anyways. There must be some other reason. Why would they care?
 
I don't want to minimize any potential risks but it seems that there is a lot of overthinking going on here. Until you get to Marco Island, you have very protected water.

Boat Test shows this boat to have a 170 mile range which is around 150nm at 21kts.

You will be fine, especially if you time your trip to coincide with the high speed ferry. You will parallel it's track to KW. Leave a little early and you will see that it is within 20 miles of you almost all of the way down.

Bring some extra gas - maybe 10 gallons so you can have a little buffer from KW to the Tortugas. Worst case you can slow down and double your fuel economy. Just make sure you have an EPIRB.

When we took the 23' boat down it was my family of 4 and another couple with their young son. Going down we ran into what was the beginning of tropical storm Debbie so we decided not to boat back. I caught a Southwest flight out of KW and drove the boat back on a trailer.

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Thanks K-9 - probably am overthinking somewhat, although the more I learned on this so far, the better. I think I have enough now to initiate prep. and planning. Appreciate all of the help.
 
With the exception of the crossing from Marco to Key West which is about 100nm there really isn’t any “open water.”

The biggest risk he has is hitting the underwater jetty that is on the both side of the channel markers leading into KW (do not attempt to cut the corner, I almost did and it would have been costly.)

From KW to DT you have the Marqeusas and Rebecca shoal that break things up.

I’m not saying not to plan by any means but a buddy boat, 30 gallons of gas, an Epirb, as sat phone, a life raft, a helicopter....

Heck he’s in a 32’ boat not a 15’ boat. The Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria were only 40’ larger...


On a side note we have a member here that owns the satellite phone store in Sarasota. If you rent a phone get it from his place. For work I’ve rented a bunch of phones from them.
 
[QUOTE="The park ranger came by just after dark to check to ensure proper lighting... which FYI also means no underwater lights on while in the park.

Why no underwater lights on?[/QUOTE]

Not sure why either, but I turned them off at his request. They do attract a lot of fish in the crystal clear water, and with fishing prohibited, it may have something to do with that...I read the park rules and did not see it anywhere in writing.
 
For weather when you're out of cell range, you could add a SiriusXM satellite receiver antenna. If you already have a contemporary multi purpose Chartplotter/GPS from Garmin, you can get forecasts, and have the weather as an overlay on your charts. (You can also have good tunes on your Fusion stereo from anywhere). You do have to pay for a subscription. It covers North America and ranges out to sea beyond Bermuda to the East, into the Canadian maritimes to the North, and down to the Yucatan in the Gulf. There's a map on their website. https://www.siriusxm.com/sxmmarine
(Unfortunately, when you click on that the first time, it may redirect you to their marketing page that shows you subscription options. Darn computers!)
 
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For weather when you're out of cell range, you could add a SiriusXM satellite receiver antenna. If you already have a contemporary multi purpose Chartplotter/GPS from Garmin, you can get forecasts, and have the weather as an overlay on your charts. (You can also have good tunes on your Fusion stereo from anywhere). You do have to pay for a subscription. It covers North America and ranges out to sea beyond Bermuda to the East, into the Canadian maritimes to the North, and down to the Yucatan in the Gulf. There's a map on their website. https://www.siriusxm.com/sxmmarine
(Unfortunately, when you click on that the first time, it may redirect you to their marketing page that shows you subscription options. Darn computers!)

Thank you. I have the Garmin and will have a Sat phone to call into family for weather updates if needed.
 
When you anchor at the fort take your time and make sure the anchor is set. Back down on it good. The holding is not very good. I have had times where I had to set it multiple time to get a good set.
 
4B9F18DE-DB55-4E00-AEF8-2F99712A320D.jpeg Hi, I live in Key West and Naples, mostly Key West. The Dry Totugas are 76 miles from KW. You have to figure your “usable fuel” regarding fuel capacity as someone else posted. You also have to plan on a cushion of 20 percent, which you said you would. There is NOTHING at the Dry Tortugas, and in between KW and Fort Jeff your radio won’t help unless you can bounce off another boat. What is the fuel range of your boat? This is absolutely critical that you know this, have you done any extended cruises on your boat?

The winds in the summer are typically SSW, W, S. Fall and winter are E, SE, N, NE. The best time to go would be summer when winds are low and water temps are 85-90!

If you are in need of any local info, PM me and I will be glad to help. I’ve been visiting and boating KW since 1989, and ran my own fishing charter business for a couple years in KW. I’ll be going to the Dry Tortugas in the summer, leaving Naples and staying in KW for a couple of months with trips to Dry Tortugas. Good luck, sounds like fun!

I also run to KW from Naples on a regular basis, it’s exactly 101 miles to the entrance of the NW Channel from Gordon Pass, Naples, add another 10 miles to the marina if you’re staying in one of the KW Bight Marinas.

Bow Tie
 
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Anchoring is the only option unless you have a small boat that you can beach.

I've heard fishing is great out there but I don't fish. The fort is really neat as is snorkeling the wrecks.

I was done after a day though.
 
Anchoring is the only option unless you have a small boat that you can beach.

I've heard fishing is great out there but I don't fish. The fort is really neat as is snorkeling the wrecks.

I was done after a day though.

A whole lot of effort for one day. There must be better destinations with more to see and do within the same range.
 
For us it was a worthwhile trip. Day one was from Marco island to Fort Jefferson. Anchored in the harbor and enjoyed happy hour and dinner. Next day was a full exploration of the fort. Very interesting!! Incredible history. Day three was a dinghy trip to a close by island for snorkeling and lunch on the beach. Another happy hour and dinner. Next morning was off to Key West. I highly recommend the trip, and one day is not enough. It is a very enjoyable and peaceful place.
 
I guess it all depends on what you plan on doing. The only thing we did not get to do was to snorkel the Windjammer wreck.

We arrived around 11:30 on day one and went to the fort. Spent some time there and made friends with the ranger. Took the dinghy over to Bird Key and snorkeled the reef.

Came back to the fort and did a night walk with the resident ranger there.

If we had not had generator issues we would have gone to the Windjammer the next day but we left the morning of day 2

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