Dry Tortugas National Park

Dry Tortugas National Park lies seventy miles west of Key West, accessible only by boat or seaplane, and protects a cluster of seven small coral keys and surrounding waters. Garden Key hosts Fort Jefferson, the largest nineteenth-century coastal fortification in the Americas, whose 8 million handmade bricks form walls 50 feet tall and 8 feet thick enclosing a 16-acre interior. The shallow waters surrounding the fort support extensive coral reef systems and sea turtle nesting beaches, and the park represents a critical breeding colony for sooty and brown noddy terns.