Fort Jefferson by Amphibious Plane

#Fort_Jefferson_Amphibious_Plane
Fort Jefferson is located 109 km (68 miles) west of Key West Florida in the Gulf of Mexico & is in the Dry Tortugas National Park System

KeyTip; The ferry (state of the art catamaran ) will cost you $220.00US which includes breakfast snack, box lunch, snorkeling equipment, entrance fee to Dry Tortugas National Park / Fort Jefferson & takes around 2 hours
For me & my adventurous soul 😂 i opt for the Amphibious Plane half day excursion $466.00 + $15 Fort fee & you arrive in 40 minutes 

 

So this type of plane is called an amphibious aircraft as it can takeoff & land both on runways or water
Seaplanes can only take off & land on water

Everyone gets a window seat & headset plus some interesting facts from the pilot
For one he talked about the Chugs (as in the noise some of these homemade boats / engines make) from Cuban migrants who try & make the dangerous 160 km ( 100 miles) journey through the Florida Straits & apparently if they make it to one of the US Islands they can request political asylum

We fly at such a low altitude (500 feet) i captured our shadow on the water below.

Two of the 1700 islands that make up the Florida Keys , this archipelago extends from Soldier Keys to the Dry Tortugas

Splashdown & now 2.5 hours of Fort Jefferson exploring which covers over 16 acres 

This picture says it all......way cool experience landing on the Gulf of Mexico

This military post of Fort Jefferson offered the ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico & Florida Straits protection from the weather plus a place to resupply & refit 

It took nearly 30 years to built this fortress (1846-1875) but was never finished or fully armed plus it was never attacked 

During the Civil War the fort was used as a prison for mainly Union deserters

The fort was abandoned by the Army in 1874 & was used later as a coaling station for warships

The nickname of Fort Jefferson was The Guardian of the Gulf

In 1935 Dry Tortugas (Spanish for turtles) National Park was formed containing 160km (100 miles) of mostly open water with seven small islands & the home of Fort Jefferson

Fort Jefferson is the largest brick structure in the United States with over 16 million & was constructed this way to withstand cannon balls from hostile vessels

J.N.O. Nolan was a master bricklayer who etched his name into several bricks, but good luck with that search 😂

Why the Army left (like many forts of this time) was the invention of the rifled cannon which could penetrate the walls plus the fresh water supply was compromised as the crumbling water tanks cracked under its on weight thus allowing salt water to enter

With a shortage of workers President Lincoln started to offer condemned men pardons for a years labor but conditions were harsh, as for example in 1867 Yellow Fever killed 39 staff & workers at the fort 

One of the 450 cannons at the fort that were never needed

Time to leave The Gibraltar of the Gulf & all its history