Dry Tortugas National Park Trip: Ferry, Fort and Camping

Dry Tortugas National Park Trip: Ferry, Fort and Camping

Getting there

• The ferry. One operator, one sailing a day, out of the Key West Historic Seaport. Two and a half hours each way, out at 8:00 and back from the island at 3:00. The fare starts around $260 and covers breakfast, lunch, snorkel gear, a fort tour and the $15 park fee. It sells out weeks ahead in winter and spring, and it cancels outright when the seas are up, so book early: see ferry dates and fares.
• The seaplane. Forty minutes over the flats, with a view of shipwrecks on the way. Half day trips give you about two and a half hours on the island, full day trips around six. Expect about $527 for a half day and about $910 for a full day, so double the ferry or more, and it is the only option if you are prone to seasickness. The park's getting there page lists the authorized seaplane service.
• Your own boat or a charter. Possible, and the only way to reach Loggerhead Key, which has the best snorkelling in the park and no day visitors.

There is no way to visit Dry Tortugas from mainland Florida in a day. Key West itself is four hours from Miami by road, so plan two nights there around the crossing.

What you do with the day

• Fort Jefferson, the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas, built from roughly 16 million bricks between 1846 and 1875 and never finished. Walk the top tier for the full circuit view, and see the cell where Dr Samuel Mudd was held after the Lincoln assassination.
• Snorkel the moat wall, which is the easiest entry and full of fish within 20 feet of the sand.
• Snorkel the south coaling dock ruins, the better site: pilings in 15 feet of water with barracuda, tarpon and sometimes a nurse shark under them. It is a short swim and the current is real, so watch it.
• Walk the beaches, which takes 20 minutes, because Garden Key is 14 acres.
• Birding, if it is April. Bush Key next door holds a nesting colony of sooty terns and is closed to visitors for most of the year and usually open only from mid-October to mid-January, and spring migration drops exhausted songbirds onto the fort in numbers that draw birders from across the country.

Camping, which is the real trip

There are only eight primitive sites on Garden Key, plus an overflow area, and they are the best national park campsites in Florida. You get the fort at sunset, a night sky 70 miles from the nearest streetlight, and the island to yourself between the afternoon ferry leaving and the next one arriving.

The rules are strict because they have to be.

• Book the boat, not the site. The eight numbered campsites are first come, first served and cannot be reserved; ferry campers are guaranteed a spot, in the overflow area if the sites are full. The ferry takes about 10 campers a day and those seats sell out months ahead. Only the group site, for 10 to 20 people, takes a reservation. The $15 nightly fee is paid on the island.
• Carry every drop of water. There is none on the island, and NPS recommends 2 gallons per person per day, plus a spare day in case the boat home is cancelled.
• Carry all your food, charcoal and shade. Fuel canisters are not allowed on the ferry, so cook with match-light charcoal on the site grill, keep food in hard-sided containers because of rats, and bring a tarp, because the sun is relentless.
• Pack out everything, including waste you would normally bin.
• The ferry limits camper numbers per sailing to about 10 a day, so the camper seat is the thing to book first.

When to go

• March to May: the best window. Warm water, lighter winds than winter, and April for the bird migration.
• December to February: pleasant on land, but cold fronts bring wind that cancels sailings. If your trip has no spare day, this is the risk.
• June to August: calmest seas and clearest water, and brutal heat with no shade.
• September to November: hurricane season, and the ferry stands down for named storms.

Whatever the month, build a spare day into your Key West stay. A cancelled crossing with no flexibility means the trip does not happen at all.

What to bring

Reef safe sunscreen, a rash vest or long sleeved shirt for the water, water shoes for the coaling dock rocks, more water than the ferry provides, and a dry bag. The ferry supplies mask, snorkel and fins, but bring your own mask if you have a prescription one. There is no shop, no cafe and no phone signal on the island.

Where it fits in a Florida trip

Dry Tortugas pairs naturally with the Everglades and Biscayne, which puts three national parks in one week out of Miami. Our East Coast national parks road trip has the full line, and the Everglades kayaking weekend covers the paddling half.

Have us book the pieces

Tell us your dates and we will line up the crossing, the Key West nights and the camping permit if you want the island overnight. Planning is free, and we earn only if you book through us.

Ferry vs Seaplane vs Charter: What Each Costs

The three ways in trade time on the water for money. These are the fares listed in 2026. They change, so confirm the price when you book.

The ferry is the better value if you want the fort tour, meals and gear handled for you. The seaplane buys back most of the five hours the ferry spends crossing, at roughly double the day-trip cost or more. A private boat or charter only pays off if you already have access to one, want Loggerhead Key, or want an overnight anchorage the scheduled services cannot offer.