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General Information
Almost 70 miles (112.9 km) west of Key West lies a cluster of seven coral reefs called the Dry Tortugas. These reefs along with surrounding shoals and waters make up Dry Tortugas. Known for its famous bird and marine life, and its legends of pirates and sunken gold. Dry Tortugas National Park includes the largest of the 19th century American coastal forts.
Dry Tortugas National Park is opened year round. The best time to visit is November through April. The Keys are hot and humid during the wet summer season and the insects bite and swarm. Be aware that seas are rough from October through January. Always wear sun screen whenever you visit. Peak visitation is in April. Day use only on all keys except Garden Key. Bush Key is closed to visitors from April to September to protect nesting Sooty and Noddy Terns. Fort Jefferson on Garden Key is opened during daylight hours, closed at dark.
Visitor Centers
| Facility | Dates Opened | Location | Available Facilities |
| Dry Tortugus Visitor Center | All Year | Inside Fort Jefferson on Garden Key | Exhibits on the history of Fort Jefferson. Video describing park's history and natural resources. Also houses a bookstore. |
| Fort Jefferson Museum | All Year Daylight hours |
Garden Key 305-242-7700 |
Intermittent ranger-led tours and self-guiding fort tour with interpretive signs. |
Ranger Programs
There is a self guiding trail that interprets the history of human presence in Dry Tortugas while leading visitors through Fort Jefferson. There are also intermittent ranger-led tours. Check at the visitor center for more information.
Special Events and Programs
Activities to consider while visiting or planning your visit are bird watching, boating, camping, fishing, skin-diving, snorkeling and swimming.
During April and early May, the Audubon Society sponsors guided birding trips.
Sooty Turn Gathering
One great wildlife spectacle happens yearly between March and September as some 100,000 sooty terns gather on Bush Key for their nesting season. They come from the Caribbean Sea and west central Atlantic Ocean. As early as mid January, sooters perform nocturnal maneuvers above the Dry Tortugas but spent their days at sea. When they do land here in February, egg-laying starts immediately. Bush Key is closed to landings during tern nesting season, but the rookery is readily witnessed from the fort with binoculars. Sooty parents take turns shading their single egg, laid in simple depressions in the warm sands. Once the young grow strong enough for continuous flight, the colony disperses. Interspersed among the sooties' rookery are 2,500 breeding brown noddies. Unlike sooties and most other terns, noddies nest in vegetation, such as bay cedar and sea lavender. Both sooties and noddies feed by capturing fish and squid from the sea's surface while still in flight. Magnificent frigate birds that soar with seven foot wingspans pray on tern hatchlings in nature's endless give and take. Visitors often see masked and brown boobies, roseate terns, double-crested cormorants, and brown pelicans, a species recently de listed as endangered.
In season, a continuous succession of songbirds and other migrants flies over or rests at the Dry Tortugas. Strategically set, these islands lie across a principal flyway from the United States to Cuba and South America. Familiar up north in summer, many gulls, terns and migratory birds winter here. During April and early May, the Audobon Society sponsors guided birding trips.
