May 11, 2012 –The Dry Tortugas, FL
After a pleasant evening and night at Boca Grande, and fortified with one of Denise’s hearty breakfasts, we were off to Fort Jackson, and the Dry Tortugas. Fort Jackson is pretty large and and used to house a couple of thousand people. The fort is built of some 16 million bricks, all of which had to be shipped in from Pensacola. Since there are springs or other sources of fresh water, the “basement” level of the fort consists of a giant cistern — now brackish due to the incursion of salt. We spent the morning pottering around the Fort. It was fun.
As the day drew on and it got warmer, we decided to go snorkeling. Denise and Cita seemed to be veteran snorkelers. Joe on the other hand was a complete novice. We spent a little time getting him accustomed to the experience before attempting to find a reef. I have to admit that I was impressed by how quickly he took to it.