Don’t anyone ever think it’s just a casual day cruise from Key West to Garden Key or any of the other Dry Tortugas isles. This sojourn requires careful preparation and planning!

Plan very careful to take your own boat to Las Tortugas. Tide Hiker is large enough to handle heavy seas and carry substantial stores. Prevailing winds in the winter season center around SSE, and can blow at 25 kts or more for weeks on end. You not only need to get there, but you need to get back, too. I know of several smaller boats that have been “trapped” by the weather and had to re-provision by taking the fast cat back to Key West, provision, and take the fast cat back to their boat. There are no facilities at Las Tortugas; no water, no trash disposal, no dockage, no showers and no laundry. Heads are only available during the day time hours when the fast cat is there. Pumping overboard is a strongly enforced no-no. If you have pets (dog), check with the NPS to be sure you can land them. You will need to be entirely self-contained, and if the winds blow up, it can be a long stay indeed.
Hope this is useful.
Jim

I have been there in good weather, and it still can be a difficult trip. Navigation is tricky and the holding ground marginal. Best to
go in April when the winds are down, and the thunder storms has notstarted yet. The fort is interesting to see once. Seaplanes land
in the main channel, so do not anchor there. Go the south route over and the north route back for the sights.
Al Hackett