Capturing Nature and Architecture Through Photography in Dry Tortugas National Park

Nestled in the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Dry Tortugas National Park is a gem for nature and architectural photographers. Home to Fort Jefferson and a vibrant array of marine life, this remote park is also a haven for bird photography enthusiasts.

Dry Tortugas National Park is one of the most remote National Parks in the continental United States. The park is only accessible by boat or seaplane, bringing only about 80,000 people visit Dry Tortugas National Park each year.

In this blog, I’ll cover getting to Dry Tortugas, photo opportunities in the park, and the gear you may want to bring along.

How to get to Dry Tortugas National Park

Unless you have your own boat, there are basically only two ways (Boat and Seaplane) to get to the park. Both transportation methods leave from Key West. Make sure to book your reservations early as these trips fill up months in advance.

Dry Tortuga National Park Ferry

The Dry Tortuga National Park Ferry, The Yankee Freedom III is $190 per adult which includes the ferry ride, breakfast, lunch, park entry fee and scuba gear. If you have a National Parks Pass, the park entry fee will be refunded. Taking the ferry is pretty much an all day trip. The trip takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes each way, and you’ll have around 4 hours in the par

The address for the Ferry Terminal is 100 Grinnell St, Key West. There is a parking garage across from the Ferry Terminal. The cost of the City Parking Garage is around $32 for the day. The address of the parking garage is 300 Grinnell Street in Key West.

Key West Seaplane Charters

This is a more expensive option but it greatly reduces the travel time to and from Dry Tortuga National Park, and provides the additional benefit of aerial photography. The flight is $451.00 for a half day trip plus a $15 national park entrance fee if you don’t have a National Parks Pass.

Trips leave both in the morning and afternoon. There is also a full day trip. The flight time was only 25 minutes to get to Dry Tortugas and 35 minutes for the return flight. The plane holds 10 passengers and everyone gets a window seat. Key West Seaplane Charters provides a cooler with water or soft drinks and snorkel gear. You don’t need to carry the cooler around the park. Each cooler is labeled with a number and it’s safe to just leave it somewhere, like on a picnic table while you explore the park.

I opted to take the seaplane to Dry Tortugas for the ½ day afternoon trip. The ½ day trip gives you around 2.5 hours in the park which I found to be plenty of time to photograph the park. However, I did not engage in snorkeling.

The plane does do a sea landing. You may want to bring water shoes to get from the plane’s float to the beach and back. I managed to jump to the beach and back without getting my feet too wet.

Key West Seaplane Charters is located at the Key West Airport. The address is 3471 South Roosevelt Blvd., Key West, FL. You park in the airport short term parking which costs $19 for the day.

Key West Seaplane Charters allows a small to medium backpack (10-15 pounds). Anything larger than a handheld camera would need go to the storage in back of the plane. Also keep in mind that you’ll need to carry the backpack around the park for the duration of the visit.

Restrooms

There are restrooms on Garden Key (the main key where you will dock / land). However, when the Yankee Freedom III is at the park, it becomes the restroom for everyone in the park. The restroom doors on the key will be locked during this time. This is to have less impact on the park.

Photo Opportunities at Dry Tortugas National Park

Aerial Photography

If you take the seaplane, you also have the opportunity for aerial photography of Key West, Fort Jefferson, shipwrecks, and if you’re lucky marine animals such as: sharks, dolphins, and stingrays.

On our flight the pilot planned the flight so the people on each side of the plane got the same photo opportunities either flying out or on the return trip. So, make sure you sit on the same side for both trips. On the way out, the right side of the plane got aerial photo ops of Key West, the shipwreck of World War II Destroyer Escort – the Patricia, and Fort Jefferson. The left side of the plane had the shipwreck of the Arbutus that has its mast exposed above the surface of the water. The photo ops were reversed for the return flight.

We also were able to see / photograph a pod of dolphins, but no sharks or stingrays.

I used a zoom lens with a wide focal range for aerial photography – Olympus 12-100mm f/4 (24 – 200mm full frame equivalent).

Bird Photography

Bush Key, is closed from February through mid-September due to the nesting season for the Brown Noddy and Sooty Terns. This is where the majority of the birds are, and there were hundreds of them. Since Bush Key was closed, I stood at the boundary of where the key was closed and waited for the birds to fly by. The majority of my photographs were of birds in flight.

There were at least 100 Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring above the fort. These birds are really, dark so make sure to up your exposure compensation to at least +1 when photographing them. In addition to tight in flight photographs, try getting a composition of the Frigatebirds soaring around the lighthouse.

Birds I photographed at Dry Tortugas National Park were: Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Pelican, Brown Noddy, Sooty Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Northern Harrier, Laughing Gull, and Herring Gull. A terrific variety of bird species, several of which I had not photographed before.

I used my Olympus 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter giving me a full frame equivalent of 840mm. A long zoom lens might be a better choice to zoom in for the terns and other birds and to zoom out for the Magnificent Frigate birds. I chose the 300mm f/4 because it is small and lightweight.

Hermit Crabs

During the late afternoon, Hermit Crabs seem to be everywhere, in all different sizes and shell varieties. Make sure to keep an eye out for them for some interesting photo ops.

I used my birds lens, Olympus 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter for the crabs. I just needed to back up to photograph them.

Landscape & Architectural Photography

Dry Tortuga National Park has some really unique landscape photography opportunities.

Landscapes can be taken with the fort using the moat wall as a leading line.
The shoreline of Bush Key can also be used as a leading line to the aquamarine waters.
The lighthouse can also be used in compositions both from the ground and on the top level of the fort. Be careful walking on the top of the fort. There are no guardrails like in other national parks. The lighthouse can also be used in a photograph with multiple Magnificent Frigatebirds in the composition.
The old pilings around the key also make for interesting compositions.
Also, inside the fort there are many doorways and arches that can be used for door within a door within a door compositions.

Underwater Photography

One of the main activities for tourist on Dry Tortugas is snorkeling. Although, I didn’t engage in snorkeling. This would be a great place to try underwater photography. The boat and seaplane companies both provide snorkel gear, and Key West Sea Plane Charters played snorkeling instruction videos while we were waiting for the flight.

If you want to give underwater photography a try, you will want to bring along an underwater camera like the OM System TG-7.

Visiting Dry Tortugas National Park is a unique experience with many unique photography opportunities. When we were there in the afternoon, the ferry left 15 minutes after we arrived. Also, the 2nd seaplane was down for repairs, so we almost had the park to ourselves.

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