Dry Tortugas

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scubagirl06

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Location
Illinois
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100 - 199
In April I will be going on a live aboard dive trip. Right now the captain is 99% sure he will get a permit to dive the Dry Tortugas. Has anyone been? What is the diving like and do you have a great dive site we should not miss?
 
I've been to the Dry Tortugas with Ultimate Getaway out of Fort Myers. The best diving I have ever seen in Florida. Sorry I don’t remember any of the sites. I would defiantly recommend it. Not sure if the Ultimate Getaway would give up there dive site but its worth a try.
Is there any room on the boat for an extra diver or 2 if so what is the cost and how long is the trip?
 
Rec trip or tec trip?? Will you be mostly spearing and lobstering(outside the park) or just diving (inside the park). There are some great sites there. The Baja California is a cool dive along with the air force tower, big jacks on the tower.
 
In April I will be going on a live aboard dive trip. Right now the captain is 99% sure he will get a permit to dive the Dry Tortugas. Has anyone been? What is the diving like and do you have a great dive site we should not miss?


they don't have a permit? so is this a new operation?


the reason I ask is that we went on a trip 2-3 years ago where we chartered a Tortugas trip, only to find out when we got on the boat that the captain didn't have a commercial permit for the Tortugas....

we were not happy.

What's the name of the boat that is telling you that he has a 99% chance of getting the permit?


If it's who I think it might be.... I might have some good warnings for you....



I've been to the Dry Tortugas with Ultimate Getaway out of Fort Myers. The best diving I have ever seen in Florida. Sorry I don’t remember any of the sites. I would defiantly recommend it. Not sure if the Ultimate Getaway would give up there dive site but its worth a try.
Is there any room on the boat for an extra diver or 2 if so what is the cost and how long is the trip?

The Ultimate Getaway is an excellent operation. GREAT crew. Great Diving.

The boat is bunk sleeping though.... so as long as you go with expectation that it's not a Royal Caribbean cruiseboat with pool deck, and private cabins, you're ok.

I'd reccomend this boat to anyone going.



Rec trip or tec trip?? Will you be mostly spearing and lobstering(outside the park) or just diving (inside the park). There are some great sites there. The Baja California is a cool dive along with the air force tower, big jacks on the tower.

Baja California is a great wreck with a lot of history. Sunk by a German U Boat. I've got some dishware/bottles off that wreck.


Several other great sites in the Tortugas. For the most part, there isn't a bad site.


for the OP, remember that since there are only a couple commercial dive boats that go there, a lot of these sites don't have official names but are known by different names by different captains on different boats. A lot of them they named on their own for example.

still lots of great sites. the diving "outside the park" as is good as "inside" if you're spearing... FYI.
 
they don't have a permit? so is this a new operation?


the reason I ask is that we went on a trip 2-3 years ago where we chartered a Tortugas trip, only to find out when we got on the boat that the captain didn't have a commercial permit for the Tortugas....

we were not happy.

What's the name of the boat that is telling you that he has a 99% chance of getting the permit?


If it's who I think it might be.... I might have some good warnings for you....





The Ultimate Getaway is an excellent operation. GREAT crew. Great Diving.

The boat is bunk sleeping though.... so as long as you go with expectation that it's not a Royal Caribbean cruiseboat with pool deck, and private cabins, you're ok.

I'd reccomend this boat to anyone going.





Baja California is a great wreck with a lot of history. Sunk by a German U Boat. I've got some dishware/bottles off that wreck.


Several other great sites in the Tortugas. For the most part, there isn't a bad site.


for the OP, remember that since there are only a couple commercial dive boats that go there, a lot of these sites don't have official names but are known by different names by different captains on different boats. A lot of them they named on their own for example.

still lots of great sites. the diving "outside the park" as is good as "inside" if you're spearing... FYI.

Yo, how far outside the park must one go to be in hunting grounds? Profiles? Thanks!
 
Yo, how far outside the park must one go to be in hunting grounds? Profiles? Thanks!

just across the "dotted line".

I can't remember the exact amount of distance from Ft Jefferson (the "center" of the Tortugas"), but I'd guess maybe 5 to 10 miles. easily doable with short boat ride from an overnight anchorage in the lee of the fort. You could see the lighthouse on Loggerhead key most of the time, but it was a long ass way off and you really needed binoculars to see it some of the time.

They mark the perimeter with bouys I think (not 100% sure), but of course they are spread out spread out.

(I"ve never had to pay attention to where the buoys/boundary is.... you depend on the captain for that.


most of the profiles were I think 50-60ft to 100ft. Might have had one of two that had HUGE coral heads that rose up to maybe 45ft maybe.

of course all of this depends on what sites they take you to. I doubt they hit the same exact sites over and over again each trip based on lots of variables.



as a note... I think there are two official boundary's. I think one (the inner one) is the National Park (Ft Jefferson) and the other is the Marine Sanctuary which extends further out. Ft Jefferson is run by the NPS and the Marine Sanctuary is run by NOAA maybe? (not 100% sure). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this....



EDIT:

Found some maps for you. (posting links because they are too freaking huge to do as pics here) they should open in a new window if you click on them.

This shows the boundary's of the Ft Jefferson National Park

http://www.closertonature.com/maps/dry-tortugas-map.jpg


This shows the boundary of the Dry Tortugas Ecological Reserve. It also shows some of the boundary of the FL Keys National Marine Sanctuary too.

http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/graphics/maps/tortugas.jpg



While I'm at it... here is a list of the mooring buoy's. (dive sites). Note that they dive other places besides these buoy's. Most of our dives were on sites with no buoy and were a drift dive.

http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/visitor_information/terbuoys.html


Have fun. Hope this is helpful to all.

Mike
 
just across the "dotted line".

I can't remember the exact amount of distance from Ft Jefferson (the "center" of the Tortugas"), but I'd guess maybe 5 to 10 miles. easily doable with short boat ride from an overnight anchorage in the lee of the fort. You could see the lighthouse on Loggerhead key most of the time, but it was a long ass way off and you really needed binoculars to see it some of the time.

They mark the perimeter with bouys I think (not 100% sure), but of course they are spread out spread out.

(I"ve never had to pay attention to where the buoys/boundary is.... you depend on the captain for that.


most of the profiles were I think 50-60ft to 100ft. Might have had one of two that had HUGE coral heads that rose up to maybe 45ft maybe.

of course all of this depends on what sites they take you to. I doubt they hit the same exact sites over and over again each trip based on lots of variables.



as a note... I think there are two official boundary's. I think one (the inner one) is the National Park (Ft Jefferson) and the other is the Marine Sanctuary which extends further out. Ft Jefferson is run by the NPS and the Marine Sanctuary is run by NOAA maybe? (not 100% sure). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this....



EDIT:

Found some maps for you. (posting links because they are too freaking huge to do as pics here) they should open in a new window if you click on them.

This shows the boundary's of the Ft Jefferson National Park

http://www.closertonature.com/maps/dry-tortugas-map.jpg


This shows the boundary of the Dry Tortugas Ecological Reserve. It also shows some of the boundary of the FL Keys National Marine Sanctuary too.

http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/graphics/maps/tortugas.jpg



While I'm at it... here is a list of the mooring buoy's. (dive sites). Note that they dive other places besides these buoy's. Most of our dives were on sites with no buoy and were a drift dive.

Mooring Buoy Locations in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve


Have fun. Hope this is helpful to all.

Mike


That's what I call a quality reply post. Thanks so much! Scott

P.S. KOH trip?
 
Last edited:
KOH trip? most excellent idea.

Hopefully the Lionfish won't make it to the Tortugas....

at least the GulfStream flows east from there which might help prevent that some.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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