The following content on Dry Tortugas National Park is licenced from National Geographic’s Guide to
National Parks of the United States (9th Edition).
ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST UNUSUAL and remote national parks, Dry Tortugas National Park is located 68 miles west of Key West, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. Though it encompasses 101 square miles, more than 99 percent of the park surface area is actually the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Seven tiny islands (or six or five, depending on wave action, tides, and hurricane activity) make up the park’s land area. Just getting to the park provides visitors with a feeling of accomplishment: The only way to reach it is by boat or seaplane.
