Dry Tortugas Discussion

[WaveJunky757]

Not sure what direction I’m aiming this thread, just been thinking about this area and 1622 ships. Obviously it’s all a “sanctuary “ has anyone ever had the chance to snorkel around loggerhead or East key? Or is it completely 100% off limits, don’t even look at it or think about it? The whole area seems like a nice “trap” for sailing vessels. It would be interesting to know if the wrecks off loggerhead and East key are in fact related to the same time frame(or fleet) It could paint a picture on how the fleet broke away from each other, or if they each tried to flee from the storm in a different way. I’m not very concerned with “which” ships they are .... more so, how one ended up at loggerhead and one at East key and that relationship. Almost like the two (I think the patsche was a salvage vessel after the fact) at loggerhead wrecked early on, and the other one made it past the Tortugas, then got “blown” back into East key. Just throwing ideas out there.

 

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[Bum Luck]

You're under arrest for thinking about the Forbidden Sanctuary.


It's my understanding that the 28 ship 1622 fleet was strung out (as usual) when the hurricane hit. The lucky (21?) ships slid past the Tortugas into the Gulf, where they all rode it out.

The Atocha and Margarita got caught east of there in the Quicksands, but there may have been 2 at least that ended up in the Tortuga reefs. I have the 117 ton nao Nuestra Senora de Los Reyes and Nuestra Senora del Rosario sunk in shallow water in the Tortugas, possibly with an additional patache.

I presume from that and other info, that the winds came from the south or southeast, and so the wrecks would tend to accumulate accordingly.

There were 8 fleet wrecks total; Atocha, Santa Margarita, Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Nuestra Senora de Los Reyes, Nuestra Senora del Consolacion, Nuestra Senora de La Merced, and 2 others. But there's a 1 ship discrepancy.

 

[WaveJunky757]

Thanks for the reply. My question is , where are the artifacts? The swivel gun site was excavated, shouldn’t these be in a museum to educate the public? I mean after all, that’s the whole purpose isn’t it? Education. In theory shouldn’t I be able to snorkel over these areas and look and educate myself? What would be more educational than seeing things In their natural un-disturbed habitat .

 

[Bum Luck]

I dunno. You could Google up the NPS and see what you come up with.

It has been worked on by the SCR unit of NPS (George Fischer) & Florida State University. I know of 2 sites, FOJE-UW-9 & FOJE-UW-17. Try sticking them in your search.

That dry stuff isn't always easy to Google up since there's what I call an "academic wall" up.

Good luck.

 

[Peyton Manning]

I prefer my tortugas wet

 

[Blak bart]

Yes I have snorkeld there many times. Last time I was there was 3 years ago. There are 2 mooring balls and no anchoring is allowed. We did several drifts with snorkel gear.....its an awsome place. I believe the Rosario grounded here and was refloated. In the past there were at least 4 cannons here but I could not find them again. Either they are gone or sanded in. They were on the north east tip of Africa reef....I think that's the name...or maybe el Africa reef, I'll look it up. There was lots of olive jar Parts in the sand there also. I used to commercial fish there a lot in the 90s and early 2000s. We would base out of the fort for up to 2 weeks at a time. When we couldn't fish because of wind we would go beach comb loggerhead.....its beautiful....just dont touch or take anything...not even a shell. You'll have to check in with the rangers anyway just to anchor at the fort.

 

[WaveJunky757]

Black Bart , I cant thank you enough for your response. Exactly what I was looking for. It’s nice to know you can access these areas and enjoy them. I bet it was a beautiful drift snorkel.

 

[Bum Luck]

From NPS:


Little Africa Reef - Located just a few yards off the western shore of loggerhead key is a remarkable coral formation aptly named Little Africa because the corals grow in a shape that resembles the continent of Africa when looking down on the reef from the air. This coral formation is similar to the coral heads found at Garden Key, only much larger.



Looks great Bart!

 

[Blak bart]

That's the one Bum Luck !!

 

[WaveJunky757]

Very nice. Gin clear. I would imagine the rangers don’t allow you to snorkel in certain “areas”? Watched like a hawk.

 

[Blak bart]

No....you'll be able to have free range....but your not allowed to touch or take anything. A good underwater camera would be great to have. If I return soon I'll ware the go-pro and search out the cannons again. The first time I found them in 1993 was pure luck....threw the anchor and when the line came tight we were sitting right over 4 cannons !! We searched for treasure all day that day.....only found olive jar parts. They must have thrown over hundreds of them with the cannons to lighten the load.

 

[Blak bart]

Little africa reef.....x Mark's my cannon patch. There are other areas of interest and things will pop into view from one end of the island to the other.....hundreds of years of hurricanes and storms have spread stuff all over the area there !! The water clarity there can only be matched in the bahamas.....it is incredible !!

 

[Alexandre]

https://www.nps.gov/drto/planyourvisit/dive-snorkel-swim.htm

 

[enrada]

Could one assume they were cast iron cannons and broken pottery, things that would have not been salvaged by pirates either in contemporary times or 1950 to current times or more likely load lightened as you say?

 

[Blak bart]

Yes enrada.....exactly. probably much was tossed over at the time in an effort to salvage what they could of value and to try and refloat the ship. As far as 1950s to modern times.......its 70 miles beyond keywest.....not a tremendous amount of traffic except for fisherman and sailors. There was and still are no amenities and one must be self sufficient to stay for any length of time. Fuel, water, ice, food are all limiting factors as to the length of time one can stay and explore. Now days you must check in if anchoring at the fort and they know who's who and where your at most of the time. Back in the 80s and 90s was a different story....and many a beautiful bottle was found and carried off the islands by beach combing fisherman and adventure seeking boaters. I used to get off the boat and make a fire in the fort. We would drink and party like pirates when it blew and we couldn't fish. I would sleep right in the fort !! Those were good times !!

 

[WaveJunky757]

Sounds like you are one of the few that got to really enjoy this area on your fishing trips. Thanks for the posts BlackBart. It’s very nice(and surprising) to know you can enjoy the park and snorkel where you want and look and take pictures. That’s how it should be. I’d love to run a boat over there for 2days or so. 70 miles isn’t that far in the scheme of things. Would need to bring a small dinghy. We do 70 each way here out of VA for palegics.

 

[Red_desert]

Beautiful underwater paradise!

 

[lukdiver]

Dry Tortugas

Had a great time there in the '80s and last time was '92 headed to South Pacific and it's where I meet my future wife. Dove the steel square-rigger out on Loggerhead Reef but never found any old wrecks there. Fort Jefferson is pretty cool and the 'Gibralter of the Gulf', 16mil bricks but obsolete after the advent of rifled cannons. Pic is me in the barrel of one of the cannons and interesting side-note is the cell where Dr. Mud was housed after Lincoln Assination. He was released early after helping so many yellow-fever victims survive.

 

[Red_desert]

After the ships wrecked, I believe it was the same year, another hurricane came through, which really scattered stuff around.