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North America Dives |
Dry Tortugas, The Windjammer (W) |
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Dive Snapshot |
Dive Overview
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What a marvelous dive for novices and advanced divers alike. The shallow water, great vis, and wreckage that rises toward the surface also make this a great snorkel as well. With great wreckage, a good cross section of sea life, and a location that is almost guaranteed to make this a private experience, there is not much not to like. Add to this the shallow depth and extremely long bottom time, you can just about wear yourself out on this dive. Those who just have to go deep or just have to find a hull they can penetrate will be disappointed, of course, but, who cares. I really enjoyed it. The only thing that kept this dive from getting 5 Stars was the difficulty in getting to it. |
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The Dry Tortugas are a series of small islands
or key about 70 miles west of Key West. Yeah, I know, it doesn't
make any sense that there are keys that are west of Key West, but,
that's how it is. There are three main keys that make up the
Dry Tortugas, Garden Key upon which Fort Jefferson is built, Bird
Key which as its name would imply is a bird sanctuary, and
Loggerhead Key which hosts a lighthouse.
The Windjammer wreck is located about 1 mile southwest of Loggerhead Key and is marked by a single mooring buoy. There is no road in or out of the Dry Tortugas. You either boat in or take a seaplane. There are few excursions that leave out of Key West daily. Please note however, there are no hotels, motels, or inns to spend the night. There is a very small campground on Garden Key by the Fort, but there is no freshwater or food concessions available. If you choose to stay the night it will be really primitive. There also are no dive operators to take you around. If you want to dive the Dry Tortugas you will have to either charter a live aboard, or take your own yacht! Since I don't own one, I did the next best thing and hitched a ride along on my friends 48' Catamaran sailboat. The entire trip was an adventure. We arrived early
in the morning after an all night sail from Captiva. The June
weather was gorgeous with only a cloud or two in the sky. We
set anchor in the bay in front of Fort Jefferson. Within
minutes we had a 5' long Goliath grouper hanging out in the 25'
shadow of the boat. Soon we were all in the water swimming
with the grouper. Well, I wasn't in the water. I had to
clean the fish Shawn had caught the night before. The 30"
Little Tuny's head came off and was tossed into the water to be
swallowed instantly by the grouper. (I found out later in the
day that we are not allowed to feed the fish in the Park!)
After the fish was filleted I handed the tail and spine to Shawn who
quickly dove down and fed the awaiting beast by hand. The
first day there was great. But early the next morning we had a
close encounter of the not so nice kind. Remember the
cloud or two I mentioned earlier? At the breakfast the next
morning we watched as a very small cloud drifted across the harbor.
Then lightning struck our 72 foot tall mast and wiped out most of
our electronics. The good news was that we travel with a backup GPS
with sonar. |
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| Reaching
the Windjammer Wreck location requires
little back tracking from our anchorage in front of Garden Key as
the Windjammer is located on the west side of Loggerhead Key.
And of course, there is a long extensive reef system running north
and south along the key. Not wishing to run aground we sailed
south to deeper water and approached the wreck from the west.
The mooring ball allowed us to get within 100' of the wreck.
The current was very mild. The children snorkeling with us
could make the swim without much difficulty. Part of the wreck rises from the ocean floor to within a few feet of the surface. The water was warm and the vis about 40'. (The wind had changed during the night and had stirred things up in the shallow water or the reef.) There was fish, coral, and sea life aplenty. The Windjammer has been underwater since its sinking in a storm over 100 years ago in 1907. The ships actual name at the time of its misfortune was the Avanti. Follow the link below to read more about this great novice dive and snorkeling site in the Dry Tortugas. |
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http://www.nps.gov/drto/planyourvisit/upload/Windjammer%20Site%20Bulletin.pdf |
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Your Dive Professional Who Wrote This Review |
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