Dry Tortugas National Park

Dry Tortugas National Park

The News from Dry Tortugas

Island Park Captivates Bird-Watchers

Three nights on a tropical island.

Doesn't sound bad, does it?

When I began telling friends that I'd be camping on a tropical key between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, I elicited sympathetic envy sounds - you know, "Ooh!" and "Mmm!" and "Oh, how fun!"

Dry Tortugas National Park, off the southwest tip of Florida, is the kind of place that inspires jealous daydreams: Water the color of Hopi jewelry. Skies the color of polished sunshine. Temperatures in the 80s.