 Our
dingy trip to Loggerhead Key was not without excitement. For
several minutes we were accompanied by a large (nearly five feet)
barracuda. Being the coward that we are, we waited for his
departure before we waded ashore. The Park Service recently
cleared the Australian pines from Loggerhead. They are hoping
that native species will take over. Though they did it a couple
of years ago, the place looks rather bare. Park rules prohibit
camping on Loggerhead, we returned to the anchorage and the Jule
III.
 Bob
is a complete coward when it comes to heights. He has been that
way all of his life. So mast duties are delegated to Ann. She
went aloft to inspect the rigging and to take a few aerial
pictures of the anchorage. I was winch-boy, hoisting her up when
she wanted to go up and down when she wanted to go down. She
indicated that she really enjoyed the view. Not sure if she ever
inspected the rigging.
 S/V
Chatauqua (38' Shannon ketch) arrived at the anchorage a few
days after us. They had left Connecticut in the fall. After
securing their boat, they invited us over for drinks. They gave
us some tips on visiting the Bahamas and indicated that they may
try Bermuda (and they did). Their tips provided the necessary
encouragement to us to undertake a trip to the Bahamas. They had
a single sideband radio which enabled us to keep in touch the
remainder of our voyage (email helped also).
 S/V
Tell Me Something Good arrived at the Dry Tortugas shortly
before we did. Pat and Laurie had recently acquired their boat
and were still learning some of the tricks. They were 'home
schooling their two kids. They also invited us to dinner –
meatless pizza. It was quite tasty. Tell Me Something Good was
running a little low on diesel so we gave them 5 gallons from one
of our jerry cans. Later they returned the favor by handing over
some ice (we don't have an ice maker).
 Fort
Jefferson is a neat place to explore. Except when the boats from
Key West bring the tourists, we had the Fort to ourselves. The
Park Rangers provide tours during the day. In addition, they
started twilight tours for the boaters and campers (they have 11
primitive camp sites). The Easterlies were becoming constant so
the temperature was often in the high 80's This made outside
exploring less than fun but inside the fort was always cool.
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