Dry Tortugas

We arrived at the outer bouy at about 6pm and were anchored west of Fort Jefferson by about 7pm. We hopped in the water for a reconnaissance snorkel and to make sure the anchor is set (this side of the island is notorious for bad holding). The anchor was pretty well set, but we decided to move it to a better spot... our anchor chain was a little close to some live reef, and of course we want to be eco-friendly. It took us 2 attempts to get it where we wanted it, but finally Dave snorkeled it one
more time and said it was well in and clear of any reef life.

We are finally away from the lights of civilization and so the stars on the foredeck were gorgeous.

We have no cell phone coverage out here (gasp!), so Dave used the Iridium phone to call Matt at the NWS office for a forecast update. He still says there are signs of a developing low down in the NW Caribbean that we might run into (though I can find no evidence of that on any of the charts I pulled yesterday morning). I will pull some more data via Winlink myself, and Dave said he'd call the NWS again just before we make our final go/no go decision (noonish today).

This morning is glassy calm. The sun is rising over the fort (anyone who wants to see pictures, Google Dry Tortugas Fort Jefferson). There are dolphins swimming around next to the boat (feeding). And I can hear the birds on Bird Island making their bird noises. If we didn't have the worries about approaching hurricane season I could easily stay here for a week or two.