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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Dry Tortuga (1 Viewer)

snowyowl

snowyowl

Well-known member
Dry Tortugas

We are hoping to visit Dry Tortugas this winter. We had tentatively thought of late Nov. or early Dec. We have never been in the Keys so could really use some advice on where to stay or just about anything else that might help. We would need to stay somewhere overnight before catching the ferry and probably again on the return. I've been told that hotels in the Keys are very expensive. Would it be practical to stay closer to Miami or even Homestead and still make it to the ferry without making a middle of the night start? Would that be cheaper (assuming decent hotels)? I understand that spring is the best birding but how would it be in fall/winter? There are a couple of NWRs in the Keys that I would like to visit so that might work on the day after leaving Dry Tortugas. If we did that, it might make sense to spend the two nights in Key West.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
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You might also find some cheaper deals at the half-way points in the Keys. Staying all the way up in mainland FL is a bit far from Key West - that's a long drive and very early start to catch the ferry...consider something in Long Key or Marathon, and depending on season you can usually find something under $100 a night...and that would only be an hour to hour and 20 minute drive in the morning, as opposed to 3hrs or more from mainland.
 
If you choose to stay in Marathon beware of the Yellowtail Inn!!

We booked online a single night for 3 persons two nights before our arrival (as we also wanted to visit the Keys). But when we arrived what a disapointment! The room wasn´t ready at 4pm! But on the other hand you have to leave early in the morning! The beach looked like a dumping place and terrible smell did lay over the area. We complained at the front desk, their answer: The beach doesn´t belong to the hotel. But they show the same beach in their photos at "booking.com" and mention that it is their private beach! We canceled the room as no one wanted to stay. But we didn´t get just 1 cent back, they claimed that we had to cancel 2 weeks ahead! Try to follow this rule when booked only two days before. They even didn´t hand over us an affirmation that we did not stay.
F... t...!
Didn´t like the Keys, just a tourist trap.
 
Dan:

The seabirds won't be nesting in the Dry Tortugas in late Nov/early Dec. You will most likely miss the terns (Brown Noddy, Sooty Tern, Bridled Tern). The islands are too small and the vegetation too sparse to support a good diversity of wintering passerines.

The state parks in the Florida Keys should have a reasonable assortment of wintering warblers and other passerines, but most of the specialties (Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo, Antillean Nighthawk) will not be around. White-crowned Pigeon is resident.

Winter is a fantastic time of year to bird in South Florida, as species diversity peaks in Everglades National Park and other sites on the mainland. A 100+ species day in winter in Everglades NP is very doable, and over 20 species of warbler are recorded every winter in Miami-Dade. It's just not prime time for the Florida Keys.

Hope this helps,
 
Thanks for the help, guys. We are thinking about going there around 15 Nov. rather than later as we had first thought. At that time we might catch more of the fall birds than the winter ones.
We will probably spend 2 or more likely 3 nights in the area. The NWRs sound like great places to visit even if we didn't go to Dry Tortugas.
 
I always camp either in Bahia Honda or Curry Hammock state park for around $40 or the one tent camping site outside of Key West for around $60. The first two fill up.
 
When we visited Florida in April 1997 we tried staying on the mainland and driving down to Key West to avoid the high motel prices on the Keys. We did it, but we had to start off about 4:30am I think!

We did get very good views of that comet that was in the news at the time by doing this (Halle-Bopp I think), much better than I ever got in the UK.
 
We are beginning to question whether going out to Dry Tortugas is worth the effort at that time of year. We may settle for visiting the Keys and the various NWRs that are there. I would really like to add Magnificent Frigate Bird to my life list but that may be possible without going quite so far.
 
Dan:

Magnificent Frigatebird is common overhead in the Florida Keys and even near downtown Miami on the mainland. You don't have to visit the Dry Tortugas to see that species here.
 
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