Dry Tortugas

The Dry Tortugas are a belonging to Florida, uninhabited group of islands in the Gulf of Mexico. They provide the utmost westernmost group of the Florida Keys dar.

The islands were discovered in 1513 by Juan Ponce de León, who gave them the name " Tortugas " after the numerous sea turtles observed there. The surname " Dry" ( = dry) was added later to indicate the lack of drinking water.

The Dry Tortugas consist of seven small islands ( keys) with a total area of ​​584,000 m² ( 0.584 km ²), some sandbanks and countless coral reefs.

The islands are:

  • Loggerhead Key, with 260,000 m² largest and up to 3 m height highest island. On it is the Dry Tortugas Lighthouse ( 46 meters high).
  • Garden Key, 170,000 m² second largest island, with Fort Jefferson and the Garden Key Lighthouse (20 meters high).
  • Bush Key, 120,000 m².
  • Long Key, 8,000 m²
  • Hospital Key, 4,000 m²
  • Middle Key, 6,000 m²
  • East Key, 16,000 m²

Former islands, sand banks today are:

  • Southwest Key, sunk in 1875
  • Bird Key, sunk in 1935
  • North Key, sunk in 1875
  • North East Key, 1875 sunk

The archipelago since 1908 is already under protection and was, together with the surrounding waters to the Dry Tortugas National Park collected in 1992.

  • Uninhabited islands
  • Archipelago (Florida )
  • Archipelago (North America)
  • Archipelago (Gulf of Mexico)
  • Florida Keys
  • Monroe County ( Florida)
Fort Jefferson, Florida Dry-Tortugas-Nationalpark
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