Sight · Dry Tortugas National Park
A full-dive reef with caves, swim-throughs, and a giant anchor.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Dry Tortugas Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Dry Tortugas National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
From a sandy bottom around 55–60 feet, the mound rises to about 35 feet. Look for cracks, crevices, caves and swim-throughs among the pinnacles, plus the giant anchor. Fish gather above the top; the north side has deep-water sea fans, and black coral can hide in the crevices. The park says nearly every stony-coral species occurs here except elkhorn and staghorn. Texas Rock is also a coral-growth monitoring site, so leave its equipment undisturbed.
Plan a full dive just to circle the mound; two dives give you time to explore the whole reef. The mooring isn't suitable in every sea state, so inspect it before tying up and follow the park's buoy guidance. For underwater photos, include the reef edge or fish above it to show the relief; a tight coral close-up loses the mound's scale. There are no land-based services at the reef, so arrange your boat, tanks and provisions before leaving Garden Key.
Wildlife
13 sightingsLoggerhead Sea TurtleMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
12 sightingsGreen Sea TurtleMost seen around noonSighting map
11 sightingsGreat White HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
102 sightingsMasked BoobyMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
65 sightingsBrown BoobyMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
12 sightingsRed-footed BoobyMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Dry Tortugas. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyBush Key Trail1 mi · 45 min · 3.7 mi awayA mile of shore beside up to 80,000 nesting sooty terns.
EasyLoggerhead Key Walk0.3 mi · 30 min · 4 mi awayA short, boat-only walk to a historic island lighthouse.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayDavis RockA crevice-cut reef for divers willing to make the offshore trip.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayOfframpA boat-only reef stop with shallow outcroppings and staghorn coral.
Sight · 3.6 mi awayNorth Coaling DocksSwim over the Navy’s old pilings beside a deep, fish-rich channel.
Beach · 3.6 mi awayNorth BeachAn easy-entry swim beach around the back of Fort Jefferson.
Sight · 3.7 mi awayFort JeffersonA vast brick fort that became a Civil War prison.
Sight · 3.7 mi awayTortugas Harbor LightAn iron lighthouse rises above Fort Jefferson's brick defenses.
Visitor center · 3.7 mi awayGarden Key Visitor CenterA cool stop for fort artifacts and a quick island primer.
Sight · 3.8 mi awayGarden Key Dock House and InformationThe ferry arrival stop at Fort Jefferson's only entrance.Parkwolf’s Dry Tortugas ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
