The alarm went off at 5:45 EST. I didn’t need it though, I had barely slept any. You are not going to sleep when you are about to visit a place you have wanted to for years. Wait, scratch that. Not years, decades and now it was getting close. In two hours, I would be on a ferry heading 70 miles west from Key West into the Dry Tortugas to visit a place that was number one on my bucket list.
Fort Jefferson. Never heard of it? Please look up and enjoy the deep dive into a piece of history that just simply fascinated me and has for a long time. A national park in the middle of the ocean built to protect America in the 1800’s. You can pause here and read up on it and you will see why as a history buff I was consumed by this.
There are only two ways to get there. By plane or by a ferry named the Yankee Freedom. A catamaran that holds about 200 people in perfect comfort and ease. Well, as easy as could be heading out into the middle of the ocean but it was amazing. It leaves port at 8 exactly for the two hour trip to the national park. Also, zero cell service which might be the second best thing about this trip.
About fifteen minutes in, it hits. You are in the middle of the ocean and that is the first time you experience God’s beauty on the trip. Beautiful blue and turquoise water and the sound of the wind circling. You close your eyes and take it all in but that only lasts for a moment because you cannot stop staring at the sky and the ocean. You feel humbled and in the most amazing way.
Two hours later, Fort Jefferson almost appears out of nowhere. No words to express what it felt seeing something you had looked at a million pictures of but now it was tangible. Right in front of you. Emotional, you bet. The Yankee Freedom made the trip so smooth it was still as if I was dreaming. I stood on the ferry and just stared and stared. One of the crew members came up and said to me that he has made that trip so many times and it still gets to him.
You walk through the fort for about 90 minutes and there is a guided tour or you take your own and I took my own. Silence. Just the wind whistling through the walls and it leaves, only to return immediately. It is history and it is under your feet. All around and immersed into your soul. My number one bucket list item and now I am standing in the middle of it. Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling.
Then you get two hours of free time on the beach and remember, no cell service, which made the trip even better. I had a playlist ready to go but I turned it off almost as soon as I turned it on. I needed to hear the seagulls; I needed to hear the wind; I needed to hear the waves hitting the shore; I needed to hear God’s kingdom of perfection that was all around me. Amazing.
I had hoped that time would stand still but I know better than that and two hours passed by but in the most therapeutic way possible. We got back on the Yankee Freedom to head back to Key West. One final pass around Fort Jefferson to say not goodbye but see you again soon. The waves were choppy going back and the fort drifted off into the horizon and the moment came to me of what I had just experienced.
Two hours later, we pulled back into Key West and I realized it was better than I had expected. Everything. The fort, the ferry, the crew, every single bit of it all. Perfection. I have heard from others who made the trip and we all had the same wonderful experience. I think I ran out of adjectives to describe everything.
That is okay, because some things are just breathless and wonderful. Thank you Yankee Freedom and crew, you made this old man feel very alive and thankful for one day.
Take the trip; cross off your bucket list; you won’t regret a single second.
