[This is advertiser-supplied content]
Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park/Yankee Freedom
Today, millions navigate innumerable social media taste-makers, impeccably produced aspirational travel programming, and a deluge of mind-numbing information to determine where they should spend their leisure time. So-called ‘Bucket lists’ get scrutinized, re-examined and dissected with every TripAdvisor listicle that tells you Vegas is so 2013.
The late, great Anthony Bourdain, a person through which the world lived vicariously as the very embodiment of wanderlust; a cultural ambassador who captured the imagination of a generation by challenging the very concept of travel by opening our minds and eyes to the gift of life itself, once said, “Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”
In his ardent pursuit to understand and coalesce the common threads that bind our species, through traditions, food, and a fearless yearning to explore, Tony left no stone unturned.
Except one.
The Dry Tortugas.
If ever there was a national park worth your attention, it’s this one. Besides its isolated geographic location, the thing that sets this National Park apart from all the others is that a majority of it isn’t anywhere you can walk or like to.
It’s underwater.
Marine life awaits those who dip beneath the surface of the ocean/Yankee Freedom
The park consists of 46 square miles of protected reef, a small part of an even larger marine sanctuary that spans 151 square nautical miles. This is one of those places, with its placid, secluded beaches and robust wildlife, that always seems slightly out of reach.
Thanks to the Yankee Freedom III, a state-of-the-art, modern, high-speed catamaran, you can cruise from Key West to the secluded island paradise of your dreams in less than two hours!
Since you’ll be taxing your phone’s memory card, anyway, with all the amazing pics you’ll be taking of this magnificent oasis, why not share them with Yankee Freedom for a sweet prize and some cool bragging rights??
Share your beautifully composed snaps of the Dry Tortugas on your social pages with (#drytortugas) for a chance to win an annual pass to any national park! Each calendar month the contest features five new photo contestants for the public to vote on. Then the 12 monthly winners are entered in the grand prize, and the winner takes home $500 and the national park annual pass!
For contest details, public voting, and a list of previous winners, please visit https://www.drytortugas.com/contest/
Safe travels!
Comments
I've been lucky to be one of the comparitively few who have visited this NPS unit, waaaay back in 1999 while visiting a ranger friend who worked at Everglades NP at the time. It is an incredibly interesting and special place despite the relative lack of museum items and displays. As a diver it was better than average for Florida. Unfortunately, if I had any photos they've been lost to time and many household moves since then.
I look forward to returning one day, as we plan to puchase a sailboat for a two year journey in the western hemisphere.