In our year of visiting all 59 national parks, we probably never encountered any campsite quite as unique as at Dry Tortugas National Park.

Camping at Garden Key Campground, located on the tiny island off of the Florida Keys, requires a little more preparation than other sites. Transportation on the Yankee Freedom ferry from Key West is limited to 10 campers per day, so book your stay well in advance. Then, you will have to bring all the supplies, including water, that you will need for your stay. It’s a very primitive camping setup, but the backdrop of the perfectly-blue water set against the red brick Fort Jefferson is just magical.

Our planning process for camping at Garden Key went smoothly, and we stayed here two nights of our year-long road trip. We set up our tent in the sandy campsite, partially shaded by the heavily-protected trees (no hammocks allowed!), and hit the beach, which was only about 20 steps away. There were many hermit crabs around the site, but no other pesky critters.

During our three days at Dry Tortugas, we took a ranger tour of the Fort, walked all around the small island several times, took our kayak out to explore a little further, snorkeled around the sunken docks, laid on the small beach, and watched two gorgeous sunsets.

Experiencing Dry Tortugas as a camper rather than a day-boater offers a much less hectic, peaceful stay. Once the day ferry leaves in the afternoon, the island is yours.

You can read much more about our three days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Dry Tortugas)