Dry Tortugas
Designation	National Park
Location	Florida USA
Nearest City	Key West, Florida
Coordinates	24°37′ N 82°52′ W (http://kvaleberg.com/extensions/mapsources/index.php?params=24_37_N_82_52_W_)
Area	64,701 acres 26,184 ha
Date of Establishment	October 26, 1992
Visitation	74,576 (2003)
Governing Body	National Park Service
IUCN category	II (National Park)

Dry Tortugas National Park is a United States National Park, located in the Dry Tortugas islands of the Florida Keys. The park covers 101 mi² (262 km²). This article is about national parks. ... In geography, location is a position or point in physical space expressed relative to the position of another point or thing. ... State nickname: Everglade State, Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... The word Usa has more than one meaning: U.S.A. - The United States of America The United States Army Usa, Oita - A city in Japan The USA cable network USA Today national daily newspaper The University of Southern Alabama goes by the initials U.S.A. The patriotic cheer... A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... Map of Key West Key West is a city located in Monroe County, Florida. ... This article is about longitude and latitude; see also UTM coordinate system Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (vertically) and longitude (horizontally); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which... This article explains the meaning of area as a physical quantity. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States Federal Government agency that deals with all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation properties with various designations. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... The parks of the United States National Park system are one type of protected area in the United States and are operated by the U.S. National Park Service. ... Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas The Dry Tortugas are a small group of islands, located at the end of the Florida Keys, USA, about 70 miles or 110 kilometers west of Key West which were discovered in 1513 by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon. ... A small island in the Adriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. ... State nickname: Everglade State, Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... Palm trees in Islamorada The Florida Keys is an archipelago or cluster of islands extending from the southeastern Florida peninsula near Miami, running south and then curving west to Key West, and out to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude and geographical regions, we list here areas between 100 km² and 1000 km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. ...

It is famous for abundant sea life, colorful coral reefs and legends of shipwrecks and sunken treasures. The park's centerpiece is Fort Jefferson, a massive but unfinished coastal fortress that was rendered obsolete by the invention of the rifled cannon. The fort was eventually converted into a prison for Union Army deserters and the accomplices implicated in President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. The U.S. Army abandoned the fortress in 1874 and a nearby sooty tern rookery was a favored hunting ground for egg collectors until a wildlife refuge was established in 1908. In 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt designated it Fort Jefferson National Monument, and in 1992 the Dry Tortugas was declared a national park. The islands do not exhibit any standing fresh water or even seasonal streams, hence their name. Owing to the potential difficulties of survival in such conditions one of these islands were used as the location for the filming of a military survival film used to train aircraft personnel. Some of the biodiversity of a coral reef. ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... A shipwreck is the remains of a ship after it has sunk or been beached as a result of a crisis at sea. ... Treasure is a concentration of riches, often that which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered. ... Fortifications (Latin fortis, strong, and facere, to make) are military constructions designed for defensive warfare. ... Obsolescence is when a person or object is no longer wanted even though it is still in good working order. ... A prison is a place in which people are confined and deprived of a range of liberties. ... The Union Army refers to the United States Army during the American Civil War. ... Desertion is the act of abandoning or withdrawing support from someone or something to which you owe allegiance, responsibility or loyalty. ... At law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even though they take no part in the actual criminal offence. ... Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th (1861–1865) President of the United States, and the first president from the Republican Party. ... Jack Ruby murdered the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Events January - April January 1 - New York City annexes The Bronx January 23 - Marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, to Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, only daughter of Emperor Alexander III of Russia. ... Binomial name Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 The Sooty Tern, Sterna fuscata, is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. ... Categories: Stub ... Hunting is, in its most general sense, the pursuit of a target. ... Egg has multiple meanings. ... See also: Collector, New South Wales a town This is a list of noted collectors. ... A Wildlife refuge is a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about national parks. ...

Fort Jefferson

The park is roughly 70 miles or 110 kilometers by boat west of Key West, and plays host to almost 80,000 visitors each year. Activities include snorkeling, picnicking, scuba diving, saltwater fishing and birdwatching. A mile is any of several units of distance, or, in physics terminology, of length. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer) (symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ... Map of Key West Key West is a city located in Monroe County, Florida. ... A tourist boat travels the River Seine in Paris, France Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. ... Snorkeling is the practice of swimming at the surface of a body of water (typically of the sea) equipped with a mask and a short tube called a snorkel, to explore the underwater environment. ... In contemporary usage, picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors, ideally, taking place in a beautiful landscape. ... Early ideas of autonomous under-water systems appear in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Scuba Diving is the use of independent breathing equipment to stay underwater for long periods for recreational diving and professional diving. ... Fishing from a Pier Fishing is both the recreation and sport of catching fish (for food or as a trophy), and the commercial fishing industry of catching or harvesting seafood (either fish or other aquatic life-forms, such as shellfish). ... Birding or birdwatching is a hobby concerned with the observation and study of birds (the study proper is termed ornithology). ...

The most popular bird watching event is the sooty tern gathering, the nesting season on Bush Key between February and September involving an estimated 100,000 terns. Bush Key remains closed to visitors during the nesting season, but bird watchers with binoculars or telephoto lenses can watch the spectacle from Fort Jefferson. Other bird species in the park include noddies, brown pelicans, frigate birds, masked boobies, roseate terns, brown boobies and double-crested cormorants. Crows nests A nest is normally built by birds to hold their eggs and provide a home for their offspring. ... Binoculars A set of binoculars (from Latin, bi-, two-, and oculus, eye) is a hand-held tool used to magnify distant objects by passing the image through two adjacent series of lenses, and erecting prisms. ... In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a lens where the focal length is significantly longer than the focal length of a normal lens. ... Noddy is a fictional character created by British childrens author Enid Blyton. ... Binomial name Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766 The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis †) is the smallest (42-54) member of the pelican family. ... Binomial name Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson, 1831) The Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus †) is a North American member of the cormorant family of seabirds. ...

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External links

• Official site: Dry Tortugas National Park (http://www.nps.gov/drto)
• Key West (http://www.keywesttravelguide.com) Seaplane and ferry booking service to Dry Tortugas.
• photos of Dry Tortugas National Park - Terra Galleria (http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.dry-tortugas.html)