The National Park Service is moving forward with repairs to the Civil War-era fort in the Dry Tortugas damaged by double whammy strikes by Hurricanes Irma and Ian.
Located nearly 70 miles west of Key West on Garden Key — one of seven islands that make up the Dry Tortugas National Park — Fort Jefferson is a tourist favorite.
More than 80,000 people, traveling by ferry or seaplane, visited the destination in 2021 — the last year numbers are available. Those who make the trip are treated to a stunning site of the hulking brick fortress fort’s rising from aqua-blue waters in the Florida Straits.
But in 2017, a blow from Hurricane Irma shut down parts of one of its most picturesque features — the moat wall that wraps around the fort. The storm knocked over a portion of the wall and dumped sand in the shallow moat that surrounds the five-sided fort. Last year, Hurricane Ian dumped more sand.
In January, the fort was briefly closed to visitors after more than 300 migrants landed on Garden Key amid a wave of migrants landing in South Florida.
The repair plan outlined by the National Park Service would fix the wall and dredge the moat to help revive the sea life that draws snorkelers to the moat. The work also calls for repairing finger slips and moving endangered coral that have grown on the wall over the years.
The park proposal calls for starting to move the coral later this year. That will clear the way for the repairs, which are expected to take another 10 months. Public comment on the plan is open until April 10.
