Terry Strickland, Editor
General Manager, Yankee Freedom II

Hello, and happy summer! “Summer?” you might be wondering, “it’s October!” Well that means that it’s just about the middle of what residents of the Florida Keys consider summer – that period from May to December not marked as much by a change in the weather as by a change in the numbers of visitors. Of course the weather is perfect: winds are generally calm, the sea water temperatures are warm enough even for the locally “acclimated” and the weather forecast does not change for months on end: highs and lows in the 80s, 20 percent chance of showers. In one word: IDEAL. Now, it’s also pretty nice to be here in February when it’s 75 degrees and the rest of the country feels like minus 75 - but summer here by any measure is a great time to visit. It’s probably obvious why it’s also an ideal time to visit the Dry Tortugas: calm, clear, warm water makes for a great boat ride (and lots of marine life to see on the way) as well as perfect snorkeling among the healthiest coral in the U.S. So if you’re looking for a “Fall” vacation, now you know our little secret – it’s still summer here!

You may be wondering about the origin of the “Paradise within a Paradise” phrase in the headline. This may well have been used to describe the Dry Tortugas before but I heard it for the first time just the other day - from a local who has never been there! He said that he was only summing up what he had heard from everyone else. And it’s true – where do people who live in “Paradise” – the Keys – go for vacation? To the local “Paradise” – the Dry Tortugas!

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