My wife and I would like to head out on one of the tours to the Dry Tortugas. I've heard mixed emotions about it.

My wife is a marine biology teacher and we thought it would be cool to go, snorkel and take some pictures for her class.
Any info or help on the tour?
Or should we just go on a snorkel/sunset trip?

It is worth a day-trip from Key West & it sounds like you should do fine. Make sure you take food & drink, typically they only provide a box lunch & it is all day. It is a no-frills kind of deal & it does take some time to go out & back. I think a lot of folks are expecting more but the highlights are the place, not the food & amenities.

Beautiful place! You will love it. http://www.dry.tortugas.national-park.com/

Michael:

You guys will have a great time. We did the day trip last year. We used the outfit that advertises the "Fast Cat" (Catameran....otherwise known as a Cattlemeran). They had a *ton* of food for the entire trip. Breakfast of fruit, donuts, bagels and english muffins with coffe or juice was provided and then they had a huge 2 table buffet with cold sandwiches, salads, chips, fruit, etc for lunch at the fort. If you want to get out there quickly you might want to look into seaplanes that will fly you out.

The trip back was incredibly *long* since we were so tired. A storm had kicked up so there was about a dozen people sitting in back getting sick the entire trip home (my husband was one of them!), the waves were HUGE.

Take something to do/read for the trip there and back...it is a full 2+ hours one way.

You should also plan to do a sunset cruise on a different night. They are wonderful as well. We went on the Schooner Western Union.

www.schoonerwesternunion.com

Have a great time!

S

The seaplanes only take about 20 minutes and that's the way I'd go if I were you. Fort Jefferson is an incredible sight from the air and you're in the water long before the boats get there.