Today has been one of my favourites so far, we decided to push the boat out (no pun intended) and booked a trip on a seaplane out to the Dry Tortugas 
, a line of islands off the bottom of Key West. Named after the sea turtles found there (the ‘dry part was added by mariners on their charts to indicate there’s no natural fresh water) the largest island is home to the largest brick built structure in the Western hemisphere, Fort Jefferson .
After an amazing 30 minute flight out there (neither Jon or I had even been in a seaplane before, and Jon assures me that no one in England would be allowed to fly that low or bank that quickly!) We got the chance to walk round the Fort for about an hour with our pilot giving a guided tour – it does seem that the US Navy bit off a bit more than they could chew with it as despite being stationed out there for 30 years it was never finished: their water filtration system used beach sand (so filled it with salt the first day rendering it permanently undrinkable), they used the local sand and salt water for cement, meaning the walls have huge cracks running down them, the fort itself was built on a coral bed, which partially sank under the weight and, to add insult to injury, the standard Naval uniforms were thick wool suits!
Saying that, the fort is still really impressive and it and the surrounding isands are now a nature reserve for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds as well as being surrounded by living coral reefs with turtles, sharks(!), porpoises and fish.
We spent the last hour and a half of our trip snorkelling in 86 degree water off a beautiful white sand beach, we didn’t swim out to any of the wrecks, although there is apparently still treasure to be found off one, so Jon decided to create his own treasure hunt by throwing my snorkel into the water 20 yards away and then had to spend 10 minutes trying to find it as we weren’t paying enough attention to where it landed… it was a bit like swimming with an over-excited puppy with a tendancy to sink!
Our trip back was even more fun as we took off from water and the pilot kept the door open until the very last moment – hope you enjoy the video 🙂