Ft. Jefferson/Dry Tortugas

[Jim Page]

If the keys comprising the Dry Tortugas are anything like the keys I lived on or visited back in the mid-1960s, there is very little in the way of dirt. That's why, in high school in Marathon, they didn't let the boys play football. The coral rock under the thin layer of dirt would slice you like a razor if you fell on it.

Another aspect of living in the Florida Keys that I learned the hard way was that the white coral was like new snow in one respect: It can cause snow blindness, which was why I had to wear very dark prescription sunglasses day and night, indoors and out, for a period of time.

In spite of that, the Keys were a great place to live. Another odd aspect of Key life was that the big fresh-water pipe serving the Keys ran parallel to U.S. Highway One, from Islamorada to Key West, and at least a couple of times a week someone would hit it with their car. That would shut the water off south of where that occurred, so folks living in the Keys usually had five-gallon fresh-water dispensers in their homes.

--Jim