The arc terminates in the Dry Tortugas, some 70 miles west of Key West. The waters surrounding the archipelago form the sanctuary. The juxtaposition of verdant mangroves against the turquoise waters, set off by a big blue sky filled with billowy clouds, is stunning. I search the waters hoping to see a large animal like a shark, ray, tarpon or turtle. These habitats and the organisms they support are all connected by the ebb and flow of the tide, and form one big ecosystem.
Depths are generally less than four feet, making it an extremely tricky place to run a boat.
It takes a lot of experience and a keen eye to be able to successfully navigate through the backcountry. The backcountry provides one of the most exciting recreational fishing areas in the country, where flatsguides take anglers out to catch tarpon, permit, bonefish and a variety of other gamefish. The seagrass beds in the sanctuary, combined with the seagrasses to the north in Florida Bay, create the largest seagrass bed in the world. Seagrass offers a place of refuge for small creatures hiding from hungry predators. Hidden among the seagrass blades are a plethora of juvenile fish and invertebrates taking cover from predators as they mature.