Garden Key Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 111 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Camping at Garden Key is an incredible experience with amazing star gazing, snorkeling, sunsets, and more! But you must be prepared to camp in this remote location. To assist you in your planning, be sure to review the information on this page to learn more about camping at Dry Tortugas National Park. Camping transportation is limited to private vessel, permitted tour guides, or commercial ferry. Reservations on the Yankee Freedom ferry are limited and sell out months in advance. Once you arrive at Garden Key, camping is first come, first served for all regular sites (up to 6 people). Keep reading
All camping fees are paid on Garden Key and all LARGE groups of 10-20 require an advance reservation with the Park. A primitive campground is located on Garden Key and is a short walk from the public dock. Reservations are not accepted for the 6-person sites. All campers, once they arrive, will be guaranteed a place to camp. The individual sites can each accommodate up to three 2-person tents (total of 6 people), and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. When you arrive: Look for a table in the campground with a stenciled number. Only those tables with numbers are assigned to campsites. If all regular sites are occupied: Should you find all eight regular sites occupied, you must share the overflow area with other campers. The overflow area is a grassy area near the regular campsites. Tables and grills are provided in overflow sites, but they must be shared with other overflow campers. As campers leave, you may move to a regular site if one becomes available. Campers Supply Checklist Food and Water: We recommend two gallons of water per person per day (remember the heat). Bring an extra day's supply of food and water in case of ferry cancellations. Bring food items in hard-sided containers for protection from rats and crabs. Posts are available to hang food and trash. Shelter: Tent (required), sleeping bag and pad, and strong stakes for the frequent high winds. Cooking: Match-light charcoal for campground grills (fuel is not permitted aboard ferries), waterproof matches and lighter, cooking utensils, biodegradable soap, and trash bags. Clothing : Cold and warm-weather clothing, rain gear, lightweight long-sleeve shirt and pants for sun and bug protection, wide-brimmed hat. Personal Equipment: Medications, first-aid kit, knife, flashlight with spare batteries, snorkel gear, binoculars, sunglasses and sunscreen, insect repellent, and personal items. Private boaters and paddlers require additional safety gear.
Recreation
The beach adjacent to the campground is only feet away from your campsite. Popular activities include fishing, swimming, exploring the Fort and snorkeling.
Natural Features
The campground is located right outside of Fort Jefferson on the shores of The Gulf of America.
What the agency tells you
Campground Regulations - Space is Limited. Each of the regular campsites contains a table, post for hanging food, and a BBQ grill. Three tents and six campers are the maximum allowed per campsite. All equipment must remain within ten feet of your table. - Protect Park Vegetation. Trees and shrubs are crucial to provide some shade and wind break. Help protect this valuable vegetation. Do not attach anything to campground trees (but clothes line may be strung between posts). All camping gear must be free standing. Respect closed areas of the park. - No Wood Fires. Charcoal briquettes placed in campsite BBQ grills are only fires allowed. Gas camping stoves are permitted by the park, but commercial ferries do not permit them on board. - Toilets. Composting toilets are located in the campground. Waste is composted in the equipment below the units. These systems are very fragile and are designed only for the disposal of human waste and toilet paper. Please do no put trash, food scraps, or other items in these toilets. Please lower toilet lids when not use in use to reduce odor and aid in the composting process.The composting toilets are closed from approximately 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. During these hours, please use the facilities aboard the commercial ferry boats at the dock. - Grey Water. Grey water from dishwashing, etc. should go below the high tide line at the dinghy beach. - Protect Your Food. Rats have inhabited the Tortugas probably since the arrival of humans. Though the size of the rat population is controlled, rats may be encountered as they forage through campsites looking for food. The only reliable way to protect your food and prevent damage to your gear is to store your food and food trash in hard-sided containers. Rats will chew through tents or backpacks if they smell food, and can also climb the provided hanging posts. - Kayaks and Other Watercraft. You may keep boats in your site or on the shore near the designated dinghy beach. Boats of all kinds are prohibited in the swim area. Boats may only be launched from and landed on the designated dinghy beach, which is located near the government docks. Remember to wear a life jacket at all times while boating. - Quiet Hours. Please be considerate of others and observe quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The use of bright lanterns is also discouraged during these hours. - Access to Fort Jefferson. One of the great pleasures of any visit to the park is the opportunity to explore Fort Jefferson. Be careful inside the fort. Many areas have uneven walking surfaces. The fort is open sunrise to sunset, or to contact a ranger in an after-hours emergency. The moat wall, beaches, and other exterior public area remain open after dark.
Departure On the day of departure, plan to: - Completely clear your campsite. - Place all camping gear on the main dock. - Return all hand carts to the dock by 10 AM. If you are traveling with the ferry: - Wait until the ferry off-loads passengers and equipment the morning of your departure. - See the captain for instructions on loading your gear. - If you want to enjoy the island before leaving, be sure to keep any items you will need for the day in the day use area.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 11 · 9 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Around the campground
- On the water
- Beach
- Accessible Swimming
- Fishing
- Snorkeling
- Stargazing
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:45 UTC
recreation.gov lists 1 of the 11 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:45 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
11 sites
All 11 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 9 of the 11 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Garden Key | Large Group Tent Only | type not stated | |
| Garden Key | Overflow | type not stated | |
| Garden Key | Tent Only | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 1 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 2 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 3 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 4 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 5 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 6 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 7 | walk to | $15 |
| Garden Key | Tent Only 8 | walk to | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Garden Key CampgroundDry Tortugas National Park · 1.5 miThe weather
the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Typical weather
Typical October night 76°F, day 85°F.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Garden Key Campground is in Florida’s 28th congressional district. Its representative, Carlos Gimenez (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →