Kayla lives and works at Dry Tortugas National Park, located 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. The park consists of seven small islands and 100 square miles of water, and is home to Fort Jefferson, the largest brick building in the Western Hemisphere. Kayla's job involves monitoring and studying the sea turtles, birds, fish, corals, and other wildlife in the park through activities like SCUBA diving, nest monitoring, and catching and tagging animals. She assisted in the rescue and rehabilitation of an injured sea turtle named Wham. The isolated park offers spectacular scenery like coral reefs, shipwrecks, beaches, and views of the night sky without light pollution.

1. Kayla’s unusual life at Dry Tortugas National Park:

6. …by air

7. Though most tourists visit on one of two ferries.

8. Supplies arrive via our park service cutter, the M/V Fort Jefferson

9. Where they are then moved via forklift or helicopter

10. A moat wall protects the fort from big waves

11. And no moat is complete without a crocodile!

12. The park’s a small city: We make water, generate electricity, and even have an employee spa (the sewage plant. Mmmmm)

13. As rain water drips through the bricks, stalactites and stalagmites form just like in caves

15. With no city lights for 70 miles, the stars are spectacular. Shoothing stars are seen nightly

17. The ocean is on the other side of my bedroom window…

20. I even rescued an adult sea turtle named Wham. She was attacked by a shark and needed our help.

21. We caught Wham, put her in a big box, …

22. Loaded her on the back of one of the ferries…

23. And took her for a boat ride to Key West… Wham

24. Where the Turtle Hospital ambulance picked her up

25. Wham underwent surgery at the hospital and three months later…

26. She was brought back out to the fort and released! 

29. I follow the tracks looking for piles of sand that form the turtle nests.

30. I always take new people along and do a wacky “turtle dance” to show them how the turtles make their nests…

32. Usually we only find one or two babies, but sometimes, we find dozens!

33. We release the babies, and they quickly scurry to the ocean

34. Meet Pedro…

38. We also have about 30,000 birds that nest at the park. These birds have no predators and therefore, no fears. You can catch them easily with bare hands…

39. Frigatebirds have a wingspan of seven feet… Yet they weigh less than two pounds!

44. We have MILLIONS and MILLIONS of hermit crabs….

45. The dark areas in the water above are corals. The park has the best coral reefs in the Western Hemisphere!

46. We have fish that weigh as much as four people combined! Highschoolers in Denver study these fish via a live webcam under our dock. Visit teens4oceans.org

48. Our moat has THOUSANDS of upside down jellyfish

50. I catch, pet, and tag mating nurse sharks!

51. I participate in underwater photo-shoots…

52. And my boyfriend and I dive on shipwrecks to study them

55. Spectacular sunsets are seen from the fort

56. Loggerhead Key has a lighthouse built in the early 1800’s

59. And finally, my boyfriend, Chris, and my kitten, Calie! Aren’t they cute?