Kayla lives and works at Dry Tortugas National Park, located 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. She has an unusual job where she studies the marine life and environment of the park, including fish, corals, sea turtles, and shipwrecks. Some of her responsibilities include rescuing and rehabilitating injured sea turtles, monitoring sea turtle nests, tagging and studying various marine species, and educating visitors about conservation at the remote park which consists of small islands surrounded by coral reefs and clear waters.

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

6. …by air

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

8. A moat wall protects the fort from big waves

9. And no moat is complete without a crocodile!

10. Several football fields can fit inside the huge fort

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

22. Where the Turtle Hospital ambulance picked her up

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

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

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

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

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

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

32. Meet Pedro…

36. 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…

37. Frigatebirds have a wingspan wider than Craig is tall… Yet they weigh less than two pounds!

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

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

44. 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

46. Our moat has THOUSANDS of upside down jellyfish

47. Here’s one especially for you Nissanne…

48. I catch, pet, and tag nurse sharks!

49. I participate in underwater photo-shoots…

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

53. Spectacular sunsets are seen from the fort

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

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