Just 110 kilometres from Key West, in the very south of Florida, seven small islands extend the archipelago of the Keys: the Dry Tortugas. This astonishing name is a combination of two names, one Spanish, the other English.
In the early 16th century, the Spaniard Juan Ponce de León, considered to be the first European to explore Florida, "discovered" this string of islets inhabited mainly by turtles. Logically, he named them Las Tortugas ("the turtles" in Spanish). The adjective Dry was added later: there was not a trace of drinking water on any of these islands, to the great misfortune of the castaways!