1. Map and Set List. The days at Tortuga aren't short. You'll have 12 hours and only 100% battery to get you through. Tortuga does have a nice app but one way to save up on your charge is by printing out the festival map and lineup ahead of time. If you're someone that likes to be close to the action, you're going to have to make tough choices. Identify two or three acts that you want to get up close and personal with. For me, it was Will Hoge, Sam Hunt, and David Nail. Will was easy enough as he was one of the first acts of the day. Sam, of course, was another story. He drew the biggest crowd of the weekend with the exception of Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney., We went to his stage (he was on the side stage), as soon as the venue opened and didn't leave for any other acts. From the side stage where we were, we could hear and see (kind of) Chase Rice and Frankie Ballard but missed entirely the acts that were on the opposite end. Like I said, you'll have tough choices. In order to get close to David, we also skipped entire acts on the opposite end. You're probably not going to see everyone so orchastrate your plan ahead of time to be sure to see the acts that you're most excited about.
2. Sun Protection. The biggest party on the beach, right? Kind of. While the beautiful Atlantic Ocean is just to your left, you need to leave the festival to make a splash, so much of your day is spent, basically, in the desert. Bring sun screen, a hat, and chap stick with SPF. You don't want to be a lobster on day two!
3. Reusable Water Bottle. Tortuga has water stations available. Most of the time we skipped going through that busy area by just drinking the tap water from the showers near the beach. At the risk of sounding like your grandma, hydrate! Be mindful of the heat and sun. The crowd thins out a lot in the late afternoon and you don't want to miss Blake, Tim or Dierks.
4. Snacks. Food at Tortuga is very reasonable and varied but they allow you to bring in individually wrapped snacks but you can save yourself a few dollars by bringing your own. Make sure they are individual sized as I got my giant bag of pretzels confiscated. Also, I read a lot of people complaining about lines for food at last year's festival. One easy way to avoid that is to vary your eating times. Lunch and dinner times are busy at the lines. We ate just before the gates opened at 11, then had a late lunch around 3 then usually got a snack just before the headliner came on at night. Also we aren't picky eaters, so we always just chose the shortest line.
5. Beach Towel. Bring an old, worn out towel to the beach. We were flying home to Boston and ended up leaving ours at the hotel. After two days of basically living on the blanket and having strangers walk on it as they walked through, it had served its purpose.
Some other helpful hints: We took a shuttle from the hotel day one and couldn't get a shuttle home after. We ended up walking about 2 miles towards our hotel before eventually getting a taxi. Tortuga also offers extensive shuttles and has deals worked out with the water taxis. You can check those out here. Day two we drove down and found a spot on the street about 4 blocks away. We knew we'd be at an expired meter, but figured Fort Lauderdale police would be busy with the festival and let us be. We were right. I also saw a lot of complaints regarding bathroom lines. I never waited more than 10 minutes. If there's a long line, I'd check out another line or wait a little bit. Finally, dress comfortably. The festival is a marathon not a sprint! Have fun!
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