Key West Island News
Key West Island News connects Key West residents and friends of the island; fosters our One Human Family culture; and advances understanding of shared goals for our island community
7 ways to move here
How does one move to Key West? There are lots of toss-off answers, like “marry rich” or “rob a bank,” but I decided to take this seriously. Here’s how one prepares to move to Key West.
Why would you leave?
Everyone dreams of living in Key West, a place where everyone knows why you’d move there. What most folks rarely stop to think about: Why would anyone up and leave? And they do. Lots of them.
North to Miami? Nope
Did you know you head east when you drive to Miami? Not north. East-northeast. And mostly east. Trust your eyes at sunrise. Well, except for a couple of stretches like that right turn in Big Pine, which is due south.
Key West visitors | Have the Covid sun seekers left the island?
Back in the olden days, which right now I'm saying is anytime before March 2020, when the Key West Covid sun seekers descended, this wouldn't have rated more than a passing comment over dinner: "Hey, have you noticed how many parking spots there are along...
What's up in Key West?

What's up in Florida?

Things to do

Dismantling the 14th Amendment: Keeping it upbeat in Key West when the world isn’t
I love my Key West Bubble, but national dissonance is dribbling through today. I am unsettled at the prospect of living through the dismantling of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment, ratified by the states in 1868, can be boiled down to this: Oops, when we wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments), we were thinking only of straight white men with money. Perhaps we need to fix that?
Local political control in jeopardy in the Keys | Can it be fixed?
Is it any wonder folks up the Keys occasionally (OK, a lot) wish Key West weren't so arrogantly dismissive of and willfully ignorant of the 21st century challenges they face? For 200 years, Key West was the legendary alpha dog for which local political control meant one thing: Key West decided. Up the Keys went along, muttering things, I suspect, like "someday they'll get their comeuppance." Up...
So, you live in Florida, right? Nope. Key West is not Florida
Key West is not Florida — and that’s before we dabble in politics. Doesn’t take a genius to know that Key West’s politics have always been rooted firmly in libertarian ideals. (Let’s not confuse libertarian with liberal, much less Democrat or Republican.)
Key West Covid | Why do two years feel like a lifetime?
In Key West Covid escalated the trends that were already shaping and defining our island. Over the next eight years, Key West will complete perhaps the most transformative of its historic changes: the shift from local working town where a few folks always visited to a full-on tourist destination with pockets of locals who can hang on.
About KWIN
Key West Island News
Who we are: We are a Key West-owned digital news and information company that uses a community-support model to sustain our news, information and connections mission. Our funding comes from our local and off-island subscribers, select advertisers and investors. We are governed by an advisory board comprising residents and journalism and community-building professionals. Editor and publisher Linda Grist Cunningham owns KeyWestWatch Media LLC, which publishes Key West Island News.
What we do: We do original reporting and aggregate information from trusted news sources in Key West, the Keys and the state of Florida. We choose our trusted sources carefully to ensure accuracy and useful information.
Why we do it: We believe Key West needs a comprehensive, trusted source of news and information — a single place where residents and friends of Key West can find what they need to know each day.
What’s important to us: The topics shape our coverage: The Key West mystique; economic development; environmental protection; not-for-profits, arts and entertainment; small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Martha Hubbard
“Key West is an amazing canvas”
Key West chef and photographer Martha Hubbard walks the island each morning. For years she has shared with her social media friends a photo or two to start the day. Now she shares her photographs exclusively with Key West Island News. From pounding waves off the White Street pier to a Royal Poinciana bursting red, Martha’s photos are a stunning reminder that we live in a canvas made new every day.

Shade Ceramics and Shutter Photography
Contemporary artisan ceramics and photographs crafted in Key West | Follow the latest news from our gallery! We love sharing what we’re doing in the White Street gallery — and we welcome you to stop in when you’re in the neighborhood.
Second one in a week.❗BREAKING NEWS:
A 51-foot sperm whale was beached near an island offshore off Key West yesterday. TowboatUS towed the whale to Robbie's Marina on Stock Island, where biologists from a host of agencies are now completing a necropsy to determine its cause of death. But officials from Florida Fish & Wildlife emphasized that they have no answers yet and likely won't until late this evening. ... See MoreSee Less
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Second one in a week in the Keys.❗BREAKING NEWS:
A 51-foot sperm whale was beached near an island offshore off Key West yesterday. TowboatUS towed the whale to Robbie's Marina on Stock Island, where biologists from a host of agencies are now completing a necropsy to determine its cause of death. But officials from Florida Fish & Wildlife emphasized that they have no answers yet and likely won't until late this evening. ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook