Key West a US island city, is part of the Florida Keys archipelago – a chain of 1700 coral cay islands. It's also Florida's southernmost point, lying roughly 90 miles north of Cuba and it's a favourite cruise-ship stop. Key West has a mild tropical savannah climate where the average summer and winter temperatures rarely differ more than 10 degrees. July, the warmest months' average temperature is 29C whilst January, the coolest months' average temperature of 20C. It is easy to understand why Key West is a popular holiday, retirement or cruise destination.
Twenty- two years ago we flew into Key West and went swimming on a beach 500 yards from the tarmac we'd landed on. Back then, we'd hired a convertible sports car, toured around the island and driven across several of the 47 bridges that link the many coral cays to mainland Florida. This time, coming by cruise ship, we had a different perspective of Key West, passing several of the coral cays on our way.
We arrived, very early in the morning and berthed within 20 metres of tn he downtown centre of this tourist town. We didn't recognise much of the area at first because the modern port and surrounding marinas have been development since our last visit and the city has grown. However, Key West is a lot more lay-back than Miami and it still has a care-free relaxed vive.
Key West is known more for its coral reefs , excellent fishing, superb sailing, tropical sandy beaches , snorkel or scuba diving and its pastel-hued, conch-style houses. A conch house is a Key West architectural style which developed the 19th century and was used into the early 20th century. About half of the historic houses in Key West have been classified as being in the classical conch style which has also been used in the other keys and in the Miami area. We took a leisurely stroll around the town in the morning and we saw many examples of conch houses. The conch house style was first introduced to Key West, by Bahamian immigrants, known as "Conchs". Many Bahamians had experience in building boats, so the earliest conch houses were built like boats, using timber framing. The Bahamian clapboard house style has proved to be an energy-efficient, comfortable and sensible design for living in the tropics: Conch homes are built of wood, and are raised off the ground, resting on posts or piers. This elevation, allows air to circulate under floorboards, cooling the house and preventing rotting from excessive moisture build-up. Bahamian houses are square, and each room is constructed in such a way that each has the rigidity of a sturdy structural cube to resist hurricanes. Porches and encircling verandas (on both floors if the house 2 storeys) provide shade and further help to reduce interior heat. Other characteristics of conch homes are their high ceilings and large double-hung sash windows with louvered shutters hinged at the top ("Bahamas shutters") block out the tropical afternoon heat while allowing circulation of sea breezes. Top mounted shutters also provide hurricane protection. Dormers expand attic space into bedrooms. Roof hatches, a concept borrowed from ships, also aid in providing cross-ventilation. Exterior walls are singled walled. This allows air to circulate from the crawl space to the attic. Heat in the walls and attic is dissipated by convection action.
Conch houses are clad in horizontal weatherboarding or clapboarding and they have low gabled or hip roofs. Sloping metal roofs reflect the heat of the tropical sun and supply the home with clean water by means of a gutter system to a water storage tank. Modern buildings in Key West have adopted many of the energy-efficient design ideas in their architecture too.
The day was fairly warm without a cloud in the ever-so-blue sky, so we left the ship by 9.30am and took ourselves on a very pleasant and easy walking tour of the marina and surrounding streets of Key West. There was a gentle breeze coming from the sea and the tropical gardens and palm trees added to the atmosphere of our walk. The promenade from the ship has a welcoming pedestrian walkway with life sized figures engaged in different leisure activities, dotted throughout its route. We also saw many beautiful conch-style homes and several heritage buildings on our walk around the town centre. We have included some of these in our blog.
The former First National Bank building, built in 1891, stands on a prominent corner in the main street. This impressive, exotic triangular building was funded with capital from local cigar manufacturers, who wanted a safe building for storing their profits. It was built in the Moorish Revival–style using eye-catching patterns of polychromatic brickwork, with red and cream-coloured bricks forming horizontal stripes, emphasizing lintels and arches over windows, and creating diamond patterns toward the top. It has a wonderful columned balcony with a fine balustrade and the balcony bell tower provides excellent ocean and waterfront views and vistas across the island. Today the lower level of this historic building is a clothing store and the upper level is being developed into apartments. This building is a striking monument of the past and it's good that it hasn't been demolished. An interesting piece of trivia about the bank is that, when the author Ernest Hemingway, presented a $1,000 royalty cheque issued to for "A Farewell to Arms", its president refused to cash it.
As a coral cay, Key West is easy to walk around but it was still tiring because of the tropical humidity which seemed to increase as the morning morphed into midday. However, its' prolific tropical gardens with mature overhanging trees in most residential homes provided us with shade as we tramped the pavements.
On our jaunt around Key West we came across a beautiful white -timber building with an interesting past. Today it's known as the Harry S. Truman "Little White House"- I will explain the reason later in this blog. This conch-house style building was built in 1890 on the submarine base station as a duplex living quarter for the first officer and the paymaster. Comment: a fairly lavish accommodation at the time. In 1911 the building was converted into a single-family dwelling for the base commandant. The house originally had waterfront views when it was first built on the naval base station but additional buildings were built in front of the house as Key West developed and the waterfront views were eventually blocked. The house served as the Naval Station commandant's house until March 1974, when the submarine base was closed due to the Navy's conversion from diesel to nuclear submarines.
We found the naval history of Key West very interesting. As early as 1823 a naval presence was first established at Key West to stop piracy in the lower keys where shipping merchants operated their lucrative trades. The infamous pirate, Blackbeard was just one of the many pirates who preyed on ships in the Caribbean seas over many years. Key West's naval base and fortifications expanded during the Mexican-American and Spanish-American wars and again during WW1 when a US naval submarine base was established on a huge area of land on the southern tip of the Key West coral cay. Here navy personnel were accommodated and trained as either submarine crew or navy seaplane pilots in anti-submarine patrols. After WW1 the base was decommissioned and most of its personnel were transferred or released. Many of the naval buildings were either destroyed or dismantled and relocated, but fortunately, "The Little White House", was retained. Then just prior to WW2 the naval base was reopened to support Navy destroyers, submarines, patrol craft and even blimps. German submarines operated in waters near Florida with submarine raids on American ships, peaking in May 1943 when 49 American ships were torpedoed. Since this period the base has been involved in other defence activities like the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Harry S Truman Little White House building has also been used by American Presidents over the years, hence the name it bears today. In 1946 the historic building first served as the winter White House of President Harry S. Truman. He spent 175 days relaxing and working from this beautiful residence during his 11 visits to Key West. Then shortly after his 1948 re-election, Division Street was renamed Truman Avenue in his honour. Since this period, Truman's tradition has been repeated by other presidents who have found Key West a relaxing place to live and work in, especially during the cold Washington winters. Presidents who have used the Little White House include: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
In the same year, "The Little White House" was added to the US National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Truman Little White House is used as a public, living, Key West museum, as well as a retreat and place of government business by the nation's leaders.
The Truman Annex is also part of the original several acre Naval Station installation which was mostly decommissioned in 1974 (contemporary nuclear submarines were too large to use the Key West facility). Much of the annex was sold to private developers who have made it into an award-winning gated residential community (the Truman White House lies within this area), The 32.4 acres was transferred to the City of Key West, at no cost to be used as a public green space for tourists and citizens to enjoy. The remainder area continues to be utilized as a military installation and is known as Naval Air Station Key West - Truman Annex
We didn't have time to visit this unique parkland but it looked very inviting and we saw several locals bike riding through its tropical bike tracks. We were also amazed to see free ranging hens and roosters roaming around this tropical "paradise" public area. We wondered about their predators like dogs, cats or the odd stray croc from the Everglades but they seem self-assured and unperturbed.
Towering over the historic seaport where our ship berthed is one of the largest buildings in the historic district of Key West, the beautiful Old Post Office and Customs House. We passed this iconic building several times on our trips to and from the ship throughout the day. This four-story red-brick Romanesque-style building featuring broad arches along a wrap-around porch is as stunning a sight to visitors today as it was when it opened in 1891. Originally built to house the islands' customs office, postal service, and district court, this architectural marvel was built to keep pace with the increasing population and wealth accumulating from Key West's lucrative trade routes and maritime industries. The building saw a long litany of legal cases, from rum-running, prostitution, to the investigation into the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898, before it was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1932. The building remained abandoned for nearly two decades after the Navy's departure in 1973. Today, the "Old 91" (as it is referred to) has been faithfully restored and stands on the harbour as a national landmark, an award-winning museum and official headquarters of the Key West Art & Historical Society. It has two floors of exquisite exhibitions that weave together two centuries of Key West history, art, people, and events. Several life-size tableaux figures of 1920's life-style cameos are displayed around the lawns and garden surrounds of this historic site. We enjoyed viewing and pondering over these life-like displays which speak of a bygone 'care-free" era.
Another interesting sight was a famous bar that we passed on our morning walk. The ceiling, walls and doors are covered in paper notes from all over the world. Tradition has it that patrons must place a paper note on the counter before placing their order. These notes are added to the multi cultural monetary collections that adorn the entire bar interior facade and attract hundreds of visitors on a daily basis.
The San Carlos Institute Building, also known as the San Carlos, was founded in 1871 by members of the Cuban exile community with the goal of preserving and promoting the language, cultural values, and patriotic ideals of the Cuban people. Today, the San Carlos Institute is a multi-purpose facility that functions as a heritage museum, library, school, conference centre, theatre, and art gallery for the Key West community. Today the institute maintains several permanent installations related to Cuban history and hosts a number of popular cultural and artistic events throughout the year.
After about 4 enjoyable hours was feeling exhausted and parched by the heat so I returned to the ship for a cool shower but Ken went in search of Ernest Hemingway's House, which we'd seen on our last visit, 22years ago. The house was the residence of author Ernest Hemingway, a writer of stories, a booze-drinker, four-time husband, soldier, and an eccentric who loved cats. Hemingway wrote from the mid 1920's through to the mid 1950's and he won several award, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Some of his best proclaimed novels include: 'The Old Man & the Sea', 'A Farewell to Arms', 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' and 'The Snow's of Kilimanjaro', to name a few. Ken found Hemingway's house at 907 Whitehead Street, across from the Key West lighthouse, on the southern coast of the island. 
Hemingway's House has been a U.S. National Historic Landmark since 1968, but it now has a high brick fence so that the currently 57 cats that are all named, and have the run of the home and the gardens but they cannot roam off the property. Many of these cats have descended from Hemingway's original litters of cats. A veterinarian visits daily to take care of these thoroughly indulged felines. The cats are population controlled and many are polydactyl – ie many cats are six-toed, having inherited a congenital physical anomaly from Ernest Hemingway's original six-toed cat. Visitors to the house pay a fee to wander through the immaculately furnished house where he once wrote. Cats can be seen sleeping on beds, pillows, lounges and cushions all through the house and on railings, under bushes or on garden furniture within the walls of this special Spanish colonial building.
The museum's general manager and curator helps take care of the cats, feeding them with Purina cat chow. A Key West veterinarian makes sure all of the cats are healthy, and the house's limestone walls keep them safe from the elements. In fact, all 54 four-legged residents recently made it through Hurricane Irma unscathed. Entrance fees go towards the upkeep of the house and the care of the feline inhabitants.
Earlier in our morning walk around Key West we booked an afternoon snorkelling tour out on the reef. We had planned to take a morning snorkel but because of the high humidity we thought we'd prefer an end of the day tour. It turned out to be an excellent decision because we covered the street-scape views early, saw many interesting sights in the town and we were able to return to the ship for a refreshing shower and a late lunch before setting out for the snorkelling trip. The other bonus was that we watched the sun set from our return trip by yacht. You can read about it and view our photos in Key West- 2.on our a sunset session on our way back to port.
