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Passengers from the Empress of the Seas walk on the Pier B cruise ship dock after the ship arrived in Key West, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. The ship's port call was the first time a cruise ship has docked in Key West since prior to Hurricane Irma's passage through the Florida Keys.

What the first returning tourists after Irma found as they arrived in Key West

The first cruise ship since Hurricane Irma arrived in Key West Sunday. The bars were open but few visitors were on Duval Street.

View of a wrecked home and belongings scattered by Hurricane Irma in Marathon Key on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.

In the Florida Keys, riding out the storm may not have been the best choice. But it was enlightening.

After much dithering, Keynoter newspaper editor Larry Kahn resolved to bunk down at a shelter in his hometown of Marathon for Hurricane Irma. The experience was weird and unsettling, and put him in the hospital, but in the end he was glad he did.

Wildlife experts work to free a dolphin Saturday on Sugarloaf Key.

Local

Locals free stranded dolphin on Sugarloaf Key

Vet: She may have washed in with the recent high tides

Local

Fire on Duval Street damages tattoo shop

Firefighters spent about an hour containing the blaze

Local

Key Largo shooting victim airlifted to Miami hospital Thursday night

It was the culmination of an altercation earlier in the day.

A group of Upper Keys Rotarians and friends distribute supplies to Marathon High School on Monday, Sept. 18. Pictured are Rotary District 6990 Disaster Relief Chair Don Horton, Islamorada Chamber staff member Walt Stephens, Upper Keys Rotary President Jill Miranda Baker, Coral Shores High School Interactor Mason Baker, Rotary members Anna Richards and Donna Webb and Interactor Noah Hane.

Local

Rotary sets up fund to aid Irma victims

Volunteers needed to help distribute supplies

Local

County working on securing temporary housing for those displaced by Irma

The county estimates that between 10,000 and 15,000 residential units (18 to 27 percent) of about 55,000 total residential units in the Keys were either destroyed or severely damaged

Local

Sheriff’s Office discontinues Marathon neighborhood checkpoints, assessing need for them in Lower Keys as conditions improve

Sheriff Rick Ramsay said his deputies must transition to patrolling the entirety of the Keys now that most residents have returned home and are repairing their storm-damaged homes and cleaning up their properties.

A sign is all that’s left of a trailer at Sea Breeze RV Resort in Islamorada after Hurricane Irma’s storm surge destroyed most of the subdivision’s homes.

Local

Owner of destroyed Keys RV park offers to sell residents new homes at cost

But process of installing infrastructure and getting Village of Islamorada approval could take years.

Local

Hurricane Irma-related deaths rise to 14 in Florida Keys

Three people in Key West died in storm-related deaths of Hurricane Irma, the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office said. That brings the total number of Irma deaths in the Florida Keys to 14.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson came to Marathon to get a first-hand look at the damage and recovery. He also was scheduled to tour Big Pine Key.

Local

Senator in Keys: Hurricanes stretching FEMA thin

We ‘are going to have to pass at least another $15 billion to get us to December,’ Nelson says.

Hurricane Irma's surge destroyed furniture and possessions, piled and wait for collection, when the surge tore through a Tavernier oceanside neighborhood near mile marker 92.

Local

‘After the storm, I had three more boats than I used to.’

Tavernier couple sees hurricane surge sweep through their home but don’t regret staying

Crime

Irma slows down the Keys criminal element

Few arrests since the hurricane; those charged violated the curfew.

Local

Mote’s new facility stands up to Irma

Built to Category 5 standards, upgraded coral-restoration center suffers minimal damage.

Upper Keys residents meet with Citizens Property Insurance Corp. staff at a Catastrophe Response Center at the Murray Nelson Government and Cultural Center at mile marker 102 on Key Largo. A Marathon center opened Tuesday and a Key West center is scheduled to open soon.

Local

Citizens insurance opens Keys claims centers

Florida’s wind-storm insurer has local filing sites and a 24-hour hotline after Hurricane Irma

Local

Key West airport to reopen to commercial traffic

Check with your airlines for specifics.

Local

Islamorada officials blast decision to dismantle mainland checkpoint

Councilman said the decision was made by county officials without consulting the village, and said it subjects the Upper Keys to traffic jams and looting.