Islamorada Holiday Fest



Riding the Miami Dade Transport Motor Coach to Islamorada for the Holiday Fest, lots of long bridges in the Keys.




We arrived a bit early so we had time to survey the Park and attached Marina




We spoke to the couple on the sailboat briefly as they were fueling up, they were leaving for the Bahamas.




We watched this 18 wheeler pull in, That is a big diesel engine in the back of the trailer used to chip huge blocks of ice up and blow it out as snow!





The Ice Blocks are almost as big as he was.

 

Using this long hose he made a pretty big hill of snow.

Little awesome beach by the park

Yep we ate them, you could get chocolate covered everything here.



The kids of Islamorada had a White Christmas!




We bought some coconut Salt Scrub from this very convincing and enterprising couple, highly recommend their product at http://floridahandsalts.com/ 




The Human Society put on a dog show to find homes for Islamorada's homeless pets.




Each one got a special treat from Mrs. Santa




Let there be Christmas Music



All this on Florida Bay



They had a kids tent where they decorated coconuts.





Very special Table Centers




Wand'rin Star on her Mooring

The Admiral saw that Islamadroa was having a Holiday Fest and thought it would be a good idea to ride the Miami Dade Transport, only $2.35 per person and runs North to all points North of Marathon all the Way to Florida City where you can get a connecting train or bus to Miami and or Ft. Lauderdale. Islamorada is just about 1.5 hours away, a nice ride in a air conditioned Grayhound type bus with cushy seats. We got to the park a little early and had to seek shelter on the front porch of the park office building for a brief shower. Here we met the President of the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce who explained that this was one of their yearly events where the Chamber gave back to the community by sponsoring the Holiday Fest. He said they "wouldn't make any money but they should break even".  We would be among the locals this evening as the Islamorada citizens poured into enjoy this holiday event complete with a huge mound of snow for the kids to play in, make snowballs, and snow things. I had fun just watching these kids as they had no other chance of ever seeing snow here. There was a quaint little marina at the park where we saw lots of exotic and colorful fish around the pilings. We briefly talked to two cruising couples here, one on a 45' Hunter who were cruising on the inside (Florida Bay Side) and explained to us that if you have a 5' draft or less then you can go all the way to Miami if you can get under a 55' bridge. Then another couple on a 30'+ sailboat who just stopped in to top off their fuel tanks as they were heading out straight to the Bahamas. There was also a small beach there a few were enjoying. It was like a step back into the 50's and 60's with Norman Rockwell's middle America painted all around. No pirates in this bunch, a lot of hard working Americans raising families in the middle of America's paradise. Our favorite part of the evening was the dog show where all the dogs featured were dressed in their Christmas finest and looking for a good home to adopt them. We stayed well into the evening as we would catch the 2030 hrs bus back to Marathon. As we were standing out on Busy Route 1 in the Dark it began to pour, this is why you always keep those fold up, reusable ponchos in your back pack. The bus was about 30 minutes late but we made it back to Marathon and then walked the mile back to hot showers and a short dingy ride back to the boat.