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Monday July 11, 2005

Boaters Gone Wild

This photo, badly scanned by Tropical Times from the keys edition of the Herald, shows what is apparently a well known spot for collective bacchanalia, off the coast of Islamorada, in the Keys. Seems the sandbar falls outside of Monroe County Sheriff’s traditional jurisdiction, which allowed people to do whatever they wanted. At least while it stayed semi-secret. Recently, things have been getting a little out of hand. From the Herald article:

Partygoers at the sandbar . . . have imbibed booze and done drugs, had public sex, lost toes in boat props and spawned nasty brawls. In one recent case, one man allegedly tried to kill his girlfriend in plain sight.

And from the Tampa Weekly Planet:

Though the filmmakers have been gone a whole year now, those neighborhood-watch wannabes apparently are still talking about the producers of Girls Gone Wild at the sandbar. More recently, in May, realwildgirls.com did some filming—but “we busted them and confiscated their work just as they were ready to leave,” the Sheriff’s Office district chief proudly recounts.

Spoilsport. The last straw, apparently, was when members of a Suspension Team set up a bamboo tripod and were hanging from meat hooks in their backs. Great. Attempted murder is no problem, but consenting weirdos doing something they enjoy results in a police crackdown. Can’t people be allowed to do whatever they want?

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  1. Miami Harold    Mon Jul 11, 11:08 AM #  

    Seems like whenever people gather to enjoy themselves,
    when they have TOO much fun
    the Sphincter Police comes out in force to stop it.
    Not that sticking meat hooks through flesh sounds like fun,
    but to each his own in a place of his choosing.
    And if a sandbar in the middle of the Keys
    isn’t the right place for this
    (and just about anything else)
    what is?
    Party on, people!
    Take Back the Keys!

  2. Cindy Cruciger    Tue Jul 12, 01:34 PM #  

    Re: Badly scanned

    If the bastards had just posted the picture on Herald.com for me to swipe it, I wouldn’t have been forced resort to the scanner—hate that thing.

    The Sandbar is a toilet bowl. I don’t know how anyone can stand to get into the water there – but it leaves the rest of the ocean for me!

    You know they sold Holiday Isle? The charter captains have been given a year to relocate. Holiday Isle will be condos soon.

  3. harumi    Tue Jul 12, 01:47 PM #  

    i didn’t know that. condos everywhere.
    I just went to the sand bar with my friends (thanks to jeff) and we saw fist fight of son and father..

  4. alesh    Tue Jul 12, 02:37 PM #  

    Hi Cindy/ Are you the Tropical Times person? I agree; scanning stuff from print is a drag. I found an online version of that picture, but cropped to less then half. When I went back later I couldn’t locate it.

    Anyway, yes, from the picture it looks like a secret no longer kept well enough. Bummer. By the way, there was some weird text formating issue looking at TT with Firefox, you may want to check . . .

  5. Cindy Cruciger    Mon Jul 18, 01:19 PM #  

    Thanks Alesh!

    I’ve been wanting to play with Firefox but the geek rags keep saying it’s on its deathbed because they have no testers! It’s open source, right?

    I have an excuse to test now! ;-)

    I will fix.

    I think the Keynoter ran the picture online but I missed it. I remember when The Sandbar was a minor gathering with reggae music and copious amounts of Corona and Rum. We didn’t go there then, either.

    Lindback’s LaSiesta was sold last week for Condo’s also.