ISLANDS WITHOUT CARS Season 3


#301 - New York’s Fire Island
Fire Island is a party in the sand. Forty-five minutes from New York City, this 32-mile long, ¼-mile wide ribbon of sand offers 17 very different and distinct communities which include the famous and infamous gay and lesbian enclaves of Cherry Grove and The Pines. This segment celebrates America’s freedom to live loud and proud as viewers follow hundreds of drag queens in the annual invasion of the Pines, play drag BINGO, and participate in the weekly offering of Broadway on the island, diva style!

#302 - California’s Santa Catalina Island
Catalina Island is all warm breezes, Hollywood-style romance, and high-sea adventure. A favorite of Hollywood celebrities, Catalina was used for location shooting in the years before jet travel, when eight Tahitian villages were built along its 54 miles of coastline for the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty. Later, Hollywood producers brought in a small herd of buffalo to film a Zane Gray western, and as a result, Catalina is the home where buffalo still roam. And as the passion project for William Wrigley, Jr. who once owned the Chicago Cubs, this segment features a museum honoring the Chicago Cubs and their training on Catalina from 1921 to 1951.

#303 - Fabulous Food Tour
This special episode composite takes a closer look at the unique cuisine specific to the islands the series has previously explored, revisits some of their extraordinary people, delving a little deeper into each island’s glorious food (and ideas behind it). Island-hop from Italy’s lush Garden Island of Salina, where the Caruso father/daughter team take Aeolian Island cuisine to the next level, accept a dinner invitation from a world-class diplomatic chef on Croatia’s island of Krapanj, and explore locally sourced and fantastically prepared cuisine on Ireland’s island of Inish Meain. Also, sample inspired and intricate delicacies from Chef Martin Kruithof’s well-earned two Michelin stars in the storybook floating village of Geithoorn in The Netherlands. And finally, because nobody can truly know Sweden except from the water, experience their reverence for fish from sea to shore.

#304 - Memories, Screams, and Reflections
This special behind-the-scenes episode shares some of the wonderful, difficult, and funny stories about filming in places that restrict transportation – and reveal its struggles, successes, and improvisations. Peek behind the curtain for a look at the nexus of production and personality, and meet the “family” that the team has become over the course of the series. But more importantly, learn more about the connections that were made with islanders who allowed the host and producers into their homes, making this chaotic world feel a little bit smaller and a lot nicer in the process.

#305 - Mexico’s Isla Holbox
Isla Holbox, just north of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is located within a protected nature reserve and so far, has remained unspoiled by mass tourism. There are no chain stores and no big resorts. The streets are paved with sand and so are many of the shops and cafes. The architecture is frequently open walled huts with thatched roofs made of dried palm leaves lashed to a wood frame. Kitchens are frequently outdoors. For convenience, there is a taxi-like system of golf carts and bikes. There is also a spectacular beach, kitesurfing, kayaking in mangroves, boat tours, and whale-watching. It is also one of the most famous places in the Caribbean to snorkel with massive (but friendly and plankton-eating) whale sharks. While the main activity is really just being, Holbox is a natural paradise. And the people who live there are working very hard to keep it that way.

#306 - Greece’s Island of Hydra
Quietly floating in the heart of the Saronic island group, Hydra is Greece’s best open secret. Discovered, it remains unblemished. This postcard place out-of-time where Leonard Cohen once called home, retains its place-out-of-time unique beauty. From the shimmering crescent-shaped harbor to a port that looks more movie set than commercial district, the restaurants, shops, markets, and galleries share space with spectacular landscapes, pristine beaches, and neoclassical mansions. There are not only no cars, but there are also no roads – donkeys and horses provide the only transport. More than a destination, Hydra is essentially an open-air theater, with locals and tourists entering and exiting from either the sea or through an intricate web of cobblestone steps. People who come here stay…or return.