Yeah I can see your concern about ice safety, I've been on the ice a couple feet away from the hole with no problem but it's only 4 ft. deep, and the pump directs a stream of water straight up from the bottom instead of a aerator with lots of bubbles in a wider pattern, the famous " it all depends" probably applies.
The pond has never had ice-out earlier than April and the islands don't reach full floating height till May.
Did you ever decide to build a floating island?
