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dlatin

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by dlatin

  1. I like the shorter boards. The one I use is maybe nearing too small for me, my bro-in-law surfs a longer board, maybe 5’9”. It’s better for bigger guys but I find it too fast for my taste. I should try it again to see if I like it. I couldn’t imagine going 9’.

  2. Very much my speed.  Can’t wait to hear about it from your trip!

    we are chartering a 45 foot for thanksgiving but it’s a few years old. I do get to take the helm as much as I want but we have a guide/captain and a chef. 
    Looking at the big lagoons and leopards for dreaming about a few years in retirement.  We are not yet ruling out monohull either. 

    I wish we had a chef!
  3. I only got one key fob when I bought my car. About to give my son the car and am worried about not having an extra. I bought a non OEM fob off eBay and need it programmed. Does anyone have any experience having this done? This is for keyless push start button cars.

  4. A couple other random thoughts…

    I loved cooking at the Villa after spending the day at the beach. Groceries are crazy expensive on the island as I heads up. I often check a cooler of frozen meats to bring in.

    I mentioned above, 1 time my wife and I stayed in Cruz Bay, it was only a couple nights but we really enjoyed being able to walk to breakfast and dinner and happy hour. Not sure this would be ideal for an entire week, but we really enjoyed ourselves for that quick trip.

  5. Wow. Great info. We are going with another couple in September. Fishing trip is booked. That’s it. So what I’m hearing is we should stay on St John? Wives will not be fishing so I want to make sure they are taken care of. I would book that Deja place but it’s booked solid for a long time out.

    I’m not opposed to vrbo, but think we’re leaning hotel on this one. Thoughts? As of right now, other guy is saying St Thomas and ritz, but he doesn’t want to pay for ritz. His wife will make him...

    There are so many Villa options in St. John. The hardest part is trying to decide which part of the island you want to stay. The Coral Bay side is quieter and fewer options for dining. Cruz Bay is a nice area with lots of eating options. The downside of St John is there are very few options on the water. If you find a Villa, you can message me and I’ll give you my thoughts.

    https://www.caribbeanvilla.com/vacation-rentals/st-john-villas/

    https://www.destinationstjohn.com/villa-rentals
  6.  
    lord huron has a new album coming out 5/21.  they are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands:
    [/url]  

    I fell head over heels in love with LH and the Lonesome Dreams album back in the day. Still love me some LH but that album is their best start to finish IMO.
  7.   I was listening and not really watching the video until about the third time on that one.  Strong imagery for sure.
    This one's a little lighter, I meant to post it too  instead of the other one twice.
     
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc50wHexbwg

    I was sitting at the table doing a puzzle last year during quarantine with my daughter when this song came on Pandora. Towards the end when it really starts to groove I took notice and was hooked immediately. Love these guys.
  8. I tried the search feature and couldn’t find anything. The wife and I are thinking about Antigua next year for our 20th. Anyone been and have any recommendations?

     

    We’ve done the US and British VIs a lot, done St Lucia and St Marteen. St John is probably our favorite. The water and beaches look amazing in Antigua and this last season of Below Deck is there and it looks great.

  9. My favorite is when you are motoring out of a harbor listening to the little yanmar diesel rattle the shit out of everything, then you hoist the sails and kill the motor. That transition from mechanical chaos to the pure serene sound of water lapping and nature all around, nothing compares. 

    That moment the engine is shut off is magical.

    I started with 0 experience, took ASA 101 basic keelboat and spent a year working through my certifications and about 16 months after starting I chartered my own 46’ boat in the BVIs with my wife and 2 young children. It only took that long because of my busy schedule. It’s really not that hard to learn to sail. The experience of a seasoned sailer obviously takes a long time.
    • Hook 'Em 3
  10. Me, the wind and the sails. That’s it. Call it a conversation, relationship, or something else. But today it was something special.  No instruments needed just the telltales, the wind on my face and the waves on the lake. I’m big boat certified.  
     
     
    A719BEF8-9C02-4462-BCAA-D021FD1EF53E.thumb.jpeg.92db7c535f8e78473c499aeda02f6a5c.jpeg
    1DF5E41C-AD9D-4F69-9C81-64743B59D3F1.thumb.jpeg.6b488df510b9631984c14b1e23da3d87.jpeg

    The best!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
  11. Boat shopping commences in 2 weeks.  Just window shopping for now, as I need to get an idea of exactly what I want, and won’t be moving to the coast until the end of the summer.  Been educating myself for a few months, and I am excited to get my hands on a bunch of different boats and see what I think will be the best choice.

    What type of boats are you considering?
  12. I’ve made many posts of detailed trip St. John trip reports on longhorn boards of old. We stumbled upon St John while honeymooning in St Thomas 19 years ago. I can’t imagine spending any time in St Thomas when St. John is right there.

    Pros:
    About 3/4 national park, so very pristine
    Unbelievable beaches and water
    Some nice hiking
    Very laid back
    A ton of gorgeous reasonable villas to choose from

    Cons:
    Difficult to get to, lots of travel time
    Not many villas are on the beach, short drive required
    Some don’t love driving the hills and on the left side. You get used to it IMO


    We’ve stayed at Carnival Beach House, Villa Capiz, Tortuga Cottage, DejaView (5 king suits with an insane kids bunk room), and a hotel in Cruz Bay while in for a quick trip to look into buying a sail charter business.

    All the North Shore Beaches are amazing and each offer something different. Trunk bay is the most famous, Maho had incredible snorkeling with turtles, Honeymoon & Solomon are so pristine and gorgeous, Hawksnest is my wife’s favorite and my least favorite, Francis is long and uninhabited. Hike to Waterlemon for great snorkeling.

    The Coral Bay side of the island is quieter and a bit more arid. We stayed on that side and explored over there a few years ago and fell in love with Salt Pond (I think the best snorkeling on island) and Hansen Bay.

    We are renting a catamaran in July and will be mooring/anchoring around St John for 10 nights. Would love to hit BVIs but are happy to stay in St John the whole time if we have to.

    Trunk Baye3a507e50272506faf577ae5e746b1fe.jpg

    Hawksnest
    1eac80ba179f4b8976d5e37d3fd1606b.jpg

    Maho
    8672cccb46459eeb3468faeb10db8294.jpg

    Francis (left) / end of Maho on right
    73550301ba9c050da6a74964989073b5.jpg


    View from DejaView - Rendezvous Bay
    7333bd9b1a866540ece1434b9dd99d7f.jpg

    Honeymoon
    a2206ae46750597d7552c914b1babeb9.jpg

    Honeymoon
    db3b3126ece97f0b3ace71b149dad352.jpg

    The Lime Out (floating taco bar) old location in Hansen Bay
    8171f0a299af00cfe0f979b88f90e3d5.jpg

    • Like 1
  13. Awesome, you're living my dream, man.  The minute our youngest is 18 and off to college, that's what we're doing.

    We hope to jump on a catamaran and live in the Caribbean. We have 4 years! I think it may end up being 6.

    We are enjoying the lake in the meantime.
  14. I have never heard of that lake oddly and had to look it up. I have had a place on cypress springs for 4 years now and also didnt know about that lake until I started shopping. Not a fishing or hunting lake so that's likely why.

    It’s a pretty good fishing lake. That’s originally why we bought the place, for me to fish. We bought it 2 weeks before we found out we were pregnant with our first. Both kids grew up going on the weekends.
  15. What a beautiful spread.
    damn

    Thanks! The kids were getting older and we fell in love with wakesurfing so I sold my fish and ski and got that Supra. I needed to redo my dock so it was great timing to have a new nice dock and boat for the pandemic. We love it.

    Here was our old dock/boathouse. The water is really high in this picture.

    20d94ea3f4c1c396c485506ff237aa3e.jpg
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