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Ogie Ogilthorpe

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Ogie Ogilthorpe

  1. Pink Hotel is the Don Cesar - nice but there are definitely better places to stay in St Pete Beach. St Pete Beach is still very much an old Florida beach town., my family owned a place there in the 80s and not much has really changed. Just south of St Pete Beach is Pass-a-grille beach, great grouper sandwich at the Hurricane. Probably a little far for a short trip, but great beach Downtown St Pete is great, heading there in a few weekends for a couple of nights. Great restaurants, bars and breweries.
  2. Spring cleaning the other day and found old pics of my first Airedale, Pandora (1990-2002) She adopted an abandoned baby trash panda for a few days once And loved walking the frozen lakes
  3. Are fast passes available for anything at wdw now? If not how is the Star Wars ride being handled?
  4. Went to a Jet game in Winnipeg a few years back it was -36, wind chill made it feel -56. Warnings exposed skin freezes in less than a minute. Used to be in that weather growing up all the time, been south for ~20 years, my blood has definitely thinned.
  5. Every time they show Cory's hair all I can think of i:
  6. The red tide can be an issue right now on the Gulf side, if you entertain this idea stay down in Marco it is not usually bad there and there is a nice newly renovated Marriott. I was there last weekend no signs of it (fish kill, coughing etc.), Heading up to Cabbage Key on the boat this weekend (north of Fort Myers near Boca Grande) it is not supposed to be bad there right now, but that can change on any given day this time of the year.
  7. Posted this on another thread, figured I should post here as well. Monroe enjoying beers in the Keys
  8. Monroe (named after Monroe county where the key are) approves of Florida Key Brewing
  9. I hit the Keys several times a year - they are only a 2.5 hour drive so easy trip Upper Keys: Hotel The Postcard Inn in Islamorada is great. Great Tiki Bar - lot's of fishing charters leave from their marina MM84 Restaurants Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill in Key Largo - nice place to have a drink - overlooks the bay MM104 Loralei - known for sunset celebration - a bit touristy - MM 82 Robbie's - also touristy, tarpon feeding, you can do a snorkel trip from here to alligator reef MM77 The Square Grouper is great restaurant, my favorite in Upper Keys, MM 80 I usually skip the middle keys and then head to Key West Hotel I stay at the Hyatt Centric in Key West - north end of the island on Front Street, just off Duval Other good hotels: Pier House, La Concha, Southern Most and there are a ton of B&Bs To me the location is key as you won't want to drive too much in KW, you may save some money being further from Old Town, but you end up paying for cabs to get to and from the hotel Bars/Restaurants Sloppy Joe's, Irish Kevin's, Captain Tony's, Smokin Tuna, Hog's Breath are the big ones on Duval, good live music/entertainment - all worth a visit for at least a drink Other spots on/near Duval - Tiki House, The Green Room, Tattoos and Scars and Fogarty's There are some decent places in the bight as well - Conch Republic Seafood, Waterfront Brewery, Schooner Warf, Half Shell Raw Bar If you are tired of the touristy places - there is a small bar called the Retro Room on Simonton in the same building as the Divers Direct. More of a local low key place, I think it opens around 2. Trivia on Sunday nights, I drank with Nick Swarsdon there once Amigos is good place for dinner, food is ok but if you get a seat by the street you can watch the drunk people try and throw coins in the Grouper's mouth at captain tony's Two Friends is great for breakfast as is Blue Moon Louie's back yard nice place for drinks Rent a golf cart and explore - The Key West Cemetery is cool, there are more dead people on the island than there are living people.
  10. You can also watch them on Amazon Prime, I think they are $5
  11. It’s been awhile since I posted a pic of Monroe, she is 1.5 now she has grown quite a bit
  12. No it was a single dive to about 30-40 feet for about 20 minutes so it wasn’t necessary, just had to find an anchor and reattach a mooring line with a shackle, we had a good idea of where the anchor was so it was relatively quick. 2 thermoclines, one at about 8 feet and one at about 25. Second thermocline was around 50 degrees, only wore a 2mm vest. Took a some time and a few beers to thaw out
  13. Both my wife (no pics) and I got certified in 2005 as open water, Divemaster & Instructor in 2008. Dives: US: Texas - Blue Lagoon, Lake Travis, Lake 288, Florida - off the Coast of Naples/Marco, Key Largo, Key West (Vandenberg is a great artificial reef - on a normal year I dive it 4-5 times), Maui - best was hammer head dive off Molokai Canada - Lake of the Woods, Ontario - not for pleasure was resetting lines that broke off anchor Caribbean - Jamaica - Negril (1st dive and many since), Barbados, Bahamas, Antigua (heard whales during dive), BVI, Cozumel - if you dive there do a cenote dive on the last day great dive and rinses your gear in fresh water. Best Dive - Hammerheads in Maui Scariest dive - regulator popped and free flowed at 80 feet on descent to Vandenberg, buddy (Mrs Oglilthorpe) was close and grabbed Octo ascended safely. It was incredible how the training kicked in. Went through 2800 psi air in 4 minutes on my tank. Went up for short surface interval, went back on different reg. Easiest Diving - Negril - great viz, little current, decent reefs Regarding online certification it just takes the place of the classroom instruction, you still need 4 dives over 2 days with an instructor for certification, at least with PADI - I would recommend online to anyone interested. Also, I would suggest getting certified at a resort that you can borrow equipment from, otherwise the dive shop you work with will make you buy Mask, Fins, Snorkel, Weight Belt and sometime weight that will cost minimum $250. If you don't like diving you are stuck with the equipment.
  14. There are 2 types of people in the world, those who piss in the shower and those who are late.
  15. But you can usually get a deal on speakers from the white van
  16. I missed this was for a Honeymoon, so I would probably skip Key West, it wouldn't be awful but as mentioned above it is more of a party place. I agree beaches are not good anywhere in the Keys. South Seas is nice, a few restaurants right on property, and once right at the entrance. You can rent a golf cart and drive to others on Captiva. Beaches are good and sunsets are world class.
  17. I stay at the Hyatt Centric 3-4 times a year. Great hotel and location (north end of Duval - Pier house is right next door). Southermost is nice but at the other end of Duval, a little further away from the bars/restauraunts.
  18. Some more of my favorite french ones: Ta mere, elle baise bien - Your mom is a good fuck - literal: your mom, she fucks well. Foutre ta mere - fuck your mom
  19. A good old french Canadian "tabernac" is always a safe bet
  20. I had read about this place so I was looking forward to the documentary. I was underwhelmed.
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