Just Conversation

[denisegg]

Hi Snep!!! Good to have you back.

 

[mike_s]

just a little news that isn't really worthy of a seperate thread...


Deweys Destin opened a new location on the Harbor. (I knew last year they were going to do it, but it appears it's finally open).

Dewey Destin's duplicates on the harbor

‘Old Destin' comes to life in new namesake harbor restaurant
March 20, 2009 - 11:12 AM
Fraser Sherman
At Dewey Destin’s Harborside, the past is alive and well.

A photo on the wall shows Destin harbor in 1944: Hundreds of yards of scrub and sand, a few scattered buildings and piers, all south of a two-lane U.S. 98. Other photos show Dewey Destin in childhood, surrounded by siblings and relatives; Clement Taylor, the community’s first school teacher; and Maurice and Orie Marler, who owned the 1928 harborfront house that opened as Destin’s newest restaurant last month.

“I think the theme of the whole place is old Destin,” Dewey Destin told The Log.

The logistics of running a second restaurant in addition to Dewey Destin Seafood on Choctaw Bay are demanding, Destin told The Log, but business has been steady, and it gives him room to expand that his bayside operation didn’t have.

“We were becoming terribly crowded, people were having to wait an hour in line,” he said. “We were hoping we could spread out a little and not make people wait so much ... We wanted to give ourselves a little space to expand.”

When the owners were alive, Destin said, he and his kin were over at the house frequently.

“This is where we used to go fishing every day,” he said, indicating the spot to the east where the Destin Fishing Marina now stands. “The site was owned by Spence Brothers, out of Niceville; they leased it to use because we sold them the great majority of the fish we caught over there.”

The restaurant’s 31-year-old chef, Jim Shirah, said he also has ties to the house, as the nephew of Orie and Maurice Marler on his father’s side, and the great-nephew of Orie on his mother’s side. A photo of his mother’s from the 1970s shows the harbor behind the house, with oak trees on the marina site.

“I grew up on the fishing boats, the net boats,” Shirah said. “As a kid, there was always something going on here: The boats were down here, we used to keep our boats here ... I’d come up to the house when I was hiding from dad.”

“We made him our slave when we were in the fishing business,” Destin said with a laugh.

“That’s the only reason they have kids,” Shirah shot back.

Shirah said that after the state banned net boats in 1995, he went to culinary school in Panama City, then the south of France, and launched an award-winning career as a chef, and with his Catering To You service. Although he said he loves all seafood, he admitted a particular fondness for crab.

“Seafood is my life,” Shirah said. “I just enjoy what I do.”

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I gotta admit...working for a diveshop has it's perks. Free air/tank rentals, trips, all that jazz. I get paid to do what I love. It's hard to beat.

I've never been to Devil's Den, but Blue Grotto is a really nice dive. It can get crowded when there are lots of OW classes there (pretty popular place, we use it too), but once you get out of the bowl and back into the cavern the viz opens up and it gets quiet. Bring your light, you'll need it. It's gorgeous back there.

The PADI DM and rescue courses are pretty rigorous, too. I think the hardest thing (at least gear-wise) is what we call gear exchange. You and another DM candidate go down and have to swap gear underwater. I kinda wish we could do something like what NAUI does as far as gear drills go, that would be a great test of comfort level and patience underwater.

YouTube - NAUI Divemaster Training - Watermanship Skills 9 Nov 2008

A sample of what pain and suffering awaits for me!

Hiya SNEP! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[nashirak]

I had to do skin diving ditch and recovery at the Naval Academy. I didn't find it too hard. Just take a good breath

The only thing in that video we don't do in PADI are the two ditch/recoveries and the U/W swim. They look like fun, though. I'll have to try them sometime, lol

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

Nash, you need to come do some offshore diving with us! We will be getting the charters going next month! You are welcome to stay at my place, I have a comfy couch or air mattress! I will cook up what I spear!

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I had to do skin diving ditch and recovery at the Naval Academy. I didn't find it too hard. Just take a good breath

LOL! I am a bit older and fatter and outta shaper than you sweetie! LOL! But I am working it! LOL!

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[mike_s]

I had to do skin diving ditch and recovery at the Naval Academy. /QUOTE]

your profile says your 25.... you're not still there? (isn't there a 6 year committment after the Academy?)

 

[denisegg]

Carolyn, you are doing a little bit of everything right now from caving, to spearing your own food and survival tactics.

 

[denisegg]

just a little news that isn't really worthy of a seperate thread...


Deweys Destin opened a new location on the Harbor. (I knew last year they were going to do it, but it appears it's finally open).

I love Deweys!!! The food is awesome!

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

Carolyn, you are doing a little bit of everything right now from caving, to spearing your own food and survival tactics.

I am preparing for the end of the world...or at least getting ready to be forced to go green. LOL!

Carolyn:shark2: