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#4332266 - 01/28/17 06:31 AM Southern Florida Folks...  
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I flew from Indiana down to Miami last Wednesday to do a site survey at Homestead ARB for a two week trip with our A-10s in a couple of months. I'm in charge of our maintenance people and had to get a lay of the land and measure what kind and how much support we can expect from the base and the community around Homestead. I got a lot of great information from the base itself, but only being a one day site survey I didn't get to see much of what was outside of the base.

I can't complain much, 80F compared to 25F when I left IN was pretty darn nice. Flew back to IN and had to work today launching A-10s in 25F, snow, and 30mph winds...yay reality again...lol.

A couple of things I took away, non rush hour, the drive from MIA to Homestead was only about 25 minutes. Morning rush hour to get back to the airport was just over two hours to go 30 miles. Ouch. My suggestion, less canals and aqua ducts...more roads...lol. Luckily we'll be traveling by C-130 into the base when we come down for the TDY.

Along the same line, we went to a restaurant at a marina after sunset and the roads were pretty confusing, being split by canals. At one point we thought we were on a four lane road split by a canal, but found it was the same road and it was two lanes on both side. Glad we stayed in the right lane...lol.

BTW, it's actually legal to eat dolphin??? The restaurant had all sorts of dolphin on the menu. I opted for a wonderful Mahi with dirty rice and split a bucket of Imperial beer from Puerto Rico...oh yeah!

Anyway, the base situation is pretty well set, so I'm wondering what our guys should look forward to doing during a little bit of down time. We'll be busy most of the time, but for maybe a half day or one full day off what can we look forward to doing in the area? I'm not going to let anyone travel more than maybe 100 miles if they get a full day off, although Key West was 138 miles away I think, so I might let that slide as long as they get back in time.

Thanks!


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#4332268 - 01/28/17 06:38 AM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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During the day, I have no idea. Every time I was there we worked from "kin to cain't."


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#4332269 - 01/28/17 06:49 AM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Dart]  
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Originally Posted By: Dart
Every time I was there we worked from "kin to cain't."


HA! Love that!


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#4332408 - 01/28/17 05:17 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Weasel, I'm not sure whether you are kidding about the Dolphin, so I'll go ahead and answer that. No you can't eat the Dolphins that you're thinking of. Those dolphins on the menu aren't Porpoises, they are dolphin fish. A quick google and you'll see what they look like.


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#4332411 - 01/28/17 05:20 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Oh, and by the way. If you had Mahi-Mahi, then you ate Dolphin. It's what the Hawaiians call it. It's great, isn't it? I think that's what they usually put in to fish tacos.


"From our orbital vantage point, we observe an earth without borders, full of peace, beauty and magnificence, and we pray that humanity as a whole can imagine a borderless world as we see it, and strive to live as one in peace."
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#4332441 - 01/28/17 06:54 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Pooch]  
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I eat a lot of mahi-mahi. I grill it at home and serve it with Zatarain's Carribean rice.

Good to know about actual dolphin, as it was just on the menu as dolphin and not dolphin fish. I suppose the locals know it already, so I was just a tourist...lol.


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#4332590 - 01/29/17 04:39 AM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Yeah I'm pretty sure that the Dolphin is just Mahi Mahi. I agree, very good as is Pompano! I've heard that restaurants when serving scallops are actually giving you sting ray. I'm not sure if that still happens but I'm guessing at a restaurant like what you went to that they wouldn't do that. I've never been down there, nor desire to lol. I think Panzer needs to chime in as to what to do and where to go. You flew over and past a few SimHQ friends I think. Take care.


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#4332594 - 01/29/17 04:51 AM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Coot]  
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The marina restaurant had about five fresh catch of the day fish on the menu, and also had a line on the menu that read "You catch it, we'll cook it"...so yeah, this was a pretty cool place...lol. The marina was full of big fishing and shrimp boats, and some amazing yachts. My little 17 foot speed boat would have been laughed at there...lol.

Personally, I think I just want to go to Key Largo and find a karaoke bar so I can sing...




wink


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#4332924 - 01/30/17 01:10 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Originally Posted By: Weasel_Keeper
I flew from Indiana down to Miami last Wednesday to do a site survey at Homestead ARB for a two week trip with our A-10s in a couple of months. I'm in charge of our maintenance people and had to get a lay of the land and measure what kind and how much support we can expect from the base and the community around Homestead. I got a lot of great information from the base itself, but only being a one day site survey I didn't get to see much of what was outside of the base.

I guess I've been out of touch for a while but I thought the Homestead base was closed after Hurricane Andrew? Was it just downsized instead?


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4333003 - 01/30/17 03:16 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Yes, active duty left but it's been open at reduced size ever since.

The canals are there to keep the place from reverting to a swamp. Think the traffic is bad now, imagine it in 3 ft of water. smile

As for roads, there are like 5 million people in the tricounty area and the roads were made when there were like 1 million. So, yeah...

I grew up hearing it called dolphin, didn't hear mahi until I was a teen or so, but I always knew it was that blunt-faced fish and not the Flipper type. biggrin

As for Key West, we used to drive from Miami to Marathon for vacation once a year. That was a 2 hr drive, and Key West was another south of Marathon, so we rarely went there.



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The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
#4333005 - 01/30/17 03:20 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Jedi Master]  
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Originally Posted By: Jedi Master

That was a 2 hr drive, and Key West was another south of Marathon, so we rarely went there.



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Plus you have that annoying 2 lane only road so you have to pray you don't have a slow driver in front of you.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4333018 - 01/30/17 03:36 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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It's 2 lanes each way now. They switched in the late 80s. The old bridge was used in both License to Kill and True Lies scenes.



The Jedi Master


The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
#4333056 - 01/30/17 05:19 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Islamorada has a nice spot Jay, it's just past Key Largo. It was called Holiday Isle, but looking at Google Maps its called
Post Card Inn Beach Resort And Marina At Holiday Isle. Nice bar along the water, pool can be used. When my brother lived in Key Largo working for customs he would bounce there s well. Not too far from Homestead, 1:20 mins...


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#4333079 - 01/30/17 05:58 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Yeah, it's just a joint Air Reserve base now. I was talking to one of the old timer transient alert guys who was showing me around who said the entire base was pretty much wiped away by Andrew. Most of the buildings look pretty new (post Andrew). I can tell the base fence was moved in a lot tighter than it originally was making the base a lot smaller. I think, other than the swamp heat that will come in May, we will have a pretty good time.

Don't know if you guys do fishing, but I'd bet some of our guys would look to do some charter boat fishing. Maybe someplace cool to snorkel. I saw on the way to Homestead from the airport there was a sign for a monkey place...Crew Chiefs would fit right in there...lol.

BTW, I was just kidding about the canals. We'll get used to the area I'm sure. wink


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#4333124 - 01/30/17 08:46 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Is the Customs air wing still there? My brother brought me up to Homestead to check out their Blackhawks and Mako F-16's

#4333128 - 01/30/17 08:54 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Top Gun]  
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Not sure. I don't recall seeing any Customs Blackhawks flying or where they would be parked. I was only there for a day and really only looked at the things that we needed. I did see F-16s, but they're located around a bend of the ramp pretty far from where we'll be. They have F-15 alert birds, and I saw the Army Golden Knights along with some British paratroopers jumping. There was also the Canadian Air Force with F-18s who are there TDY and working out of the area where we'll be so I talked to them quite a bit.

In a couple of weeks I'll see plenty of Customs helicopters in Tucson at DMAFB. smile


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#4333141 - 01/30/17 09:22 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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I remember visiting a park spot in the Everglades once and to my surprise a USC 60 was sitting in the field by the benches. The crew was out having lunch at the benches.
We went in to do one of the trails, maybe the gumbo limbo trail, and when we came out they (and it) were gone.



The Jedi Master


The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
#4334115 - 02/02/17 10:18 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Are there things that the military forbid you from doing on your time off like skydiving or any other dangerous activities? Seems like people under contract often have limitations like that placed on them.


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#4334117 - 02/02/17 10:21 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Pooch]  
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Originally Posted By: Pooch
Oh, and by the way. If you had Mahi-Mahi, then you ate Dolphin. It's what the Hawaiians call it. It's great, isn't it? I think that's what they usually put in to fish tacos.


Also called a Dorado in some areas.
My understanding, "Dolphin" was originally "Dauphin", which I think was French while Dorado was Spanish. Mahi Mahi, as said, Hawaiian.
There's a Dauphin island in the Gulf named the same.


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#4334341 - 02/03/17 02:28 PM Re: Southern Florida Folks... [Re: Weasel_Keeper]  
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Yes, that's what the Coast Guard flies, the Dauphin. A French helo. smile



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The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
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