Capt. David Salazar, forever Our Jefe
As some of you may already know, one half of our lodge leadership, David Salazar passed away unexpectedly on the morning of December 3rd, 2024. An important person to many of us, but few as much as his beloved wife, Kristen.
First and foremost, we’d like to start with a letter from her, our Jefa:
“It’s with an extremely broken heart that I, Kristen Salazar, along with our 4 young daughters, inform you that the love of our life for the past 19 years, Captain David Salazar, suddenly passed away the morning of December 3 from acute aorta dissection type 1. I’m comforted that he did enjoy a full day fishing with old friends and no pain at the end.
David was a visionary, an entrepreneur, an accomplished Captain and angler, a team player, loyal friend, a man of his word, led by example, and most of all a dedicated husband and kick ass father.
Casa Vieja Lodge was a dream he sold to me when we got married in 2013. Over the past 11 years, we worked together tirelessly to bring it up to the highest standards where friends and family have the experience of epic fishing on your best friends beautiful boat and return home to the comfort of extended family where you didn’t have to lift a finger, and that’s exactly what we’ve built and we’re not quite done.
We have been constructing additional rooms at the lodge and will continue with OUR dream of expanding and vow to make him proud.
I know many of you are affected by this great loss as we’ve always strived to make Casa Vieja Lodge a family. We’ve received hundreds of texts, calls, emails, and it aids my pain knowing how much you all loved him. Please feel free to grieve as you please and leave a message, photo, or thought below. When I see you down at the lodge, I will gladly accept hugs and still celebrate your accomplishments on the water!
As David always said: “A day on the water sure as hell beats a day at the office!”
– Kristen Salazar
David Ulysses Salazar was born in Miami on the 14th of September to Marianne & David Salazar.
Driving his first boat at only 9 years old, fishing a sailfish tournament with his dad at 11, and crossing to Bimini by age 15, David Salazar was born to be on the water.
A student at Sunset Senior High in Miami, David knew at a young age that traditional education wasn’t the road for him. He initially wanted to be a backcountry guide in the Everglades; and so he soon ended up chartering in the keys. It was ultimately when young Dave caught his first marlin that he was hooked on offshore fishing.
He grew up chartering in the keys, and captaining on private boats, but soon realized that didn’t scratch his entrepreneurial itch for the constant everyday thrill of fishing, and wanted something more.
Around 1997, Tim Choate asked David to come to Guatemala as he was starting the Sportfishing Industry there. David didn’t even know where it was on the map, but Choate promised double pay, so David left! He then began working for the *original* Fins n’ Feathers Lodge, running their boats: the Nany and the Yellowfin. Dave eventually broke off to handle the overflow from the lodge on his own, which he later sold to clients in the early 2000’s to take a break from Guatemala and again find his next adventure.
In 2006, at the age of 36, Dave met his best friend and soon-to-be love of his life, Kristen, aka Bunny. After about 6 months of dating, the pair got their first “baby,” Archie! His best pal, Dave and Archie even entered in—and won—a dog and owner lookalike contest!
Thereafter, with a dear friend, they acquired the Bird’s Nest to run charters out of La Guaira, Venezuela. Because of their daily grand slams, it’s David’s favorite place to fish! He worked there for a few seasons but eventually left when the government started going south.
David began flying planes and regretted not doing it sooner in life. By 2011, he received his pilot’s license, making his commute over to one of his favorite places, Bimini, Bahamas, a breeze.
Not too long after that, with 8 wonderful years of dating under their belt, David finally popped the question to his Bunny, and the pair were engaged by 2012! And on St. Patrick’s Day Weekend in March of 2013, David and Kristen tied the knot on their own private beach in Bimini, surrounded by their closest friends and family.
Just three months after getting married in 2013, David finally sold Kristen on their future dream of acquiring Casa Vieja Lodge and pouring in some much needed love, time, and energy to make it into what it has become today, the best Sportfishing Lodge in the world.
After two years of hustling hard and establishing their dream, in 2015, David and Kristen welcomed their first daughter, Ava (9) who stole all our hearts! Two little years later, in 2017, they did it again and welcomed their second daughter, Vera (7) into the world, kicking and screaming. In 2019, their 3rd daughter, Kira (5) graced us all with her presence; and last but very not least, storming onto the scene in 2021 was Miss Mika Salazar (3), completing the Salazar brood.
Since 2013, the past eleven years have been filled with nothing but family and expanding the Casa Vieja dream. An outstanding father, loving husband, legendary captain, and compassionate boss, David Salazar did nothing half-assed, and his commitment level went beyond anyone’s reach.
All of us here at Casa Vieja Lodge are heartbroken by the loss of our Captain, and we will work hard every single day to preserve his vision, make him proud, and take care of his girls. To us, it’s not goodbye, but rather “see you later,” and of course, as always: “Tight lines.”
Below are a few favorite pics of our Capitán Jefe in his natural habitat: as a fisherman, a father, and an adoring, supportive trophy husband.
Recently, we’ve been getting asked about how to show support or contribute in any way to David and Kristen’s daughters: Ava, Vera, Kira, and Mika.
Although David did not finish his schooling or attend any formal university, he has always said that he wanted his girls to be smarter than him, and had already begun saving for their higher education.
If helping with the Salazar girls’ future and further education is something you’d like to do as well, please feel free to be as generous as you’d like with either their Florida Prepaid or 529K Savings Plan for Ava, Vera, Kira, or Mika ♥
December Fishing Report
What a December! Through highs and lows, our dedicated captains and mates did their best to keep the spirit of our beloved Jefe strong, and we’d say this month they delivered. In full Captain David spirit, this has been one of our best seasons to date. While marlin were practically jumping in our boats, the sailfish numbers weren’t too bad either.
Overall, this month we saw 1,148 sailfish raises, 962 sailfish bites, and 587 sailfish releases! As for marlin, we saw 48 raises, 45 bites, and 30 releases—wow! We raised as many as 32 sailfish in a single day on one of our fleet, and another team saw 17 for 23 another day!! Plus, a big congrats to the anglers aboard the Makaira for their Grand Slam on the 18th!
Check out the rad Fishing Counter we’ve installed on our homepage to see how high our numbers will grow before the clock strikes midnight on the 31st!
Below are our fishing highlights (combination of conventional & fly):
- December 3rd-15th,Afinity (39′ Billy Knowles) with Capt. Franz Hoffman, had 122 raises, 105 bites & 45 sailfish releases plus 10 marlin raises, 40 marlin bites, 5 marlin releases; plus 2 tuna, 8 mahi mahi, 4 groupers and 1 eel!!
- December 1st-15th, Chilero (38′ Warren O’Neal) with Capt. Nico Melendrez had 153 raises, 132 bites, 82 sailfish releases, plus 8 marlin raises, 7 marlin bites, 7 marlin releases, 4 tuna & 19 mahi-mahi!
- December 1st-14th,Finest Kind (40′ Whiticar)with Capt. Benji Bairez, had 114 raises, 91 bites, 57 sailfish releases, 5 marlins raises 5 marlin bites, and 2 marlin releases; plus 4 tuna, 2 mahi-mahi, and 2 jacks!
- December 1st-18th, the Makaira (37′ Rybovich) with Capt. Jeffrey Garcia, had 170 raises, 143 bites, 97 sailfish releases plus 8 marlins raises, and 7 marlin bites, and 6 marlin releases, plus 11 tuna & 15 mahi mahi. (Grand Slam on the 18th!)
- December 1st-9th,Pica Más (48′ Whiticar)with Capt. Nicho Alvarenga, had 202 raises, 164 bites, 108 sailfish releases, 8 marlin raises, 8 marlin bites 3 marlin releases, plus 16 tuna and 3 mahi mahi!
- December 1st-18th,Poco Loco (44′ Nickerson) with Capt. Jono, had 113 raises, 93 bites, 59 sailfish releases, 3 marlins raised, and 3 marlin bites, and 2 marlin releases, plus 4 tuna & 3 mahi-mahi!
- December 1st-9th,Release (37′ Merritt) with Capt. Sammy Baires, had 126 raises, 105 bites, 61 sailfish releases, 2 striped marlins raised, 2 striped marlin bites, and 2 striped marlin releases, plus 4 tuna & 17 mahi-mahi!
- December 1st-19th, Rum Line (40′ Gamefisherman) with Capt. Terry Brennan, had 134 raises, 116 bites, 71 sailfish releases, 3 marlin raises, 3 marlin bites, 3 marlin releases plus 17 mahi-mahi!
