This weekend presents multiple opportunities for on-water fireworks viewing in the greater Fort Walton Beach and Destin area. Hurlburt Field Air Force Base kicks off the celebrations with their annual ‘Sound of Freedom’ event on Thursday, July 3rd. Fireworks start after 9pm and there is plenty of room for lots of boats to watch. Boaters should exercise caution south of the channel west of Spectre Island as depths can be quite shallow (<4 ft) in many spots. Read on for a local channel map...
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Tomorrow, June 24th, kicks off the 2008 Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic at San Destin’s Baytowne Marina. This year’s activities include Dockside Party, ‘mini-Gras’, and Fireworks on Tuesday at the Baytowne Marina and Village of Baytowne Wharf, another Party and the Captain’s meeting on Wednesday, Thursday fishing start and boat parade, Friday and Saturday weigh-ins, and final awards ceremony at 11:00am on Sunday.

Local Bouys and Markers

If you’ll be boating as a part of the tournament this year, here’s a quick reference map of the local area complete with main channel markers and lights, courtesy of EarthNC.com.

The Christmas Season is in full swing and the next few weeks will feature multiple Holiday Lighted Boat Parades in Northwest Florida.

The 1st up is the Fort Walton Beach Parade on December 2nd at 6pm at the Landing on Brooks Street.

Next is the San Destin Parade on Saturday the 8th at 6pm. The San Destin Parade is visible from Baytowne Marina and the Village at Baytowne Boardwalk.

Finally, the Destin Harbor Parade will be held on December 9th at 6pm.

Our partner website, EarthNC.com has posted a Google Earth Map with more than 50 Parade Locations across the U.S.

Light winds and cool weather combined for a great day of racing during today’s Destin World Championship Offshore races. After a 2 hour delay to replace our port engine raw water pump, we motored out to Turn 5 south of Henderson Beach State Park to watch the races and act as a volunteer Patrol Boat guarding the race course from spectator encroachment. Please click on the photo thumbnail to browse our photos from today. Besides the race boats, we captured quite a few spectator boats and of course the Angel Flight helicopters.

The Offshore Super Series returns to Destin for their 2nd annual Destin World Cup races on October 29th. The Race Village this year will be at the Destin Commons with racing to occur along the Destin waterfront east of the pass similar to last year. Official Race information can be found at DestinWorldCup.com. We’ve put together a simple map to show the various venues below.

Offshore racing is exciting to watch, whether from land or sea. We invite you to browse our past coverage, videos, and photos from last year’s Destin Championship and this year’s Thunder on the Gulf races in Orange Beach.

We missed the Emerald Coast Poker Run this year due to conflicting schedules with the Offshore Super Series powerboat races over in Orange Beach. By most accounts the poker run was a big success this year, but it was tempered by an accident in Destin Pass during aerial filming (not part of the official event). Fortunately no one was killed, but some of the passengers did receive major injuries.

The accident victims were gracious enough to release the video of the accident to help promote boating safety. (more…)

We put together a short video clip from the Sunday afternoon Offshore Super Series race at Orange Beach. The sound doesn’t really do the race justice, but it does give a good sense of the action as boats got plenty of air time in the 2-4′ seas. Be sure to check out our Offshore Racing Category for more photos and video.

Sunday’s races were anything but boring as the competitive spirit and choppy seas combined for great action. DestinSharks had a front-row seat at Turn 4 thanks to Rod Koberg from SouthCoastSegway on his 42′ Trawler ‘Antares’. It will take us a few days to go completely through the 650+ photos from yesterday’s race and the more than 1000 photos for the weekend, but in the mean time, please click on the photo at left to enjoy our ‘Sunday Race Highlights’ album. These photos have not been cropped, so click on the thumbnails to see the full pictures. (more…)

Thanks to the wonders of cell-phone data plans, we’re able to offer highlights from today’s opening of Thunder on the Gulf 2007 - Offshore Super Series at Orange Beach, Alabama. Spectators braved the heat and sun in large numbers and parking was scarce along the waterfront. (more…)

It’s a busy weekend for boating from Orange Beach to Destin along the Gulf Coast. We’re heading over to Big Lagoon State park for the weekend to camp and cover the Offshore Super Series Thunder on the Gulf Races. Look for race photos and coverage on DestinSharks early next week.

This weekend is also the weekend for the Emerald Coast Poker Run - one of the largest such events in the world. If history is any guide, over 400 boats will ply the waters between Destin and Pensacola to get their cards.

We wish everyone a great time on the water - boat safe, sober, and hydrated!