The Emerald Coast Poker Run and Boat Week are summer favorites in the Destin/Fort Walton area. Events kick off Wednesday the 12th with Ladies Night at Helen Back cafe and run through the Ski Show at 5pm on Sunday at Scully’s on the Bayou in Fort Walton Beach. In between are the Bikini Contest (Fudpuckers in Destin) on Thursday, Captains’ party and Boat-In Movie on Friday, and of course the breakfast, Poker Run and party on Saturday and the Sunday raft-up at Crab Island.

We’ve put together a map of the events combined with the boating charts for the local area courtesy of EarthNC.com.

The water’s still cold, but boating is heating up on the Emerald Coast. Coming up on May 16th is the 2009 ABWA Billy Bowlegs Poker Run which is a fun way to start the boating season. The ABWA Poker Run requires 5 stops - all in the great Fort Walton Beach, Destin, and Niceville areas so it’s easy on the gas tank and fun for the crew. Most of the participants finish off the morning in Destin Harbor and ‘drive-in’ to the evening dinner and party.

We last did the run in 2007 and are planning to do it again this year in our Regal 2760.

For official information visit the ABWA Website

We put together an interactive map of the poker run complete with stops, charts, and more at our sister site EarthNC.com.

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.

While the traditional North American boating season runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, September and October mark one of our favorite times on the Gulf Coast. Daytime temperatures are ‘moderating’ into the mid-80’s and nighttime lows on the water finally get to the low 70’s.

When the weather so beckons, we usually find ourselves running down to Spectre Island, a small island in Santa Rosa Sound on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway about 5 miles west of Fort Walton Beach. Spectre offers a deep water harbor off the ICW and quiet beaches for the kids. Evening during the summer, we usually have the island to ourselves if we go out during the week. Click on the photo to see some highlight pictures from one of our trips out.

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.

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 was great to get back on the water after a months down-time due to engine problems. Today’s weather was ideal with light winds and a cool start to the morning. We made a fast drive to Navarre Beach running with a steady stream of traffic headed to the Pensacola Beach Blue Angels Airshow. Returning eastbound made for more sporty driving while crossing wakes large and small. The family enjoyed a leisurely swim and snack at Spectre Island prior to coming home. Click on the image to see our photo gallery of some of the boats we met along the way.

Great weather prevailed this weekend as we explored east into Choctawhatchee Bay to Hogtown Bayou and then relaxed at Crab Island on the return to Fort Walton Beach. Besides stretching the legs on our Regal 2760, we were also collecting up a host of a new waterway photos to use with our EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth.

Click on the photo at left to see highlights from our day.