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.

While many of us dream of a circumnavigation, Frank and Karen Taylor are turning theirs into reality this summer. Frank, the author of the Google Earth Blog has been planning the trip since their last family adventure - a year-long Caribbean sail in their prior boat PatiCat.

Their new boat is a St Francis 50 Catamaran named ‘Tahina’ built in South Africa and equipped for blue-water sailing. Sarah and I had the pleasure to spend a few days with Frank and Karen on the boat during this spring’s Miami Boat Show and I’m sure boat will serve them well during their trip.

As an active advocate for Google Earth and Destin Sharks’ ‘EarthNC‘ line of Google Earth nautical content, Frank will be keeping an active multimedia blog of his trip at www.TahinaExpedition.com. He’s posted a rough draft of his circumnavigation plan below. We wish Frank and Karen the best as they start their journey and hope to meet up with them here-and-there during their trip.