Outdoors

Gulf and Bay: News and notes

By RODNEY PAGE, Times Staff Writer
Published February 8, 2008

Boating

Florida Defies Trend of fewer Registered boats

The National Marine Manufacturers Association recently released its 2006 recreational boating statistics, and once again Florida leads the nation in registered boats. There were 988,652 vessels recorded in 2006, up 1.5 percent from the 2005 totals, with personal watercraft registration mainly responsible for the increase (up 4.4 percent). California was second with 893,828 registrations. Nationwide, however, boat registrations actually fell 1.5 percent from 2005 for a total of 12.7-million vessels registered in the United States. The study is based on data collected from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2007, as reported by the 50 states.

Check it out

Nature writer shares passion

Nature writer Susan Cerulean will be busy next week in St. Petersburg. She will conduct a nature writing workshop Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. at USF-St. Petersburg. On Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. there will be a screening of Cerulean's documentary, The Wild Heart of Florida. And on Thursday, the Cerulean tour ends with a nature walk through the Weedon Island Preserve from 5-7 p.m. On all three days, Cerulean will also host a workshop at Boyd Hill Nature Park from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Each workshop is $20. For information on events at USF-St. Petersburg, call 873-4961. For the Weedon Island workshops, call (727) 453-6500.

This invasion is without pirates

A reminder that Tampa Bay will be filled with sailboats for the National Offshore One-Design (NOOD) Regatta on Feb. 15-17. It is the first in a series of nine NOOD races across the country throughout the year. The St. Petersburg Yacht Club is hosting the event. Races begin at 9:30 a.m. each day. For information, go to www.sailingworld.com.

Blogs

Tracking Tomalin actually easy task

Don't forget to check out Times Outdoors Editor Terry Tomalin's blog, The Wild Side. Topics can range anywhere from the Swamp Ape to watching the Super Bowl on a 32-inch, flat-screen, HDTV in the middle of Myakka River State Park. Go to blogs.tampabay.com/outdoors.

[Last modified February 7, 2008, 19:16:04]