[WHOOSH]

Sadie:

"If you have any guides/books that you really liked, I''d love to know."

VanSant''s Passages South, no matter what route you choose, is IMO a ''must''. His discussion on pulling down and using wx products alone justifies the purchase.

If cruising Jamaica, John Lethbridge''s Jamaica Cruising Guide (sold now by his wife, I hear), while dated, is still very useful. Good harbor/anchorage charts. Little has changed in Jamaica.

Find an old used copy of Wallace Stone''s Cruising Guide to the Caribbean; while researched and written 30-35 years ago, it covers some areas that have changed little (S coast of Hispaniola, Bay Is. are both examples) and the wx info and routing strategies haven''t changed a wit. Should only cost you a few bucks.

I happen to like Steve Pavlidis guides and recommend them, most especially the T&C and Puerto Rico guides. He''s a friend and perhaps that shapes my opinion some, but I find him sympathetic to the islander''s view of life and he works hard to offer credible history about each of these island nations, often using original sources. The chartlets of the anchorages in his books are excellent, altho'' I hear the electronic versions may not work well with some charting software.

Rauscher''s is the only viable guide for the W Caribbean, tho'' inevitably it is out of date due to storm damage...and her publisher is IMO too wary of offering GPS waypoints, which makes the charts of lessened utility.

Yachtie guides often seem to omit huge chunks of relevant landside info on history, culture, language, museums and transportation, when in fact that''s what yachties most need once they step ashore. We very much have benefited by Lonely Planet guides for the island nations we spent time visiting. Since you can''t buy them all, perhaps the one at the top of your list should be the LP (or similar) guide for Puerto Rico, if that''s in your future. It is our very own Commonwealth, and we their mother country, yet we Americans are ignorant of and treat her dysfunctionally. Maybe someday an American administration will wake up to the one part of the Caribbean - a proud part but also indulged in and spoiled - that is our very own, and makes up part of who we are...but in the meantime, we cruisers can start the process.

Finally, consider buying the SSCA CD that I always mention; it''s got 8 years of monthly bulletins written by cruising sailors, with a great deal of Caribbean content. It''s only about $20 (go to www.ssca.org, visit the store and select ''Pubs'') and offers more value per dollar than any other item I''ve listed except Stone''s guide. (And FWIW I wrote up a summary of our routing thru the Central Caribbean that has waypoints, anchorages, etc. and which may prove useful to you. Search under ''WHOOSH'').

Good luck!

Jack