cruising guides

mjrm316 · #1 (**permalink**) 09-16-2005

Hello all.
We''re (the bartender and I) are planning on cruising the caribbean for about three months beginning in march ''06. Does anyone know of any good caribbean cruising guide books? I suppose we''re looking for a "Let''s Go", "Frommer''s", or "Lonely Planet" type of guide that is geared towards sailors. Something that covers ports, marinas, routes, weather, logistics of entering and leaving various countries... the basic how to''s and need to know''s for a couple who have never cruised the caribbean before. Or, if anyone knows of a better way to obtain that type of info, we''d love to hear it!

P.S. The bartender is willing to share some of her secret concoctions for good advise ;-)

jemsea · #2 (**permalink**) 09-18-2005

Chris Doyle Cruising Guides at Amazon.com would be a great place to start.

WHOOSH · #3 (**permalink**) 09-18-2005

MJRM:

It''s unclear to me which type of guide you are looking for. Rough Guides and Lonely Plant Guides are great for those who seek land travel-type info, including history, culture, govt. and other regional info. We use them regularly to help us understand where we''re cruising...or otherwise, why would we bother to be there?

OTOH sailing guides are intended to offer weather & routing info, port and anchorage details, clearance info, etc. As such, Doyle''s guides have in the past been the standard choice in the Caribbean altho'' I find them - mostly - a waste of good money. Steve Pavlidis has recently been authoring a series of new guides on the entire Caribbean and his sketch chartlets alone make them stand out in my mind above the Doyle guides. Doyle will tell you where to get a hamburger or find a great bar; if that''s your interest, buy Doyle. If you want a mix of history & culture but also the nitty gritty on anchoring, berthing, clearing, etc., I find the Pavlidis guides far better.

Jack

mjrm316 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-19-2005

WHOOSH,

Thanks for the ideas. I''ll look around for some guides by Steve Pavlidis. Sounds like he''s covering the info we''re interested in. Besides, everyone already knows where to get a great hamburger anywhere in the World, right. McDonalds of course! I''ll ask the bartender for one of her delicious recipes to pass onto you. And I promise it will be better than my hamburger joke :-)

WHOOSH · #5 (**permalink**) 09-19-2005

MJRM:

In response to your joke, enjoy watching Supersize Me on DVD. Much food for thought... (I couldn''t resist).

Jack