Best cruising guides Keys and Bahamas: Bimini to Nassau and Exumas?

[Pelham]

Greetings all,

I'm working on planning a trip down from the gulf coast (Mobile, AL) to the Dry Tortugas, then around Florida (probably via the Hawk Channel) and over to the Bahamas - making the crossing to Bimini.

In the Bahamas, we'll probably head from Bimini over to Chub Key and down to Nassau to pick up some crew who are flying in, and then down to the Exumas for a few weeks.

On the way home we're considering a stop off at Andros too - time and weather permitting.

I wondered if I might get some recommendations on the best guide books for the Keys, and the Bahamas - most specifically the Exumas.

I've got a copy of the 2006 Yachtsman's guide, but was considering a few others and wanted to get opinions on these and others.

For the Keys:
Frank Papy's Cruising Guide to the Florida Keys
Skipper Bob's Cruising the Gulf Coast

For the Bahamas:
Yachtsman's Guide 2006
Skipper Bob Bahamas Bound
Pavlidis' The Exuma Guide

Any others I need to consider or can / should this list be reduced at all? As always, space is a premium on board, but one good tip can easily make the book worthwhile.


For navigation we'll be using the NOAA charts for the US, Explorer charts for the Bahamas and Fugawi GPS software.

Also while I'm at it -- given our itinerary - where's the best place to start the crossing to Bimini? It seems like it might work fine to start further south than Miami since the stream will push us north, but that's not a route I've seen given much consideration.

Thanks for any suggestions.


Cheers,
Pelham