Customer Reviews

Cruising Guide to Eastern Florida

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3 star:		(2)
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Super book and a must have book. If Claiborne says be cautious in an area, you better be cautious. We used it extensively and it is a must have book. A little more information on best places to stay for taking a trip to the Bahamas would be a good tie-into that route. St. John's River

If you want the best of the "local skinny" then study Claiborne Young's guides that range from NC down and around Florida to the northern Gulf of Mexico. He writes and reports from personal visits and calls them as he sees them . . with no advertising clients interests to serve or cater to.
Another MUST and his Florida Keys guide is really up to date covering storm impacts from 2004 and 2005.

There is one thing about the book that bothers me a bit. It is written exclusively in North - South direction. All the descriptions, details and warnings work wonderfully if you intend to sail southbound on the ICW, but things get a lot more complicated when changing direction. This may sound silly at first, but when considering that the author has really detailed descriptions in the book, sometimes from marker to marker, reversing everything turns into a real piece of work. You basically end up re-editing significant portions of the book, having to start at the end of a chapter, working your way backward and turning every starboard to port, every East to West, and so on. So here is a challenge for the author: How about publishing the same book in reverse? You could earn double the money, and it would be much easier to follow when traveling in the opposite direction.

I ordered this guide with the hopes that it had detailed charts. Instead it has a lot of pictures and paragraphs of advice, probably all good, but it is very weak on charts. Also, all photos and the charts it does have are in black and white; a minor thing, but I would be more impressed with color and more detail in the charts. I will keep the book for its writeups and descriptions, but in my opinion it is overpriced and I would not advise its purchase.