Cruising Guide to Western Florida [Paperback]

Claiborne S. Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1996

This updated guide to the waterways of western Florida provides a useful tool for all cruising boaters - delighting passengers and armchair sailors as well with its good humoured text. It offers readers information on marina's, shoreside attractions, water depths, facilities, anchorages, and local geography, while also covering the history and folklore of the region. From lovely Pine Island South to serene Gasparilla Island and Cabbage Key, this guide describes the splendour of the Withlacoochee, the Steinhatchee and the Suwannee rivers in the Big Ben area, the Ten Thousand Islands down south, and the intracoastal waterways in between. It covers the boating facilities of such towns as Tapron Springs, Dunedin, Clearwater, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, and Naples.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

From the tangled cypress shores of the Little Shark River to the backwater recesses of the Ten Thousand Islands to the wide-open expanse of Tampa Bay, cruising expert and writer Claiborne Young provides an accurate, comprehensive guide to the enchanting waterways of Western Florida. Besides navigational data, this updated sixth edition includes anchorage locales along the entire western shore of the peninsula, from Flamingo to the Big Bend, and directs readers to a variety of popular resorts and marinas, restaurants, local attractions, and historic sites. This guide also gives specific way points for anchorages and marinas and has ratings for transient docking fees. As in his previous books, Young furnishes maps, photographs, and chart references, as well as intriguing historical profiles and coastal folklore, to give visitors the flavor of the region. Sections on unsafe areas and shoals help cruisers avoid dangerous waters. Whether readers are drawn to the best in deck-side dining or to the untouched beauty of the region's more remote waterways, Young provides the perfect source book to meet every traveler's needs. The author and his navigator wife, Karen, are avid, experienced cruisers who have logged countless hours exploring coastal Florida to ensure the accuracy of their descriptions and recommendations. He also has written Coastal Charts for Cruising Guide to Western Florida, a cross-referenced companion volume featuring full-color NOAA charts. For a complete list of Young's cruising guides, please visit www.pelicanpub.com. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

A resident of Elon College, North Carolina, Claiborne S. Young edits the on-line cruising newsletter, Salty Southeast. Youngís books with Pelican have become the gold standard for cruising guides. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pelican Pub Co Inc; 3rd edition (February 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565542037
• ISBN-13: 978-1565542037
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,833,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cruising Guide to Western Florida, April 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cruising Guide to Western Florida (Cruising Guides Series) (Paperback)

This much-needed guide provide a wealth of useful information for the cruising sailor. Written in an enthusiastic and readable style, the author invites the reader to explore the varied cruising grounds of Western Florida. Of great value in this coastline of difficult channels is the detailed information given for each approach, including low water depths in shoal channels. Another feature is a listing of the charts (by number) to cover each area. Photographs and non-navigational charts are also shown throughout the book. Altogether, an informative and useful guide.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No good maps, too detailed, March 9, 2007

By 

M. Clemons (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cruising Guide to Western Florida (6th Edition) (Paperback)

We picked this up for a week-long sailing charter out of Tampa. There is way too much information in here and no really good maps. (Certainly not any larger maps.) We wanted to locate good anchorages for day-fun and overnights.... This caters mostly to people who are looking to dock at a marina. I found the book confusing and not well indexed.... I was hoping for a bareboat charterer's guide like we have found for the Virgin Islands -- This is not it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars petitoiseau, June 20, 2011

By 

D. J. Figley (Ashland Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cruising Guides: Cruising Guide to Western Florida: Seventh Edition (Cruising Guide Series) (Paperback)

The Cruising Guide to Western Florida is chock full of information for the area. I learned things about the area inspite of having spent eight years of my childhood there. You can bet that I will be using this guide when I visit Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound in March 2012. It is an essential tool laid out mile by mile for really appreciating the area.