Customer Reviews

Cruising Guide to Western Florida

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Excellent and exhaustive book. Graphics are black and white, and a bit hard to read, but with the appropriate charts makes a super guide.

CLaiborne, like all his books, does an outstanding job. There is little to guess at, and he takes no chances in describing areas. If he says it is shallow, it is shallow. If he says do not go there without risk taking, then heed his advice. It would be nice if this book covered all of west FLA, but you have to buy another to cover the upper part.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton ("It was a dark and stormy night...), move over! If you can stomach Claiborne Young's cutesy, "irrepressible little-old me" writing style, this guide offers a wealth of detailed and useful information, as do his many other guides. The cringe factor is less prevalent in the navigational sections of the book, which I find the most concise and useful.

Claiborne Young is his usual, informative self in compiling this excellent guide to cruising the Western Florida Region. He provides ample information including photos, detailed descriptions, waypoints and specifics useful to both sailors and power boaters. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning to cruise the beautiful Western Florida waters.

Mr. Young's cruising guides continue to impress us as the most useful and comprehensive available, particularly when linked with his excellent web-site.

All of these books are wonderful references. We use them as much as we can.