Good Book or Guide for Circumnavigating via Cape of Good Hope ?

[Off Duty]

I am a sailing enthusiast but due to the requirement to work to pay the bills, I have to stay local and sail my Beneteau 351 up and down the Ottawa River over and over as we are landlocked. It's the farthest thing from circumnavigating the world but one day my wife and I will retire and then the plan is to sell the house, cars etc and buy a cruising Cat and sail around the world. Since I can't do it now I have to live vicariously through other people. So I have 5 separate magazine subscriptions of the various cruising magazines and Amazon must love me for all of the sailing and cruising themed books I buy. I read a lot.

So now here is the question. With my passion to learn as much as I can before I go I am drawn to books and guides that are about circumnavigating the world. I like to read about the places I really shouldn't miss and the places you really should skip. It seems every book I read on the matter always does it by going through the Gulf of Aden, through the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. I have heard nothing in the news or sailing magazine articles that make either me or my wife want to take that route. It's not just the threat of Somali Pirates but it seems like the "land pirates" are just as bad and are guaranteed to get you. By land pirates I mean the shifty agents that you use in each port to get the basic restocking of food, fuel and water and of course the Suez Canal Authority with their constant demands and expectations of "backsheesh" (bribes) that they feel entitled to. It seems that there is no way around a ton of headaches if you go through the Suez Canal route so it only makes sense for us to avoid it all together and go by way of South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.

Is there a good book or guide that goes into detail (pictures are always nice too) on taking that route? I bought a book called "Around the World Sailing Guide" from Amazon kindle store for my iPad and it was a decent book but it went into detail about Suez path and only mentioned in passing that there is another way by South Africa but didn't go into detail. The author said he circumnavigated 3 times but all three times he took the Suez path. You'd think at least once he would try the other way so he could try something new. At least that way he could have given the pros and cons of each route.

On a side note. Although it is still 5-10 years away the boat I am leaning toward for such a trip is an Antares 44i. It seems like a true blue water boat and it is built as a cruising boat with all the bells and whistles included ( water maker, generator, solar panels etc etc) that I would have to add to say a Fountaine Pajot 48 which is more designed for the charter business. Any thoughts on my boat selection? It would be for just my wife and I, although I'm sure we will have guests along the way from time to time.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[cwyckham]

The books "Just Cruising" and "Still Cruising" are about a family who take the route you're interested in. I'm sure Cornell's World Cruising Routes will have all the technical details of season and routing.

PS if you have two questions, you should start two threads

[Off Duty]

Thanks. I will check out those two books.

[sck5]

Check out this site

Marine ebooks by Tony Herrick (some free) of cruising guides, sailing, yachting and general boating subjects for download.

This guy sails out of South Africa and has cruising guides for Durban, the South African coast and the Indian Ocean