A book to watch out for...

[ssullivan]

Hi Folks,

We are now at Put-In-Bay in Ohio, West End of Lake Erie. It was an interesting cruise from Sturgeon Bay, WI. The Lakes have been beautiful despite the lack of wind. They are quite calm compared to the ocean and it's a real kick to have absolutely no tide to worry about. Anchoring is a breeze!

One thing anyone should watch out for here is a certain book we purchased. We got a book called "Waterway Guide" 2005 "Great Lakes". Their website is waterwayguide.com. This book has so many errors in it that it's downright dangerous. We spent the 3 hours yesterday south of Detroit in the Detroit River going from facility to facility, grounding at several because this book quoted inaccurate depts both on approach and dockside. We finally found one marina that would fit our 5'5" draft... in Ontario on that side. Incredible how "optimistic" this book is both with depths and with facilities. Places were mentioned to have a ship's store, and didn't have one at all. Phone numbers rang through to faxes, etc... etc.... We had all these issues, and we weren't even really cruising the area... just making stops on a delivery. We stopped at no less than 4 fuel docks along the way that had depths quoted as passable for our 5'5" vessel, only to find upon arrival that the book was incorrect.

Steer clear of this book and just go with what the locals use... Richardson's Chart Kit. If there is any other guide to the Great Lakes, I would go with that over this book.

[GordMay]

Sean:
THANKS for the review!