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Old 22-12-2016, 06:02   #1
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Bahamas Cruising Guides

So many cruising guides out there and no way to skim through them on the internet.

What guides do people recommend for the Bahamas?
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Old 22-12-2016, 06:26   #2
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

While not a "Cruising Guide", the Explorer Charts are the gold standard.
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Old 22-12-2016, 06:35   #3
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

Active Captain is updated by the minute
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Old 22-12-2016, 06:41   #4
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

For the Abacos, I don't think you can beat Steve Dodge's book.

The Cruising Guide to Abaco, Bahamas: 2017 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0932265979..._rx-wyb9EFNBBQ
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Old 22-12-2016, 07:14   #5
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

No doubt the Explorer Charts are the gold standard for navigation but they don't really give much information beyond that.

If you want details about marinas, restaurants, bars (surely Sailorboy1 would never frequent that sort of establishment), local sites, etc then a guidebook is wanted.

The old, original is the Yachtsman's Guide to the Bahamas. Includes routes, navigation, harbor details etc but also all the info mentioned above. I think the Waterway Guide has a Bahamas edition that offers the same info but I haven't personally seen their book.
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Old 22-12-2016, 07:30   #6
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cotemar View Post
Active Captain is updated by the minute
Yes. Maybe the best resource for marinas, anchoraging, etc but not much info about restaurants and beeratoriums.
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Old 22-12-2016, 07:36   #7
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

We like:

Cruising Guide to the Abacos, Dodge
The Exuma Guide, Pavlidis

As others have said already: Explorer Chart books and Active Captain comments.
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Old 22-12-2016, 08:10   #8
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

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Originally Posted by jcapo View Post
While not a "Cruising Guide", the Explorer Charts are the gold standard.


Does anyone know when the next Explorer Chart update will come out?
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Old 22-12-2016, 09:00   #9
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

For what its worth, we bought the supposedly latest Pavlidis cruising guides--all three--on line from his web site about 18 months ago. I was very disappointed to discover that the latest printing (based upon the copyright stamp) was 2010 and, in reading the text, many of the referrals are made to 2008-'09 which, in my view, is pretty seriously out of date given the shifting nature of the bottom and conditions in the Bahamas. Note too that the editing is terrible. In many places whole paragraphs of text are repeated, sometimes seemingly at random, and there is (in my view) whole sections devoted to material irrelevant to pertinent, current, information. And reference chartlets are often, if not universally, displaced from the text that describes their features so one has to keep flipping back and forth between the pages with the chartlets and the relevant text. Frankly, while some swear by the books, I was not impressed and would be very circumspect about relying on a good deal of the information without first being able the confirm it with a survey by dinghy--particularly with respect to passes over shallows where one has narrow margins for error.

Again, FWIW...
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Old 22-12-2016, 09:20   #10
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

Also, on the dodge website you can also download the route and waypoint files for your GPS that are covered in the book. It's around $5 and saves you from having to punch anything in manually.
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Old 22-12-2016, 10:01   #11
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

In addition to the above, we also used the Waterway Guide. Lots of current, useful info.


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Old 22-12-2016, 10:44   #12
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

The Explorer Charts website has some good, current information, e.g., fuel and dockage prices for various marinas.

Welcome to Explorer Chartbooks
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Old 22-12-2016, 14:47   #13
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Bahamas Cruising Guides

I have Yachtsman's guide and Waterway guide, I can't validate either, but can verify both exist and claim to be updated.
In Florida so far I have relied heavily on Active Capt.
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Old 22-12-2016, 15:23   #14
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

I like Pavlidis. Some of his info. might seem a bit dated but he does give good background information and some interesting stories. As for shifting nature of the bottom that svHyLyte mentions I haven't seen a lot of changes in the bottom. The sand bores increase or decrease at a very slow rate. I enjoy Pavlidis' stories. Now I don't think Pavlidis has been in the Bahamas since 2002 or 2003 when I last saw him there but his guides are very good reading. For piloting use Explorer charts.

Whatever you do don't waste your money on the Bahamas Yachtsmans Guide
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Old 23-12-2016, 05:08   #15
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Re: Bahamas Cruising Guides

[QUOTE=skipmac;2285536

If you want details about marinas, restaurants, bars (surely Sailorboy1 would never frequent that sort of establishment),
[/QUOTE]

They had those in the Bahamas?
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