Sw Florida and Bahamas guides

[Gaia]

Hi All

We would like recommendations for the best guides for Sw Florida and also one for the Bahamas. I have searched but not found.

We are planning to cruise the area from Tampa to the Keys with company over the hols and then head for the Bahamas early January for the winter.

We bought the Waterway guide in Martinigue before cruising the Bahamas last winter and were not impressed.

No doubt as on most C.F. posts opinions will vary widely but those opinions will help us choose.


Jim

[Vasco]

Stephen Pavlidis' Bahamas guides are very good.

[Davy J]

For many years I recommended a book called The Florida Cruising Directory. They updated every two years. It was a great reference. They stopped producing it, but you might find an out of date copy. Their website:

Index

Frank Papy's "Guide to the Florida Keys" is also good, but is very dated.

[RobD527]

I'm sailing to the Bahamas from SW Florida in 3 weeks for the first time and just bought the Explorer Chartbooks.
After reading them I would say they are the best guidebooks I have ever seen for specific areas

[tomrealest]

I use Explorer Charts.

[mikelawyer]

Waterway Guide Southern 2018: Florida, the Keys and the Gulf Coast
The description is on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998586307..._vWc.BbTQ66ES4

[mikelawyer]

Waterway Guide Southern 2018: Florida, the Keys and the Gulf Coast

The description is available on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998586307..._vWc.BbTQ66ES4

[Buc210]

I have "A Gunkholer's Cruising Guide to Florida's West Coast, 12th Edition." It is over 10 years old so I supplement it by using Active Captain and studying my charts. Lot of nice info on harbors, marinas, amenities but check re: their status by calling the facility. Great cruising area. Much overlooked. Especially with how crowded the Keys, Bahamas get with the southbound folks from the Northeast - you'll find a lot less of a crowd in some of the most beautiful anchorages from Little Shark River down south to Anna Maria Island. Cape Romano, Cayo Costa & Cabbage Key are wonderful places to visit. Fair Winds!

[flyingfin]

For the Abacos, get a copy of Steve Dodge guide from White Sound Press.
For Florida, just use google maps or use on of the many links on cruisers.net

[Gaia]

Many thanks to all for the suggestions, as said earlier we ar not enamored with the waterway guide. Too heavy on marina promotion and too expensive for the meat that is there hence my query.

Jkkm

[mglonnro]

For the Bahamas, here's another vote for Explorer Chartbooks.

For digital charts, I remember reading somewhere that C-Map includes the Explorer charts but Navionics doesn't (due to some copyright/licensing/etc issue). Don't know if that's still true but certainly relevant if it is.

(I bought the C-Map planner to my mobile for that reason. The user interface is unfortunately quite a bit worse than Navionics'.)