Good Cruising Guide-Carib & Pacific?

[tobybudd]

Hi, I am looking for a good cruising guide book for the Caribbean and Pacific? Can any one recomend a good one?

Cheers,

Toby

[Hud3]

Hello, Toby, and welcome to Cruisers Forum.

Cruising guides tend to be somewhat geographically limited. For example Chris Doyle's three guides cover the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago. It would help if you were a bit more specific about where you're intending to cruise.

[tobybudd]

Hi thanks for the reply, I have some friends thinking about heading across the Atlantic and possibly on to New Zealand with their kids and looking for a general blue water crusing guide, maybe even a biography to give some thoughts about bw cruising with children.

[KathyParsons]

Wow, there are all sorts of books that are useful when planning and dreaming toward bluewater cruising. In the "cruising guide" category a good first book might be Jimmy Cornell's "World Cruising Routes". It was an early purchase for us - it basically tells you where you can cruise and when and how to get there.

Later on, your friends can get books for specific cruising areas. Chris Doyle's guides are the most useful ones for the Caribbean. Bruce Van Sant's "Gentleman's Guide to Passages South" is useful for boats working their way through the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, DR, etc. to the Caribbean.

Gwen Hamlin has a nice book list on her website: The Two Captains - Reference Shelf

As for biographies of cruising families, Liza Copeland has several books. On our Women and Cruising website, we have a Kids Aboard section on our resources page. That might give you other ideas: Women and Cruising Resources - Useful Addresses, Websites, Books, Tips, Articles, Seminars

Good luck,
Kathy

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Toby,
Welcome aboard! Looks like you've already got some good answers.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[Hud3]

If you mean a general "guide to blue water cruising", rather than cruising guides for specific geographic areas, suggest that they look for anything by Beth Leonard.