The Bahamas Cruising Guide: With the Turks and Caicos Islands

This comprehensive cruising guide will hit just about everything on your wish list, whether you're just beginning to think about cruising in the Bahamas, actively planning your trip, or on the water with the islands already in sight. The promise of the book is that it will take cruising guides into the 21st century, and it certainly achieves its aim. The clear, precise advice is set out in an attractive, pleasant-to-read format that brings the text alive on every page, and the sailing directions are combined with great reference sections on virtually every on-shore resource from laundries to nightlife.

Not only will you use this guide, but you'll find its engaging, witty style makes it a very entertaining read. Mathew Wilson's skills as a sailor and storyteller are well matched as he uses both to advantage, interspersing solid cruising advice with funny personal anecdotes, informing and entertaining his readers at the same time.

The Bahamas Cruising Guide offers newcomers a helping hand right from the start with an introductory section that provides great advice on `eyeball navigation,' and the Guide's sketch charts, with Bahamian waters color-coded for depth, make coastal navigation almost intuitive. The exhaustive reference section includes Blue Pages for Navigation, Seamanship, and Preparation; Green Pages for History, Wildlife, Fishing, and Diving; and Buff Pages for everything to do with the Bahamian infrastructure, from entry formalities to holidays and special events. However, the book's greatest single reference resource is its Yellow Pages, which tell you what you need to know about every port-of-call, and suggests ideas for what you might want to do when you get there.

The Bahamas Cruising Guide is the first new guide covering all the Bahamas in over 40 years. Reading this makes one wonder how visitors to the Bahamas managed so long without it.


Professial Presentation But Dangerous Information   August 2, 2000
STEPHEN SIMPSON (Australia)
35 out of 35 found this review helpful

I used this book from April to June 2000 cruising the Bahamas on our way to Panama via the Windward Passage.I found if the wind blew from the east then the book did not give information on other anchorages that one could change to E.G. White Cay Berri Islands and Stanley Cay in the Exums.In other instances the best anchorages were not even mentioned by Wilson. The books G.P.S. waypoints were dangerous wrong E.G.George Town .The lack of information on entrances from the sound to the banks E.G. The entrance to Thunder Ball Cave area .It is my belief that this book is dangerous and it is best to find another guide book.


Looks good but disappointing in use   June 14, 2000
Capt. Hal Sutphen (Kilmarnock, VA)
29 out of 29 found this review helpful

During a cruise through the Bahamas in the spring of 2000, this guide was a great disappointment. The BA charts are woefully lacking in detail -- especially depths -- and discussions of shore sites are in many cases unduly negative. We visited a number of places about which Mr. Wilson used disparaging terms and found them delightful. Coverage of the Exumas assumes one is approaching from the banks side and gives little attention to approaches from Exuma Sound. In some places the author gets on a soapbox for environmental concerns and in other places he tacitly approves practices (such as feeding fish at snorkel sites) that are not ecologically sound. Fails to acknowledge existence of the Explorer series of charts that are by far the best for practical use in the area. In general, the "yellow pages" info is current and useful, but all things considered, there are better cruising guides for the Bahamas.


The new standard in quality cruising guides   February 11, 2000
Bruce Nelson (Oceanus.net)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I have several Bahamas cruising guides and this is the BEST ! I live in the Bahamas and have found things here I did not know. It is accurate, easy to read,and well written. I highly reccomend this book to anybody that is interested in cruising the Bahamas or even those interested in the Bahamas at all. A REALLY GOOD BOOK ! Head and shoulders above the rest of the Bahamian cruising guides!


Have to buy a different guide because this one is so bad   August 19, 2005
Catherine Cornish
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I liked the look of this one in the shop and at a first glance it looked like it would have all the info we needed for our cruise on our sailboat through the Bahamas. We found that some topics were ridculously written about, e.g. Gulf Stream Crossing. We agree that this is an important mention but the advice was completely a no brainer. Real advice like, what to do if your'e caught in a norther in the Gulf Stream might have been useful. We also found the author to be non-chalant when talking about passages and channels. We had a terrible experience because of this, read the North West Channel LIght - we encountered 10 foot chop there! Also, the Whale Cay info is not highlighted enough. This is an extremely dangerous area that you MUST study and know before crossing here. We found much of the info for the islands innaccurate. A complete waste of money! We are now looking to purchase the Yachtsma's Guide instead.