looking for a little info or possibly a recommendation for a book on north west anchorages. while I have spent most my life fishing the waters around here but I have never done the cruising and hanging out part. so while most the time on the water is spent with the wife and family, the big appeal to buying the c-dory was the camping/staying on it option. My wife is really hoping to do some weekend trips around here and stay on the boat. we have done the on the dock thing and while that was fun she really wants to anchor up and be a little more of a remote setting and not so much a marina. I figured someone has written a book or has some info to offer up? would like to have at least the first few trips all lined up and not so much a see what we find type trip. we live in sequim so would like to go out of John wayne or the boat haven in PA.
help with anchorages
- Thread starter Jake B
- Start date
Don and Brenda
New member
I use Waggoners guide among a few others
Jake,
Another one that is popular is the "Exploring..." guides by FineEdge. I like them for the way they are organized, photos, drawings, GPS waypoints, and readable text. They have good track drawings and descriptions for passage ways.
San Juan and Gulf Islands:
http://www.fineedge.com/NAUTICAL%20BOOKS/sanjuan.html
I know there are others available, but these are what I found that I liked to start with, and I have used them with reasonable success.
I have one you are welcome to look at if you want.
Harvey
SleepyC:moon
Another one that is popular is the "Exploring..." guides by FineEdge. I like them for the way they are organized, photos, drawings, GPS waypoints, and readable text. They have good track drawings and descriptions for passage ways.
San Juan and Gulf Islands:
http://www.fineedge.com/NAUTICAL%20BOOKS/sanjuan.html
I know there are others available, but these are what I found that I liked to start with, and I have used them with reasonable success.
I have one you are welcome to look at if you want.
Harvey
SleepyC:moon
20dauntless
New member
I work for Fine Edge. We publish the Dreamspeaker, Douglass, and Waggoner guides. They're all good and I recommend that you look through each before deciding which one to buy.
To me the Dreamspeaker books are the nicest to look through. They're artistic yet accurate, with beautifully drawn maps. I enjoy flipping through the pages and dreaming of the next destination.
The Douglass books are more technical and to the point. They're not much to look at, but they have superb information and are probably the most complete of any of the guides for anchorages.
Both Dreamspeaker and Douglass books are somewhat out of date since they're only updated periodically. Not a big deal for the anchorages, but it can be for marinas.
The Waggoner Guide is the cheapest (thanks to advertising) and covers the widest area (Olympia to Ketchikan). It's an annual, so the information is much more recent than in many other cruising guides. The Waggoner is the best resource (I think) for info on marinas and includes contact information, services available at marinas, etc. It also covers many anchorages. I think every PNW cruiser should have one aboard and supplement it with other cruising guides as needed.
To me the Dreamspeaker books are the nicest to look through. They're artistic yet accurate, with beautifully drawn maps. I enjoy flipping through the pages and dreaming of the next destination.
The Douglass books are more technical and to the point. They're not much to look at, but they have superb information and are probably the most complete of any of the guides for anchorages.
Both Dreamspeaker and Douglass books are somewhat out of date since they're only updated periodically. Not a big deal for the anchorages, but it can be for marinas.
The Waggoner Guide is the cheapest (thanks to advertising) and covers the widest area (Olympia to Ketchikan). It's an annual, so the information is much more recent than in many other cruising guides. The Waggoner is the best resource (I think) for info on marinas and includes contact information, services available at marinas, etc. It also covers many anchorages. I think every PNW cruiser should have one aboard and supplement it with other cruising guides as needed.
Sam,
And that, Friends, is from a pro cruiser as well, not just a "works for" guy. For those who don't know Sam, check out his blog. (Alaska via inland passage and next is Vancouver Island circum nav.)
Thanks for the delineation on the cruising guides Sam. I didn't realize that they were all through FineEdge. Glad to see they are locally produced.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
And that, Friends, is from a pro cruiser as well, not just a "works for" guy. For those who don't know Sam, check out his blog. (Alaska via inland passage and next is Vancouver Island circum nav.)
Thanks for the delineation on the cruising guides Sam. I didn't realize that they were all through FineEdge. Glad to see they are locally produced.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
Hi Jake,
I agree that Waggoner's is a good series. Two other resources, put out by government agencies (I forget which, and my copies are in winter storage) are Coastal Pilot (US) (USCGS?) and Sailing Directions (Canada) (CHS?) I haven't used the US volume in a long time, but it contains similar stuff to the Canadian publication.
Sailing Directions has sea level and aerial photos of approaches, passages, and channels, with extensive descriptions and warnings. Before you head out to new places, read it through the pertinent parts - with your finger on a paper chart. I find it amazing how much stuff my finger will not see until I have read the prose - BAM! Then it jumps off the chart. Submerged rocks appear, right where I probably would pass, more often than I like, and they can creep onto, and through, your chart plotter pretty quickly in a motor boat.
Once I've got that out of the way, Waggoner's can put a more personal touch on the newest renovations, etc., at the destination (how far to the nearest pub and bakery?) :wink:
Rod
I agree that Waggoner's is a good series. Two other resources, put out by government agencies (I forget which, and my copies are in winter storage) are Coastal Pilot (US) (USCGS?) and Sailing Directions (Canada) (CHS?) I haven't used the US volume in a long time, but it contains similar stuff to the Canadian publication.
Sailing Directions has sea level and aerial photos of approaches, passages, and channels, with extensive descriptions and warnings. Before you head out to new places, read it through the pertinent parts - with your finger on a paper chart. I find it amazing how much stuff my finger will not see until I have read the prose - BAM! Then it jumps off the chart. Submerged rocks appear, right where I probably would pass, more often than I like, and they can creep onto, and through, your chart plotter pretty quickly in a motor boat.
Once I've got that out of the way, Waggoner's can put a more personal touch on the newest renovations, etc., at the destination (how far to the nearest pub and bakery?) :wink:
Rod
20dauntless":2c9tpay0 said:
We have all the above-mentioned guides, I don't work for Fine Edge, and I would agree exactly with Sam's descriptions. For the north coast of BC and SE Alaska, I'd say the Douglass guides are essential.
Just for grins: it happens that our cruising buddies' blue-hulled 32 Nordic Tug, Toot Sweet, is in the cover photo of this year's Waggoner. They're planning to leave Everett for SE AK this morning. We're planning to meet up in Craig, on the west side of Prince of Wales I.