"Lee Huddleston" wrote in message
.. .
The guides seem
to rarely tell about very many good anchorages and, importantly, where
you can land your dingy. Can anyone recommend guides for the East
Coast and the Bahamas that emphasis anchoring or at least give it fair
coverage?


Skipper Bob's Anchorages Along the Intracoastal Waterway has served us well.

Leanne
s/v Fundy

Skipper Bob's Anchorages Along the Intracoastal Waterway has served us well.

I found it to be so-so. It showed anchorages, including anchorages that
weren't there and anchorages you didn't want to go into that righ next to
anchorages that you did. A good set of current charts seemed to be more
useful.

(JAXAshby) wrote:

Skipper Bob's Anchorages Along the Intracoastal Waterway has served us well.

I found it to be so-so. It showed anchorages, including anchorages that
weren't there and anchorages you didn't want to go into that righ next to
anchorages that you did. A good set of current charts seemed to be more
useful.

I like Skipper Bob's anchorage book mostly for the information on the
bridge openings. [He suggests BTW that you set the bridge location as
a GPS waypoint (which he also gives in the anchorage book) and "goto"
it at a speed to get there at the time of the opening. I haven't
tried that, but it might work.]

A good set of current charts IS very useful, the operative word being
CURRENT. In the Bahamas, for instance, the Explorer charts are more
current and helpful than the Maptech charts.

And with his book you have to look and see what kind of boat (what
draft and length) the person recommending the anchorage has before you
can determine whether it is suitable for you. For instance, I saw a
catamaran anchored just northwest of the north Ft. Pierce bascule
bridge in April. We couldn't anchor there, as it was way too shallow,
but it was apparently OK for him. Skipper Bob has an anchorage listed
southwest of this bridge, which we have used, but there are lumps in
that anchorage which don't show on the chart.

Any book on anchorages must necessarily be out of date and incomplete.
You do have to look at the charts. His book gives you the experience
of others as a guide - local information at long distance so to speak.

Cruiser's chat on the VHF or SSB also gives you local information -
primarily on BAD places to anchor.

Before we went down the ICW to Florida the first time, I emailed some
local Florida people, and they gave me several anchorages that they'd
used.

We tried a couple of times to anchor at Newfound Harbor (Hawk Channel
in the Keys) based on a guidebook's (not Skipper Bob) recommendation
and were unsuccessful until a guy anchored farther up who recognized
us from Fernandina Beach came over in his dinghy and told us that we
should come up closer to the highway. We had avoided that because the
charts didn't show much water up there, but we followed his advice and
were much more successful.

Sometimes we anchor by necessity where no one has recommended
anchoring and sometimes where no sane person would ever recommend
anchoring. Sometimes we see why no person has recommended it, and
sometimes it works out OK. All the cruising guides can do is give
recommendations and local rules (like places where you are prohibited
from anchoring or only allowed to anchor for 24 hours, and places
where there is a fee for anchoring.) Actually anchoring is up to you.

grandma Rosalie

Location29 wrote:
I've only got $20,000 for a boat and a paltry $1500.
a month in income is there any hope for me to cruise fulltime
or should I just go buy a condo with a water view?

A condo would be a lot less work. But you have much less flexibility in
choosing your neighbors.

DSK

Where can you find a water view condo for $20K?
DSK wrote:

Location29 wrote:

I've only got $20,000 for a boat and a paltry $1500.
a month in income is there any hope for me to cruise fulltime or
should I just go buy a condo with a water view?


A condo would be a lot less work. But you have much less flexibility
in choosing your neighbors.

DSK

Hey, let me know where you can buy a waterfront condo for $20,000!!!

Seriously, you can cruise on that. You'll just have to anchor out all the
time, eat very simply (catch lots of fish) and not eat out in restaurants,
and stay the hell away from marinas. You'll have to figure out what you're
going to do about insurance, maybe none. That ends up being one of the
biggest costs besides maintenance for cruising boats.

--


Keith
__
Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What
are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their
pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they
deliver the mail?
"Location29" wrote in message
...
I've only got $20,000 for a boat and a paltry $1500.
a month in income is there any hope for me to cruise fulltime
or should I just go buy a condo with a water view?

On 03 May 2004 05:17:00 GMT, (Location29) wrote:

I've only got $20,000 for a boat and a paltry $1500.
a month in income is there any hope for me to cruise fulltime
or should I just go buy a condo with a water view?

From my experience, a single male can cruise comfortably on a 20K boat
with $1,500 a month living expense. Add a female to the mix and your
entry level boat goes to about 125K and monthly expenses begin at
about $6,000.

bb

But you are not bitter bb ........ ;-)


"bb" wrote in message
...
On 03 May 2004 05:17:00 GMT, (Location29) wrote:

I've only got $20,000 for a boat and a paltry $1500.
a month in income is there any hope for me to cruise fulltime
or should I just go buy a condo with a water view?

From my experience, a single male can cruise comfortably on a 20K boat
with $1,500 a month living expense. Add a female to the mix and your
entry level boat goes to about 125K and monthly expenses begin at
about $6,000.

bb

"bb" wrote in message
...
From my experience, a single male can cruise comfortably on a 20K boat
with $1,500 a month living expense. Add a female to the mix and your
entry level boat goes to about 125K and monthly expenses begin at
about $6,000.

bb
"Pat Noonan" wrote in message
...
But you are not bitter bb ........ ;-)



No, just realistic :{))

Citing personal experience, if I were to do it alone (which I probably
wouldn't - who wants to do all that neat stuff without sharing it??), I
could have easily bought the first boat we bareboated - a Freedom 32 which
needed some work - at 20k this year. At that price, with a cash purchase,
I'd self-insure.

It would have been fine for me - alone - and I have no doubt that I could
have added a couple grand worth of renewable power, and ditched the engine,
which was a recently rebuilt (but not yet reinstalled - it broke when we had
it, and hadn't been installed after rebuild nearly two years later) 3GM30,
perhaps at a net no-change. I have no doubt whatsoever that left to my own
devices I could live on less than 100 a month, plus upkeep/maintenance.

However, in the end, we bought in that price range. Luckily for us, I don't
think it will take the monthly costs to make it, as we share the same
philosophy - but if she liked wine more, and the AC at the dock, we could
easily be in the second range, too.

As Rick said, you have to seriously monitor your current lifestyle to see
what you're willing to do without...

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2


--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a
clear night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize
that you are quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to
you that in the general scheme of things you are merely an
insignificant speck on the surface of the ocean; and are not nearly
so important or as self-sufficient as you thought you were. Which is
an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one that may effect a
permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly appreciated
by your friends." - James S. Pitkin

(Location29) wrote in message ...
I've only got $20,000 for a boat and a paltry $1500.
a month in income is there any hope for me to cruise fulltime
or should I just go buy a condo with a water view?

Hi...
Been there..Done that..(almost)
Bought My MAC X-boat last year AND living on half that.
Go2 my page and see AND keep in touch...

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/WritersWeb/update3.html