Several posters have recommended that you anchor out rather than use
marinas. I completely agree but worry about making that happen. The
cruising guides with which I am familiar tout the marinas (probably
because they are the ones who buy ads in the guides). 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?

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove
lying Sea Gate Marina
Beaufort, NC

Skipper Bob has a book all about anchorages.

http://skipperbob.home.att.net/

However, the best "live on the hook" anchorages you'll have to find on your own.
I have friends who have survived, (thrived, actually) for most of the last 24
years living on roughly the specified amount - it can be done, but it requires
serious adjustment of one's lifestyle.




"Lee Huddleston" wrote in message
.. .
Several posters have recommended that you anchor out rather than use
marinas. I completely agree but worry about making that happen. The
cruising guides with which I am familiar tout the marinas (probably
because they are the ones who buy ads in the guides). 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?

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove
lying Sea Gate Marina
Beaufort, NC

"Jeff Morris" wrote:

Skipper Bob has a book all about anchorages.

http://skipperbob.home.att.net/

However, the best "live on the hook" anchorages you'll have to find on your own.
I have friends who have survived, (thrived, actually) for most of the last 24
years living on roughly the specified amount - it can be done, but it requires
serious adjustment of one's lifestyle.

Skipper Bob's anchorage book is good for the ICW and in addition has
the hailing frequency (which often changes when you go across a state
line), names (what to hail the bridge as is often not on the charts
and it's important to know which bridge you are talking to when there
are several in close proximity), and schedules of the bridges.

He also has a marina book which might be a good idea to have also
(it's inexpensive enough) as it gives the relative prices and
amenities in a table form so you can decide if you want to go into a
marina for a night or two to do the laundry or get water for instance.

For NC, SC, and GA, Claiborne Young's books (although much more
expensive) are really excellent for anchorages. I haven't seen his
Florida books (he has one for the east coast and the west coast and
has collaborated on a Keys book too). He covers the whole state and
not just the ICW. And (particularly important in Georgia with larger
tides) indicates what kind of swing room is available for various size
boats.

For the Chesapeake, I really like the Gunkholer's Guide, although the
Chesapeake Bay magazine's guide is also good.

Finding anchorages will be assisted if you have really good detailed
and up-to-date charts.

In the Bahamas, the Explorer charts have anchorages on them IIRC.
There are also guidebooks which list various anchorages. I don't
think Skipper Bob's book is as good for the Bahamas as his ones on the
ICW.

"Lee Huddleston" wrote in message
. ..
Several posters have recommended that you anchor out rather than use
marinas. I completely agree but worry about making that happen. The
cruising guides with which I am familiar tout the marinas (probably
because they are the ones who buy ads in the guides). 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?

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove
lying Sea Gate Marina
Beaufort, NC


grandma Rosalie

"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