Boat Books

• Good Weather books


• Bob McDavits Mariner’s Met Pack (Specific for South Pacific Weather)


• Micheal Carr – Weather Predicting Simplified – Has some southern hemisphere stuff.. be careful of books written specifically for the Northern hemisphere if you are heading south.


• Discovery channel makes a good general weather book with good cloud photos


• Electrical – Mechanical


• Nigel Calders book is the bible.


• Specific Engine (main/dingy) manuals with parts breakdown


• General Engine troubleshooting guides


• Yachtsman’s Emergency Handbook by N Hollander
  How to fix guide for things you hope never happen


• Heavy Weather


• Storm tactics by Lin and Larry Pardey
good tested solutions for offshore.

• Heavy Weather Sailing by Alder Coles, you'll be scared $#%less but learn from others reports.
• Total Loss Another scary book but it's better to read about the mistakes than it is to experience them.


• Cruising Handbooks


• Jimmy Cornell World Cruising Routes
  Use noonsite for latest country information


• Tropical Cruising Handbook by Mark Smaalders


• The Voyagers Handbook by Beth Leonard


• Medical


• Advanced First Aid Afloat you'll really want to be self sufficient in an emergency.
  
• Merek Manual of Medical Information – a little scary because they tell you ALL the things that could be wrong for your symptoms and I guarantee that even the simplest ailments can somehow lead to death in this book.


• General


• Reef Fish Identification tropical Pacific by Gerald Allen
  Great photos and identification, check off the ones you’ve seen


• Stars + Planets make sure you get one that covers both hemispheres
  Starry Nights backyard is a great software program that allows you to type in a lat/lon and see the sky.


• French for Cruisers and Spanish for Cruisers by Kay Parsons


• Lonely Planet Guides
  We used the general South pacific one which worked great and complete ones on New Zealand, Australia etc. We tried switching quide books because the review for one was better.. NOPE!! Lonely Planet is the way to go!


• Cruising Guides
  

Check the publishing date of all cruising guides before you buy, we got one for Tahiti that was over 15 years old and useless.

Cruisers have a tendancy to shoot themselves in the foot. There are lots of copied books, cracked electronic guides and even PDFs available. It seems that NOBODY pays the developers for their hard work. So they stop supporting it and everyone complains about the quality of the guides.

STOP the carnage!! I know there aren't book and software stores every where in paradise, and you have to make do however you can. If you copy a Guide somewhere, buy a copy when you get back or else the cruisers of the future will find themselves without up to date information.


• Guide to the Kingdom of Tonga by Charles Paul


• South Pacific Anchorages – lots of anchorages especially off the beaten path


• A Yachtsman's Fiji, by Michael Calder Old but the only one out there.


• Guide to Navigation and Tourism in French Polynesia


• Beacon to Beacon (Australia)


• Cruising the Coral Coast by Alan Lucas


• The future MIGHT be electronic guides similar to those found for New Cal and Vanuatu http://www.cruising-vanuatu.com/index.html
  BUT cruisers are killing it by not sending them $, they make more off the tourists, who don't even need Satellite photos to vacation.

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