Note: The cruising articles on the following pages have previously been published in various magazines. They are grouped by geographic area, but all locations are in the Southeastern Atlantic Coast and Intra-Coastal Waterway, Northwestern Caribbean including Cuba, and the Bahamas. Emailed PDF copies of any article are available free of charge, merely by asking. Just contact me on this site and tell me what you want. Five articles at a time please, but if you keep asking, I'll keep sending. Hard copies in color are available by mail for $5.00 each to cover only the cost of printing and postage. All cruises were accomplished in my Catalina 30, Rhombus. All trips originated in my homeport in Jacksonville, Florida, and include informative charts of routs and anchorages, as well as many photographs of places visited. The dialogue always includes a good bit of area history.
Cruising the Great Northeast(NE Florida that is plus a little bit of Georgia!)
- Cruise to Georgia’s Little Places: Part 1. Cruise one of the great ICW areas: Sisters Creek, Cumberland Island, Brunswick and St. Marys, Georgia.
- Cruise to Georgia’s Little Places: Part 2. Jekyll Island to Darien.
- Destination Darien:A Journey to Colonial America, An AICW trip north of Jacksonville crossing St. Andrews and St. Simons Sounds.
- Destination Kingsley Plantation: More than just a Stopover, Drop the hook in one of the ICW’s delightful spots - the Ft. George River. Tour an historic early 19th Century plantation, unique for a happy ending.
- Fernandina: Pirates,Thieves, Revolutionaries, Shrimpers, and Now Lots of Cruising Sailors, A great stop in a great town!
- Saint Marys, Georgia:What Aaron Burr, Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Toonerville Trolley, and Cruising Sailors all have in Common, A delightful stop and some surprising history.
- Cumberland Island: Twenty-five Years of Cruising to Paradise Parts 1-3, Arguably the premier cruising stop on the US East Coast, Cumberland Island is presented in some detail, with charts to multiple anchorages along the island’s length to explore this wonderful National Seashore Island from top to bottom.
- A Jacksonville Sojourn: Up the St. John’s River is Worth the Trip, Visit the big city and the little towns up an interesting river.
Cruising Florida
- Eau Gallie: A Picturesque Port and Maybe Even a Dragon, The snow birds and those headed to the islands often speed through mid-Florida. This is one of the many great stops if you take the time.
- Marineland; An undiscovered Gem on the ICW, Former home of “Sea Hunt” and “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” Marineland now boasts swimming with dolphins, the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Research Reserve, Eco kayak tours of the Princess Place and Pellicer Creek Aquatic Preserves, and the area’s most active sea turtle hospital.
- Marathon: A Great Destination No Matter How You Get There, Plenty of great stops along this route with tons of activity at destination.
- Abaco in America: Traditional Bahamian Boats Built in Florida, Story of a small Florida boat works building famous Albury boats, one at a time.
- Satori’s First Voyage: The Okeechobee Waterway and a Cruise Across Florida to a New Home, A “new” Compac 27 makes a really pretty trip with locks - lots of them!
Cruising Cuba
Note: These trips took place during President Obama’s detente with Cuba, opening the way for US Citizen cruisers to cruise Cuba legally under some restrictions. If US policy returns to the Obama model, it is probably that the travel requirements, approvals, and restrictions will also return.
- Rhombus’ Cuban Adventure: Trip Planning and a Voyage to Cuba, Part I of this series covers the legalities and procedures for approval to go to Cuba and ends shortly after arrival at Marina Gaviota in Varadero, a modern, full-service marina closest to our departure point in Marathon.
- Rhombus’ Cuban Adventure: The North Coast and the Island of Cayo Levisa, Part II describes out 140 NM sail west to an off-shore island and our idyllic week there.
- Rhombus’ Cuban Adventure: Marina Hemingway, Havana, and Return, Part III describes our 60 NM trip east to Marina Hemingway, our touring of the area around, including Hemingway’s Cuban home, and our few days in Havana. The trip closes with the 120 NM return to Marathon and the clearing back into the USA.
- Revival - A Cuban Sojourn: Even Little Boats Can Get There, The story of Bart Blankenship, our Marina Hemingway dock mate, who cruised to Cuba in his engine-less 26 foot coastal cruiser with his 82 year old mother as crew.
Cruising The Bahamas
- Hell’s Night: The Next Day Wasn’t so Hot Either, A busted engine, a turbulent night at anchor on The Great Bahama Bank, and a marina entrance in the Berry Islands under sail alone, made for an interesting trip!
- Bahamas Cruising: A sailor’s lament at a failed attempt!, With Grandson and Son-in-Law as crew, this anticipated Bahamas cruise turned into a swashbuckling trip to home.
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: Miami, Bimini and Great Harbour Cay, Part I of a multi-part series of a 2000 mile long cruise through the islands.
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: Great Harbour Cay to Highbourn Cay, Part 2
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: Cape Eleuthera, Part 3
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: North to Spanish Wells, Part 4
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: Spanish Wells to the Abaco Islands, Part 5
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: The Southern Sea of Abaco, Part 6
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: Hope Town and Treasure Cay, Part 7
- Voyage of Rhombus, 2018: The Whale, Green Turtle and Home, Part 8
- Marv’s Weather Service, The go to weather in The Bahamas and elsewhere
- An Afternoon with Steve Dodge: Historian and Abaco’s Guide, An interesting story about historian turned cruising guide, but, always a historian.
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