Cruising Ports: The Central American Route PLP005
by Rains, Capt. Pat
CAD $121.00
7th ed. A guide for boaters to all the marinas, anchorages & services along Pacific Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama – also Mexico’s Gulf Coast, Yucatan Channel, NW Cuba, Belize, Rio Dulce, Honduras and Western Caribbean islands – plus the Panama Canal Transit. Glossy color, 101 GPS-accurate chartlets (overall & Harbor Charts; Full Catalog of Titles), 288 color photos. Approaches, anchorages, marinas, port clearance, fuel docks, haul-out yards, local services. Paperwork chapter has blank Crew List forms. Resource Directory lists marinas, fuel docks, yards, agents, more. Chart List, fully indexed
Paul Howard –
I often referred to this book for planning our passages through Caribbean Panama, the Panama Canal and the Central American Pacific coast. Pat Rains is a delivery skipper who is usually piloting large powerboats with an unlimited budget. Some of the information is not relevant to us impecunious yachties, but there is little information for sailing from the east coast to the west coast or vice versa, so any information is appreciated. There is lots of information about dealing with different country officials, much of it is outdated, as regulations for yachties seem to change almost daily in these Central American countries and from port to port even within the same country – it is not her fault but a characteristic of what to expect in the places one passes through. I do not know of any other guide that gives the same pilotage and route planning information for these areas, thus is valuable if transitting from Florida on one coast of North America, through the Panama Canal to Mexico the west coast. The book includes pilotage information and some marina and anchorage capsule maps from Florida through the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba and the Western Caribbean, Panama and the Canal and up the Central American Pacific coast to the Mexico/Guatemala border. Therre are several other guides that also deal with Panama and the Pacific coast of Central America, the most used – and heavily used by us – is the Sarana Guides, available on-line with more comprehensive coverage of this coast and more from a typical yachtie perspective.