About Us
About Us
The need for cruising guides to the Caribbean Islands
Cruising Guide Publications was created by Simon and Nancy Scott while living aboard their sailboat in the British Virgin Islands, and later, working in the bareboat charter industry for twenty years. There was a need for comprehensive guides to aid cruisers and charterers exploring the Caribbean island chain. These guides include not only navigational information, but also the rich history of the Caribbean islands, folklore, the flora and fauna, as well as where to go for diving, snorkeling and shore side entertainment and of course, what to do in an emergency. We have made it our mission to answer all the questions we had from charterers and cruisers and to add details and background about the islands to enhance the cruising experience.
Collaborating with the cruising experts of the Caribbean
Twenty years ago, we teamed up with Chris Doyle, the popular cruising author of the Sailors Guide to the Windward Islands, Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands, Cruising Guide to Trinidad, Tobago and Barbados, and the Cruising Guide to Venezuela and Bonaire.
Since then we allied ourselves with other cruising guide authors. Our rigorous guidelines require the authors to spend a considerable amount of time on location checking and rechecking details so that our readers have a safe, informed and therefore enjoyable cruise. Our authors have a dedication to details, and a love of sailing the islands they research.
Current cruising information for the Caribbean
Our guides are updated approximately every other year to make sure cruisers are armed with up-to-date information for their journey. This team of writers has contributed to our outstanding reputation as publishers of cruising guides. They have inspired many a cruiser to venture to new horizons with a greater sense of security and knowledge.
Chris Doyle, author
Chris Doyle's cruising guides are among the most popular in the Eastern Caribbean. Chris attributes this to listening to his customers when they tell him what they would like to see in a guide, and following their ideas when it makes sense. In this way his guides have always been highly innovative, leading the way in color sketch charts, then computerized color sketch charts, GPS waypoints, star charts and a guide-linked website where people can find corrections, download town maps, download GPS waypoints, access navigational advisories, and get links to down island businesses.
Chris was born in England, but as soon as he was finished with college he set sail in an old Colin Archer called Sugar Creek, sailed south until the butter melted, turned right and ended up in Grenada, where he became a resident, and has been so ever since.
To make ends meet, he built and rented a house, day-chartered, skippered yachts, and undertook deliveries. One of these nearly turned out badly on an older 38 foot yacht when the rudder shaft sheared some 50 miles west of Saba. However, the owner had some tools on board, and Chris and owner and his party managed to steer the boat for three days by balancing the sails and during that time managed to construct a temporary external rudder, so they could arrive under their own steam. Just as well, as the yacht in question was fitted with one of the early VHF radios, which had not yet arrived down-island, so there was no way to call for help.
Chris built his dream boat a few years ago in Trinidad, a 40 foot catamaran called Ti Kanot. He spends well over half the year on board, visiting all the anchorages he has to update, and is well-known in the islands where he is also a yachting correspondent for Caribbean Compass, and he also writes for the international yachting press when asked.
For part of the summer he travels, usually to Vermont where he stays with his life-partner Virginia Barlow.
Chris Doyle is the author of the following titles: