8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Update, Jan 29 2009
By Helen K. Mckeen "S/V Tangent Girl" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Cruising Guide to Puerto Rico: Including the Spanish Virgin Islands (Paperback)
When this book first came out we bought one of the first editions in Salinas as we headed for Boqueron. It certainly looked like it had more information than anything out there at the time. It boasts about having all those GPS co-ordinates. Imagine our horror as we entered the next port over and found ourselves in the middle of a reef that we had to carefully back track out of. Thinking how dangerous this would be we contacted the publisher BY SATELLITE PHONE only to be told " Oh, is this the one that puts you on land?" It seems they knew about that one. We said "No, this is the one that puts you in the middle of the reef." The publisher said "oh."
When we returned to the states I emailed Mr. Pavilidis after checking his website thinking he provided support for his books like the Doyle Guides. The only thing there was how to buy his books. Next I emailed him to let him know the guide had issues- we were very specific as to page numbers ,paragraphs and GPS numbers. He fired me back an email informing me that his guides were for reference only. Be very careful when using any of his guides. We have been sailing the Caribbean for 5 years and I gave this book away at a book swap.
Good news. Mr. Pavlidis finally has a website to update and correct his guides. It is [...] Check the updates and news flash sections to completely update your guide.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
PR Cruisiing Guide, Oct 6 2009
By Vela Navis - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Cruising Guide to Puerto Rico: Including the Spanish Virgin Islands (Paperback)
I have used cruising guides for many years. Some are better than others, but one cannot safely navigate in shore without one. Pavlidis' guide is nicely written, and he has made corrections to GPS waypoints that were erroneous in earlier editions. His "chartlets" are nicely drawn, and his directions are easily understood. My main objection is that unlike most guides that are spiral bound (easier to keep open to a page under way) this guide is a soft-cover book. Remember, there are no other guides to the PR & DR out there except Van Sant's "Gentlemen's Guide to Passages South", which has very good info, but not as much detail about PR.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
PR Crusing Guide, Feb 28 2011
By MVD Williwaw - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Cruising Guide to Puerto Rico: Including the Spanish Virgin Islands (Paperback)
Thought it important to note that there are some serious errors in this cruising guide. The basics are fine - but some navigational specifics are quite different from reality. For example, the entrance to a particular harbor near La Parguera was reported to have "9-11' at the entrance" - after carefully sounding the entrance found it to only carry 6-7'at the most. There are other examples of this as well that I have discovered in Vieques and on the south coast of PR. From my experience, cruising guides are typically conservative in their chartlets and reporting of depths - as they should be - but this one does not seem to be.
I would not rely on this for anything but basic information.