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Managing the Waterway: Biscayne Bay, FL to Dry Tortugas, FL boasts of being an "Enriched Cruising Guide for Florida Keys," with hundreds of marina and anchorage listings, 520 GPS waypoints, 638 websites and telephone numbers, diving and snorkeling sites, Waterway Business Cards (familiar to users of the Doyles' last book as business card-sized cutouts listing contact information, facilities, location and depth of all marinas) and much more. What makes this guide different from the ICW version is the fact that the Doyles covered only 217 miles in a guide that is 50 pages longer than the Hampton Roads to Biscayne Bay guide, which covers 1,114 miles.

Don't let the proportion of pages to miles fool you—the Doyles aren't just taking up space in the new guide. They've added over 90 pages of annotated NOS/NOAA charts and annotated County maps to the end of the book. While the charts are black and white reproductions, and, of course, are not meant to be used for navigation, they give the boater a clear sense of the exact locations of anchorages and marinas and shoreside attractions. With the charts and the maps placed side by side in the book, one can look, for example, at the chart of Blackwater Sound in Key Largo and then double check the land map to determine which anchorage or marina is the closest to the local Winn-Dixie grocery store. The maps and charts are incredibly easy to read, and the side-by-side approach is extremely practical.

Like the ICW version of Managing the Waterway, this one has almost 200 different vignettes intended to give the boater a fresh perspective on local culture, history, nature and trivia. For example, who knew that parrotfish seal themselves in an invisible bag of mucous to go to sleep? This is just one of the tidbits of information you'll glean from the book's text. At the top of each page, a rolling header lists local safety info such as the contact information for local branches of the Coast Guard, Sea Tow and TowBoatU.S., the weather frequencies and station info, and what to expect mile by mile. One of the book's many tables gives a summary of information on the various crossovers (places where you can go from the ocean side of the Keys to the bay side), giving the controlling depth, height restrictions, and usability of aids to navigation. According to Mark Doyle, one of their purposes in creating the guide was to demystify navigating an area that has been traditionally known for its shallow water and treacherous passes. With many cruisers opting to visit the Florida Keys rather than the Bahamas, where the entry fees and fuel prices have become prohibitive, the Doyles saw a need for a practical and informative cruising guide of the Florida Keys.

Perhaps one of the best things about this guide is that it retails for only $24.95, placing it well below most of the competition. For the amount of information that the book gives, this is a heck of a deal!

South Florida (Jupiter Inlet to Biscayne Bay): Like the Doyles' guide, this is another great follow-up to a great debut. Dave Kresge's first guide, the Bimini Cruising Guide, was the first full-length cruising guide written entirely for Bimini, making the Bahamian island seem much more accessible to South Florida boaters. A detailed cruising guide, it also listed fun and historical facts about the island, revisiting Hemingway's fishing days and listing favorite bars and restaurants.

Kresge's new guide, the Vantage Point Boating Guide to South Florida, looks on the outside more like a chart book than a cruising guide. Like the Doyles' new book, this one covers a much smaller area than the typical guide: Jupiter, FL, to Biscayne Bay, FL. It stops short of the Florida Keys. It is similar in size to the Maptech Waterproof Chart Kits, and is printed on waterproof paper, but includes much more information. Some of the information is goofy and fun (a "best of" list gives you the places in South Florida where you'll find the most public nudity), and most of it is practical and useful. The color charts are paired with beautiful color photos of inlets and difficult areas, simplifying navigation in places such as Bakers Haulover were shoaling is a constant problem. Kresge is a professional photographer, and the quality of his photos is stunning.

Following the navigation section, the guide lists the top 25 boating spots in South Florida. Most of these are destinations, such as Peanut Island in West Palm Beach, where boaters tend to gather and anchor or dock for the day. They aren't hurricane holes or all-weather anchorages, and the audience for this book consists of local boat owners who just want to have fun on the water. There is a section listing marinas and boatyards, a section about running to Bimini, a list of anchorages, an extensive waypoint guide of reefs and wrecks, a section giving written as well as visual navigation advice for inlets, a listing of boat ramps, important communication information, and much more in this all-in-one guide.

For $39.95, this guide gives you a lot of bang for your buck.