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Book & Film Picks Along the ICW (Part 2 of 2)
by Diana Doyle

As you travel the ICW, you can really boost your appreciation of the local cruising grounds by packing some regional books and DVDs.

This article is the second of two parts, excerpted from a new ICW cruising guide, Managing the Waterway: Hampton Roads, VA to Biscayne Bay, FL, by Mark and Diana Doyle. Last month we ran book and film recommendations for Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Here are some ideas for Florida.

Since so few people are native Floridians, Florida is a melting pot of cultures. It may be the southernmost state, but the southern drawl of neighboring Alabama and Georgia disappears as you cross St. Marys River. Instead, the dialects come from a mix of northerners, spiced up with immigrant communities from Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Only rarely along the water will you hear a true Florida Cracker dialect.

But Florida absolutely has its own culture, captured by many nationally known local writers. Names like Carl Hiaasen, John D. MacDonald, and Randy Wayne White represent this Florida genre.

Carl Hiaasen’s creative and hilarious books are required reading in Florida. Imagine characters like an ex-Governor who calls himself "Skink," lives in a swamp, and confounds wildlife wardens by wearing a transmitting panther collar. If you’ve never read one of Hiaasen’s novels, Tourist Season (1986) is his first solo work. His latest novel, Skinny Dip, came out in 2004.

Kids can now enjoy Carl Hiaasen’s naturally childish wit with his novel for young readers: HOOT, which won a Newbery Honor. This is true Hiaasen: a mystery involving owls, Florida developers, and precocious kids. The movie version of HOOT is being filmed in Boca Grande and Fort Lauderdale this fall. It's being produced by Jimmy Buffett and Frank Marshall (who produced Seabiscuit). Another Hiaasen novel for young readers, Flush, will debut this September.

For decades, the mystery writer John D. MacDonald represented the Florida genre of "single hero with a boat." Many contemporary Florida mystery writers, such as Randy Wayne White, are seen as continuing MacDonald’s genre.

If you’ve never read a John D. MacDonald mystery, you're missing out on a cruiser's classic. Nearly every book swap in Florida has at least one of his 21 paperbacks. Each title includes a color, beginning with The Deep Blue Good-By in 1964 and ending with The Lonely Silver Rain in 1985. The books may be decades old, but they are still wildly popular, especially among the cruising community. MacDonald’s fictional character, Travis McGee, is immortal in Florida, still honored with a plaque at Bahia Mar Yachting Center.

For film picks in Florida, we choose one classic and one contemporary flick. Body Heat (1981), with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, is a great way to wait out a cold rainy norther. The film was shot along the central Florida coast, including shots of the Waterway and the George Bush Boulevard Bridge (stm 1037.7).

A recent release on video, Monster (2003) with Charlize Theron, is a true story set in Daytona Beach. The disturbing story of a prostitute who becomes Florida’s first woman executed under the death penalty may seem like a morbid subject for a recreational evening. But this film, which won Theron an Academy Award for best actress, is insightful and excellently produced.

About the Author: Diana Doyle is co-author with Mark Doyle of a new cruising guide to the ICW. A former college teacher who holds a USCG 50-ton Master's License, she cruises on their PDQ 36 Catamaran, Semi-Local.

Editor’s Note: Diana and Mark Doyle have just written a new cruising guide for the ICW. It’s called Managing the Waterway: Hampton Roads, VA to Biscayne Bay, FL,, and you can buy it at Bluewater or Armchair Sailor. Good Old Boat Magazine says, "If you are in the market for an ICW guide, this is the one to get."

The guide has several new features, including a Rolling Header of safety information. Each navigation page is customized to list your closest U.S. Coast Guard, SeaTow, and TowBoatU.S. stations, as well as highlighting the appropriate NOAA WX station for your current location. This is also the only cruising guide that lists marine stores within easy reach of ICW marinas and anchorages.

There are many more titles available that reflect the diversity of Florida’s literature. Please call Bluewater for suggestions. Also, see Editor’s Entertainment Picks in the July 2005 Bluewater Newsletter for more on South Florida’s mystery writers.

Don’t miss out on Florida’s colorful history either. We have dedicated a whole section of our store to Florida books. Call for details!