Book review: Cruising guides point the way to go on local waters

Dreamspeaker Cruising Guide: The Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island

By Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones
Heritage, 192 pages, $49.95

If you’re going to explore the waters around us, you need to know where you are going and what you will find along the way, both good and bad.

The Dreamspeaker series of cruising guides is made up of seven volumes, each one covering a different part of the region. Each book covers the most significant and accessible cruising areas.

This volume deals with Victoria and Sooke and as far north as Nanaimo. It tells users where to find fuel docks, shore and marina access, and the best spots to anchor, making it a travel companion that is a great help in planning a cruise.

There are more than 100 charts that give detailed information about safe approaches, as well as fantastic photographs that show the beauty of our region.

Beyond that, the book offers snippets of local history and points of interest on land, adding to the value offered to the reader.

The book is a wonderful companion to official government charts, tide tables and all the other information sources that make cruising safe.

It is also a great resource for an armchair traveller, or anyone dreaming of getting a boat and heading out. It is easy to visualize a perfect day on the water.

Other books in the Dreamspeaker series include Desolation Sound and the Discovery Islands; Vancouver, Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast; the San Juan Islands; the Broughtons and Vancouver Island – Kelsey Bay to Port Hardy; the West Coast of Vancouver Island; and Puget Sound.

The series is similar in scope to the popular Waggoner Cruising Guide, which covers the entire region in a single volume. The series can offer more local information, but the Waggoner includes many more destinations.

Also, the Waggoner is spiral bound, making it easy to leave open when needed. The Dreamspeaker series is perfect bound, so it is less likely to accidentally tear pages out.

Ultimately, the decision on which is the better choice comes down to the preferences of the users.

The name of the series – Dreamspeaker – comes from the name of the sailboat owned by the authors. Dreamspeaker is a 36-foot SHE, a fiberglass sloop designed by Sparkman and Stephens and built in 1979 by South Hants Engineering in the United Kingdom.

Enough about the book! It’s a perfect day, so get out and enjoy it!

The reviewer is editor and publisher of the Times Colonist