SAILING FORUMS

Cruisers Forum - General forum with every topic imaginable.  Check frequently for new threads.

SSCA- South Seas Cruising Association discussion forum.   Wide variety of very useful topics from people who are cruising.

Cruiser Log Forum - Different topics and site organization, but also very interesting. 

Sail Net -  this is part of a website which also sells marine type products, but the forum is useful.

Cruisers Net - Has cruising information organized by area as well as a store, information about anchorages, etc.  Mostly focused on SE United States and ICW.

Travel Talk Online - Forums organized by countries in the Caribbean and Mexico.

MARINE SUPPLIES

Boat Discounters - An excellent source for all boating needs and free shipping on orders over $99.

Grills for Boats - Great discount source for grills.  Free shipping on orders over $99.

Wholesale Marine - Excellent prices, although shipping is not free.

Handcraft Mattress Company - Rather expensive but carries custom made mattresses.

Welcome Aboard - Sells many boating items, including custom bedding.

Happy Scooters - Folding Scooters

Seafarer Marine - Sells carpentry items for boat building and renovations

eMarine Systems - This is where we will purchase our solar panels

Defender - Our Achilles RIB Dingy and accessories were purchased at this online store.

Porta-bote - This is where we got the best price, and no shipping, on our Tahatsu dinghy motor

Sailorman - This is a store we visited frequently in Ft. Lauderdale, but also has an online store.

PET SUPPLIES AND INFORMATION

Paw Plunger -  The perfect way to get salt water and sand off a dog’s paws.  This site describes the device, but is cheaper (with free shipping) elsewhere online, such as Amazon.com.

Pup Head Portable Dog Potty With Pup-Grass - We haven’t purchased this yet, but it looks like a good solution.

Paws Aboard Life Jacket - Excellent quality dog PFD.  Also at this site is the Paws Aboard Doggy Boat Ladder.  Both are available from many online sites.

Peticure - This is an amazing nail grooming tool which works like a sander on a dog’s nails.  Daisy loves it.  An added benefit is that as the nails are groomed often, the quick recedes enabling the nails to be even shorter.

PetTravel.com - Great source for information about traveling with pets, including immigration information.

DogFriendly.com - Includes information such as beach guide for dogs, air travel, customs and quarantines, dog friendly highways, top 10 dog friendly cities, etc.

Ruffwear - boots, lifejackets and more

Pet Travel Store - Fantastic site!  Includes pet international travel immigration forms, import applications, USDA Certification, international microchips, etc.  Click on a country and get all information for bringing a pet into their waters.

Bargain Pet Stuff - The purchase we made from this page is a soft crate, but they have many pet items at good prices.

COMMUNICATION

St. Brendan’s Isle Mail Service - Besides all the services they provide, you can actually establish Florida residency by using St. Brendan’s as your address.

Skype - Inexpensive way to communicate with family and friends.  If they have Skype, it’s free.  If not, it’s very inexpensive, but you must have Internet service in order to use.

Internet for Boats - Sells various supplies for high speed internet, voice, and fax.

Magic Jack - This is a fantastic Internet phone system.  It involves using a USB device, which you plug your phone into.  It is very easy to use, and for a first year price of $39 your get free calls anywhere in the world, and also free when you call back to the states when overseas.   You are given a phone call with your choice of area codes.  You also get free voice mail (instant e-mail notification when received) which works when you are not online and call forwarding.  After the first year, it costs a flat rate of $19.95 per year.

WiFi Extender - We purchased this from WiFi Solutions in order to increase the area we can reach for wifi in the Bahamas. 

HotSpot VPN - We have a subscription for this protection while we are using wifi sites.  It prevents someone from getting into our hard drives while we are using an unprotected wifi.

TRAVELING INFORMATION

Noonsite.com - A wealth of information about countries around the world (93 countries and 1774 ports), including facts about each country, weather, main ports, customs, documents, fees, money, events, and much more. The noonsite.com site also has Piracy pages.

Active Captain - Excellent online cruising guide with detailed information about marinas, anchorages and other onshore sites. We use this whenever we are planning our stops. 

Bahamas Cruising Guide - Detailed information about all of the islands in the Bahamas

WEATHER RELATED WEBSITES

Caribbean Hurricane Network - Online reports from people who live in the hurricane zone.  They report almost daily on weather conditions throughout the year, not just in the hurricane season. Also includes current updates on hurricanes and tropical storms.

Weather Underground - Current weather reports and forecasts from around the world. Also, hurricane summaries and archives are given.

Admiralty EasyTide - Tidal prediction for over 7000 ports worldwide.

COOKING ONBOARD

Miss Vickie.com- Lots of good pressure cooker ideas, links and recipes.

Galleyware Company - A wide variety of cooking utensils, dinnerware, storage, etc. for the galley.

CRUISERS’ WEBSITES

Dignity - Steve and Helen - Another Lagoon 420 Hybrid currently circumnavigating

Mirasol - Gregg, Jen, and Quinn - A Lagoon 420 twin diesel traveling with a young child

Ultra - Bill and JoAnne - Our buddy boat during our first trip to the Bahamas.  Ultra is a trimaran which Bill built and had as a charter boat for many years in Texas

Avalon - Mark and Joanne - Our other buddy boat traveling with us during our first trip to the Bahamas in 2010

Fortnight - Vince and Linda - Great people we met in the Bahamas.  They are retired teachers from Canada.

Hakuna Matata - A Lagoon 420 from England

Salty Dawg - Good friends Gavin and Alice whom we met when we first moved aboard Seas the Day in 2008.  They are now back in Portland, Oregon, still blogging about their lives although they are no longer sailing.

Second Star - Julie and Mark - We met them in Corpus Christi where they were rebuilding their sailboat

Sunspot Baby - George and Lynnn - We met them in No Name Harbor waiting to cross to the Bahamas in 2009 and saw them again many times while cruising there.  Our other connection is following Cruisers Forum

Cruising Blogs - This is a list of many blogs written by cruisers around the world

Guide to Sailing and Cruising Stories - Another list of cruisers’ websites and blogs