Swingin' on a Star

A circumnavigating catamaran

Swingin’ on a Star

Links

These are links to sites that we look over often. If you are here, you may like going there...

Saint Francis Yachts

Angelo Lavranos—Saint Francis Designer
Gracious and brilliant, one of the great catamaran designers of our time.

Catalyst — Saint Francis 44 Charter Boat
Crewed charters in the Virgin Islands

Catnap — SF44 Caribbean Charter Boat
Well maintained yacht and a friendly skipper.

Cruising World Review — Boat of the Year
The Saint Francis 50 won catamaran of the year in 2006.

O’Vive — Saint Francis 50
A Saint Francis 50 circumnavigating family.

Safari — Saint Francis 48
A Saint Francis 48 circumnavigating family.

Saint Francis Marine
The site for Saint Francis Marine makers of Saint Francis Catamarans.

Saint Francis Owners Group
Home base for Saint Francis catamaran owners and potential owners.

Scud — Saint Francis 44
A long term cruising family aboard a Saint Francis 44.

Sail-craft

Double Braid Eye Splice Instructions
For me as much as anyone else interested.

Graphical Knots
These are the best knot images I have ever seen. A picture is worth…

Margaret’s Links
A good sailing friend has created a great link page to her favorite sail training sites.

NOAA Marine Publications
Here you will find all of the links to the incredible wealth of information published freely by the US Government for mariners.

Rutgers Basic Sailing Site
Rutgers has made a nice effort here.

Underwater

AWARE
PADI’s non profit environmental awareness initiative.

Marine Bio
A Marine Biologist staffed non profit focused on ocean life and its conservation.

Ocean Alliance
An organization focused on the conservation of whales with strong media outlets including PBS.

Ocean Conservancy
One of the leading non profit orgs looking out for our seas.

PADI
The top dive training organization world wide. (Randy is a PADI Open Water SCUBA Instructor.)

REEF
Ocean conservation organization.

Weather

Chris Parker—Caribbean Weather Center
If you are sailing in the Bahamas or the Caribbean you should consider subscribing to this service. SSB nets 6 days a week, 7 days a week twice a day if there’s tropical activity, and daily email all for a very low annual fee.

National Hurricane Center
This is the place for info on tropical storms. During Hurricane Season if I could have only one piece of data in the Caribbean it would be the NOAA Tropical Weather Discussion. If you are online the Experimental Graphical Outlook is great as well.

NOAA Marine Forecasts
This is the site you go to for weather when on the ocean. In particular the OFFNT3 text report covers the Bahamas and the Caribbean, we typically download this over the SSB and have reviewed it every day for a year now. Also The Radio Fax link will show you the Radio Fax charts that we also pull down off of the net or the SSB.

Yacht Goods and Services

Amazon
We may be in the middle of nowhere but we can still by anything we want just as if we were in California.

Blue Water Books and Charts
Hands down the most comprehensive yachting supply store for books and charts.

Defender
No service, but a great selection and the best prices.

Just Catamarans
The best catamaran service and support we have found anywhere in the world.

Radio Labs
We’ve had good luck with this WIFI antenna.

Rocna Anchors
We love our Rocna.

Sailblogs
This is the best sailing blog service we have found. It is easy to use and has lots of great features.

St. Brendan's Isle
An amazing mail forwarding service perfect for cruisers.

West Marine
The largest chandlery chain in the US with a very real money back return policy.

Marinas & Resorts

Atlantis Marina
Commercial but lots of fun for kids or adults who act like kids. Nassau area, Bahamas.

Emerald Bay Resort and Marina
Emerald Bay, Exuma, Bahamas is a great and often economical luxury stop over for voyaging cruisers.

La Sagesse
A wonderfully secluded natural resort on the south coast of Grenada. Wonderful hosts and the most tranquil and lovely setting. Also free transportation to and from Grenada Marine boat yard.

Le Ponton
A nice small, funky French marina in Martinique.

Leverick Bay
The quietest place to stay in North Sound Virgin Gorda, BVI.

Rodney Bay Marina
Not garden-ville, but cheap and very convenient with lots of restaurants and yacht services all in walking/dinghy range.

Saba Rock
The loudest place to stay in North Sound Virgin Gorda, BVI, great food and lots of fun.