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Best Florida Keys Travel Books

Waterway Guide Southern 2017: Florida, the Keys and the Gulf Coast Including Texas
Updated annually, the Waterway Guide Southern 2017 edition is the indispensable cruising companion for boaters exploring Florida's East coast, the St. John's River, the Okeechobee Waterway, the Keys, Florida's West coast and the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville, Texas.
Reviews
"Pretty much the same every year."
"Very well organized with lots of helpful info."
"Buy one every year for boating."
"On time delivery and does the job."
"A weighty tome indeed and it is loaded with info."
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Florida's Fabulous Canoe and Kayak Trail Guide (Florida's Fabulous Nature)
Provides a canoe and kayak guide to Florida and its outdoors.
Reviews
"The photos look like they were taken in the 90's, and it's funny to laugh at people's 90's-style bathing suits in the pictures :) But seriously, this book is a must-have for exploring new kayaking sites around Florida."
"We have been checking off spots listed in the southern and central parts of the state.The Silver River near Ocala was among the most beautiful places I've been in Florida, just stunning."
"We bought this to explore Florida rivers and now keep it in our riverfront rental home in Homosassa for our guests."
"The pictures are excellent and there are descriptions of the different rivers as well as maps of where to put in and things to look for."
"Everything was fine and as expected."
"This really is a great book if you want to kayak Florida."
"I am just beginning to take my canoe trips across the state line, mainly because my primary love of red snapper fishing has been taken away for the most part."
"Great book to give you ideas on where to go for a kayak trip."
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Key West TODAY: The Very Best 153 Things You Must Do
For ten years now author and artist Bucky Montgomery has compiled Key West events, attractions, tours, water activities, festivals, museums, advice, nature and more for his Key West TODAY Facebook page, with over 30,000 avid online followers. Now, all this great information has been packed into this one handy book, filled with photos, addresses, phone numbers, costs, and hours of operation. Louisville-born Bucky Montgomery is an artist, writer, musician, actor, publisher, host and promoter of various annual Key West events and functions, who has resided in Key West for the better part of twenty years.
Reviews
"This is the ultimate guide to Key West written by someone who lives there."
"This will help in deciding a time to go based on activities that are going on there."
"Great book, fun marking off all the places we have been."
"I bought the Kindle version - great tool for planning my next visit!"
"Practical suggestions."
"An excellent read from cover to cover!"
"He's obviously dialed in to Key West and offers local secrets for every level of vacationer."
"Because 152 just isn't enough!"
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Best Miami Florida Travel Books

Fodor's South Florida: with Miami, Fort Lauderdale & the Keys (Full-color Travel Guide)
This travel guide includes: · Dozens of full-color maps. · Hundreds of hotel and restaurant recommendations, with Fodor's Choice designating our top picks. · In-depth breakout features on Art Deco Miami, Snorkeling & Scuba Diving, Everglades Ecosystems · Multiple itineraries to explore the top attractions and what's off the beaten path. · Coverage of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Palm Beach, the Treasure Coast, Key West and the Florida Keys, and the Everglades. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times.
Reviews
"If you're interested only in the east side of south Florida, the Everglades, and the Keys, this book will work nicely for you. My plan now is to use this along with at least one or two other guides plus various websites to plan my road trip itinerary and take notes, then leave the book home. If your need for a guide to south Florida is very specific to just the few south Florida places that are covered here, and your eyesight is much better than mine, you will probably find this book a reasonable source of info."
"Used this on a trip, all the recommendations from food to places to see were accurate."
"FODOR'S SOUTH FLORIDA is a 344 page guidebook printed on glossy paper. The authors are Lynne Helm, Jill Martin, Galena Mosovich, and Paul Rubio. Attached just inside of the rear cover is a map that can be easily torn out of the book, because of perforations. One side of the map shows all of Florida, together with the southern coastline of Mississippi and Alabama. On the Orlando map, one can see main streets shuch as Beline Expressway and Turkey Lake Road. The book has six chapters, and these include: (1) Experience South Florida, (2) Miami and Miami Beach, (3) The Everglades, (4) Florida Keys, and (5) Fort Lauderdale, and (6) Palm Beach. Mr. Clyde Butcher (born 1941) is in my opinion equal to Ansel Adams, in terms of the artistic merit and compelling beauty of his photography. The main reason I like to read and review travel guidebooks, is because of the photography, but this book is more about hotels and restaurants. The text explains that this sandwich has ham, pork, Swiss cheese, and pickles. The text explains that there are many murals in the City of Wynwood and that this city has a "Wynwood Art District" and an exhibition hall of photography and art called, "Margulies Collection at the Warehouse." Page 156 shows a bronze statue of "Christ of the Deep" which was installed underwater, near Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. the price tags skew high, yet represent brands known for innovation and edge. Alaia, Givenchy, Moschino, jewelry on an artistic level including Cristina Ortiz, Lydia Courteille, and Stephen Webster." Regarding part of Everglades National Park (page 118-119), we read that, "Route 9336 travels 38 miles from the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center southwest to the Floriday Bay at Flamingo. and a wealth of wading birds at Mrazek and Coot Bay ponds . Although I am a genuine expert on sightseeing and vacationing in northern California, southern California, western Oregon, and the low country of South Carolina (but have never been in Florida), my impression is that this guidebook is reliable, appears not to speculate, and it appears that the authors based the text on their own first-hand experiences."
"An old friend moved from Baltimore to the Gulf Coast, and all her talk of the fabulous birds there, as well as her recollections of a fabulous trip to the Everglades made me think 'Hmmmm. I'm hard-pressed to understand why they did not change the title to make it immediately clear that this was NOT a comprehensive guidebook to South Florida, or......expand their coverage to include all of South Florida. I will need an additional guidebook."
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Best General Florida Travel Guides

A Kids Guide to Chicago
Kids and grownups alike are sure to ooh and aah, and laugh out loud as gifted writer Karen T. Bartlett takes them on a supersize Chicago adventure, with fascinating stories, quirky factoids, and a generous helping of silliness. Karen T. Bartlett is an award-winning professional photojournalist whose travel articles and photography appear regularly in magazines, travel guides, newspapers and books throughout North America and the Caribbean.
Reviews
"A fun book with great info for my kids."
"There are several guidebooks to Chicago - for KIDS - but this one exceeds them all by far."
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Best Kayaking Travel Guides

Exploring the Boundary Waters: A Trip Planner and Guide to the BWCAW
Exploring the Boundary Waters is the most comprehensive trip planner to the BWCAW, giving travelers an overview of each entry point into the wilderness area as well as detailed descriptions of more than one hundred specific routes - including a ranking of their difficulty level and maps that feature the major waterways, portages, and the designated campsites.
Reviews
"Its a great book to pair with the Boundary Waters Canoe Camping book (it has pretty pictures and more info on other things you need to know about the boundary waters besides just the portages)."
"I have entered the BWCAW at several different points and as I read the route descriptions for these areas it was very easy to visualize my trips all over again."
"The one drawback that I did find was that, unless you were actually holding a map of the BWCAW right in front of you while reading, it was hard to figure out where the routes and portages were."
"Fully detailed and even helped even though I've been there before."
"Give many options on which lakes to try."
"Well researched, a little older, but information on planning routes is invaluable."
"Shows the specifics for every route in the BW."
"better than beymer as it contains line drawing mas so you can pick a route or create your own, which is the purpose of these books."
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Best Bahamas Caribbean & West Indies History

Hemingway's Key West
His Key West years turned out to be his most productive: he finished A Farewell to Arms , started For Whom the Bell Tolls , and wrote several other books, including Green Hills of Africa , Death in the Afternoon , and To Have and Have Not . Hemingway spent the last years of his life in Cuba, and it was here he overcame several demons—accidents, failing health, depression—to write The Old Man and the Sea , for which he won both a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize in Literature. Stuart McIver was the author of eleven books on Florida.
Reviews
"Some of the fishing stories could have been in less detail; which is why I gave it a 4-star rating but overall the book is filled with his I-dont-give-a-care attitude and his marriage-hopping."
"Lots of repetition from chapter to chapter, but great beginning and ending chapers."
"Interesting tour of Key West."
"Light weight."
"A good beginning chronicle of Ernest Hemingway's time in Key West."
"Enjoyed walking around old town and thinking what it must have been like in Hemingway's day."
"I'm deep into a collection of Hemingway's short stories, and this book shed light on its complicated author, his genius and insanity, his courage, his many loves, and his way of tackling life head on."
"This is a fun read and I can't wait to do the walking tour on our next trip to KW!"
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Best Tampa Florida Travel Books

Tampa Bay: A Photographic Portrait
DESCRIPTION: Robert La Follette s images of the cities and surrounding areas of Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg include the stunning coastline from Tarpon Springs to St. Petersburg Beach and along Hillsborough Bay to the fabulous Tampa skyline of period and contemporary architecture. Robert s photography also appears around Tampa Bay, most notably with the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, where his images showcases the beauty and attractions that make Tampa Bay a world-renowned vacation destination.
Reviews
"Tampa Bay is a very nice photographic portrait of the Tampa Bay area."
"Great book with fantastic photos!"
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Best Orlando Florida Travel Books

Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service (Disney Institute Book, A)
During the last twenty-five years, thousands of professionals from more than thirty-five countries and more than forty industries have attended business programs at Disney Institute and learned how to adapt the Disney approach for their own organizations. He has ghostwritten seven books for Booz & Company, Prime Resource Group, The Walt Disney Company, LIF Group, and IMPAQ, Inc.
Reviews
"After returning from an awesome trip to Disneyworld, I was inspired to read this book and am now even more in awe of the Disney culture and found plenty of things to apply to my real estate business."
"Excellent read if you'd like to get into the mind of Disney Guest Service."
"Any company in this niche should take the time to read it."
"Disney built an entire experience for their guests that isn’t topped."
"Im a retail manager that often looks for ways to drive my teams and actively engage my customers. The book even points out those elements taken for granted that would detract from the experience if they werent there; like pavement textures and garbage cans and it all makes sense. Forget the old corporate templates and listen with your heart to Walts vision of how to please your customers."
"Great book and we received the order in a timely manner."
"I was hoping for more specific examples as opposed to the long sell on the Disney Institute."
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Best Jacksonville Florida Travel Books

Explorer's Guide North Florida & the Florida Panhandle: Includes St. Augustine, Panama City, Pensacola, and Jacksonville (Second Edition) (Explorer's Complete)
This guide covers all of North Florida and the Panhandle south through Gainesville, including Pensacola, Panama City, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine. She is also the author of Explorer's Guide 50 Hikes in Central Florida; Explorer's Guide 50 Hikes in North Florida; Explorer's Guide 50 Hikes in South Florida; Florida in the Civil War: A State in Turmoil, and Sinkholes.
Reviews
"I don't know why but published travel info on the Emerald Coast of Florida is hard to find."
"Great book full of detailed info."
"Nice overview of this specific area."
"We found this guide to be fairly helpful."
"Very helpful for our trip!"
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Best Disney World Travel Books

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2018 (The Unofficial Guides)
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2018 explains how Walt Disney World works and how to use that knowledge to make every minute and every dollar of your vacation count. And because they've found that "spontaneity and self-discovery work about as well at Walt Disney World as they do on your tax return," The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is packed full of essential advice for anyone braving the frontiers of the mother of all theme parks.
Reviews
"If you’re lookin for info about making a trip to Disney World, this book is absolutely amazing!"
"You don't want a rained on Kindle (God forbid ) It seemed as thought there was a lot of "filler" in this book, I understand this is a subjective book , but just my opinion."
"If you get it, go ahead and spend the $10 for their online access (touringplans.com) - it's an essential piece to customize travel plans in the parks for what you want to see and when."
"However, many rides in WDW have been closed (Maelstrom, Backlot Tour, Pirates of the Caribbean, the sorcerers hat in DHS, etc) that are so significant they need to urgently put out a revised edition."
"This book was very valuable in planning our Disney World trip in March."
"So informative, it's insightful, and it's the go-to book for how to successfully navigate Disneyworld."
"I have used this book every time to help plan my trip. I have learned that if you do not plan a WDW trip as a "type A" personality, you will lose out not only on time, but money, and in the case of Walt Disney World....time equals your money spent."
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