BOOK REVIEW: Ocean Almanac

I love the sea and everything about it—its animals, islands, pirates, old wooden ships, sunken treasures, early explorers, surfers, hurricanes, danger and soothing spirituality—and so Hendrickson’s Ocean Almanac is the anchor to my cruising library for long lazy days of dicking around under sail.

This wonderful collection of facts—both impressive and trivial—has logged plenty of hours on my boat and in my duffel bag. Its pages are torn, dog-eared, smudged with tanning oil thumb prints, and spattered with coffee and rum.

Sure, you can access this stuff online but don’t blame me if one night, way out beyond the cell towers, you all of a sudden find yourself jonesing to read about sea lice, the location of the planet’s major sea currents, or Buster Crabbe’s Rules for Safe Swimming.

If there’s not a copy kept ready in your beach bag or on your boat…well nobody would live like that. Used copies go for a few bucks online.