We just love this book, and we've already spent hours delving into it.  For cruising sailors, this is perhaps the most awaited publications of the year.  This substantial new handbook profiles every cruising destination in the world and is intended as a partner to Cornell's bestselling World Cruising Routes. Just about every country that is accessible by sea  is detailed comprehensively. There’s information on cruising attractions, history, culture, climate (including average monthly temperatures and rainfall, plus tropical storm seasons), local laws, regulations and formalities (including which countries require you to use an agent), facilities available, plus public holidays and events, emergency telephone numbers, and much more.

This handy little book sits somewhere between the RYA First Aid manual, issued free to everyone who takes the RYA First Aid Course, and the comprehensive Ships Captains Medical Guide, downloadable free chapter by chapter from the MCA Website. As a quick reference guide, Ithink I prefer it to the larger, more comprehensive SCMG becuase it summarises the issues, and gives clear, practical guidance.

Whether close to shore or out of the sight of land, a medical emergency often has to be dealt with swiftly in order to minimise problems or even save life. This book shows the medical novice exactly how to tackle a wide variety of medical situations that might arise, with the help of diagnosis advice and detailed step by step photos. Written specifically for the layman, each procedure is shown in detail and described in non-medical language.

Doctor on Board shows you how to:

• Administer life-saving first aid when an emergency arises - be it severe bleeding, choking, shock, burns or frostbite.
• Recognise the symptoms of a wide range of common and more unusual illneses from conjunctivities and food poisoning to heart attack and appendicitis.
• Treat and medicate a variety of sailing-based injuries such as concussions, broken ribs, fractured fingers and twisted ankles.

This is a 'must buy' book, and one to keep on board with the First Aid kit.