gCaptain Blogroll – Near Coastal

I wanted to take some time and thank some of our partner sites; Maritime Experts from around the web. I also wanted to take the time to explain each one to our readers. The sites can be found at the bottom of the right sidebar —>

This is Part 2 of our series and concentrates on sites devoted to near coastal (boating) sites. When you are finished reading revisit Part 1; Big Ships.

Bitter End Blog

Formerly know as Maritime Ramblings this blog is written by Richard Rodriguez who also happens to be one of our most prolific contributers and winner of our last contest. Richard mixes stories about his adventures as a vessel asist Captain with interesting maritime news of the day as well as local Seattle area waterfront happenings. The blog is interesting, well written and updated frequently giving it the gCaptain seal of approval.

Panbo

From the newest VHF radios to the latest AIS information if your looking for goodies for your boat Panbo is the place to visit. What I like most about panbo is they always consider unlimited vessels in their reviews of small boat electronics. If every boater was a reader of this blog I would certainly feel more confident brining my ship into places like Port Everglades, the Puget Sound or even San Diego. Highlights of the site (from the unlimited tonnage perspective) include Digital Charting, AIS and pilot ride-along sections.

Sea Fever

I grappled with the decision of whether to categorize this site as “Big Ship” or coastal since it contains lots of interesting articles for us unlimited seafarers. The decision was made after reading the author, John Masefield’s Peter Mello’s, excellent “About the Blog(ger)” section. To quote, “The Sea-Fever blog is a work in progress that will cover subjects that interest me, professionally and personally. Topics will include maritime heritage and cultural initiatives, corporate social responsibility”. A great blog that’s on my daily reading list.

Tugster

This site is not about small pleasure craft, it is about New York Harbor’s working side. The site is filled with interesting pictures and commentary on the blue collar boats and ships that keep the harbor running. It’s a great site that first time visitors can spend hours reading, especially if (like me) they have roots in NYC’s maritime community.

Marine Firefighting Newsletter

Along with Tugster, Tom Guldner’s Marine Firefighting Newsletter has roots in New York Harbor. Tom was a New York City firefighter and worked a wide range of assignments including the FDNY’s fire boats and rescue trucks. This is not a blog, so it isn’t updated on a regular basis but it does contain valuable information that will help keep your crew safe in an emergency.

Honorable Mentions:

Navagear

Navagear gets left off our blog roll for the simple reason that it does not contain enough information relevant to our core audience; Ship Captains. Otherwise it is a great site that I read on a regular basis.

You can see the best stories from all the above blogs, as voted on by gCaptain readers, at our Maritime News Discoverer. Have a maritime blog post you would like to share, submit it now.