Reviews of MARGARITA CAT (and some of PASSAGES SOUTH . . .)


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5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Read, Especially for Cruising Cat Owners, December 22, 2012, Curtis Collins
As a cruiser, charter captain (some these stories relate to charters), and a cat owner, this book was especially relevant to me. I happened across it in a marina in Panama. A light enjoyable read. I think any cruiser, with or without a cat, but especially with a cat, can relate to this collection of cruising stories. My feline cruising buddy died last year. It was a tough loss. While not technically a Margarita Cat he shared some of the same genetic ancestry and definitely the same personality.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Different American Dream, February 5, 2011, Mickey Sinclair
This is a terrific book. It is about a gritty, modern day Thoreau, living on a sailboat, looking ever over the next horizon, driven to succeed in not being part of the rat race and creating his own `American dream'. Whether you are a current sailor or adventurer, or now more of an armchair Walter Mitty, I think you are going to love the way Bruce Van Sant shares his steps and mis-steps, his wisdom and his philosophy, his 'tricks of the trade'. He takes us from his Eastern Shore boyhood, escaping from heartbreaking poverty and learning from life's hard knocks to his current ex-patriot retirement in the Caribbean, from worldwide wanderings to practical advice on how to get along with local people everywhere - including a revealing chapter on how to get close to a better class of attractive and smart women. He couldn't go on the American way but he found something better. He shows us the price he paid and the rewards he earned by marching to his own drummer. As a fellow 'factory second' and addicted sailor, I loved this book. I found myself slowing down in my reading of Margarita Cat, not wanting it to end. You have to read this book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for sailors!, December 22, 2010, Henry Samson
Although Bruce Van Sant has written books specifically for sailors, this is not one of them. This is a charming book of stories and recollections from his years living the sort of life many would like to live but few actually do. The 64 short stories are his unembellished accounts of adventures he experienced during 40 years of traveling the globe, much of the time on his own boat. For those of us who have lived this sort of life or have dreamed of living this sort of life this book gives a glimpse into the experiences that make such adventures worthwhile. Not the storms, the passages or the anchorages in some tropical paradise (see his book The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South or Tricks of the Trades if that is what you are looking for) but instead the characters and cultures he experienced in a life lived fully.
No lessons on sailing here but perhaps some lessons on living.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A window on a life few of us can experience, September 21, 2010, Jason L Hoath
Not a sailor myself, I bought this book expecting a collection of gritty, real-life stories to transport my mind away from the American midwest and into the outer world beyond the cocoon of security. This book did not disappoint. Indeed, I couldn't put it down. If you're looking for sugar coated, multi-culti depictions of quaint and lovely foreigners in untainted paradise, look elsewhere. But if you're able to accept that people of every nation are more than just cardboard cut outs, that everyplace has both problems and compensations, you'll see a lot of truth in this book. For those of us without experiences like those of the author, it can really make you sit back and wonder - what am I doing with my life?
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5.0 out of 5 stars True stories to change attitudes and latitudes, August 10, 2010, Pat Banyas
I thoroughly enjoyed these no BS, no punches pulled, short stories from Bruce Van Sant's past experiences. For those who travel the East Coast and Caribbean on boats and have dreamed of cruising the Bahamas and the Islands South, Bruce Van Sants 'Gentleman's Guide to Passages South' is one of the foremost and most direct bible. 'Margarita Cats' is a collection of stories detailing different rites of passage we all go through as we grow up that compile to sum up who we are. Bruce's rites are somewhat more eclectic than most of us but they show us the essential experiences which guided Bruce as he wrote 'Gentleman's Guide to Passages South' and provide insight to why his bible doesn't bandy about with political correctness and babying that many want-to-be cruisers want.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Valuable Information for Every Cruiser, July 7, 2015, Amazon purchaser This has been in constant use. We read it then reread. We left the US coast for Bahamas headed to Dominican Republic and beyond. Currently we are in the Dominican Republic. This book is valuable for learning how and when to make passages. Great illustrations and charts. Very good examples of what not to do and why. Very good tips on what to expect. If you cannot understand his weather explanations....stay home!!! I have really enjoyed the personality and passion of the author in his writings. What a refreshing change from the boring monotoned so-called guide books. Every author should write in their own style with their own opinions and flare. If one is writing of their personal experiences who is so smug as to say the author should not include his own opinions? I suspect those who claim he is egotistical are those who ignored his advice and failed. Also, they have no sense of humor.
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5.0 out of 5 stars 1500 nautical miles into our maiden voyage and we highly recommend this book!, August 3, 2017, The crew of S/V Limitless. Great book! We are new sailors on our way home in our "new to us" Leapord Catamaran that we purchased in St. Martin. We have since made it all the way to Tampa as we continue to make our way home to the Florida Panhandle. We have traveled about 1500 nautical miles so far. By using many of the techniques mentioned in this book, we have had a safe, slightly uneventful ( always need room for some adventure) and beautiful sail. We have seen plenty of beautiful locations along the way but our favorites have been The Dominican Republic and The Exumas. We are blessed to live the life we live. Thank you for all great advice Bruce and for putting it in such a practical way that even us newbies can understand. We will continue to keep your book at the top of our helm station. Maybe we will get lucky and run into you in Luperon on our way back through the Caribbean next season. Much love and many thanks!
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5.0 out of 5 stars This was just a new copy to replace my old ..., March 7, 2015, Richard Holiman This was just a new copy to replace my old one that was completely worn out from having been read so many times. This is the bible for sailing or motoring a cruising vessel to the Caribbean. I
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5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed but needs to be studied, January 9, 2015, Dennis Adams When I first started reading this, I couldn't wait to pick it up again and continue reading it. That was about the 1st 40 pages..... After that it got considerably confusing because the topics aren't together...e.g., weather info/prediction resides in more that one area of the book. Did pick up a definite caveat though....don't depend on anyone but yourself for ANYTHING (navigation, weather, boat repairs) Still the best I've read though as far as detailed info about the Bahamas and routes to take
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5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading, March 30, 2017, T. Harper The author reads as pretentious and arrogant but his methods and information are excellent. Study the book, particularly weather and weather around islands, and apply as needed.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Good Stuff, September 26, 2014, Ryan Kieffer Very informative read. Deals in island wx phenomena as well as routing through Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, and the DR. Style of writing is direct and wry. Many good general tips for making the most of the trip. I'm taking my first trip down to the Carib via my own boat and see this book as a very good resource which will be re-read at least once more along the way. Raya hunt March 12, 2017 Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase If you are going to sail in the Bahamas and the Caribbean and you leave without this book, go home . A must book for those who want to travel the thorny path by boat. Your passage south will be a better experience if you study and do what is suggested in this book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Margarita Cat, August 6, 2010, Julia Bartlett, author of "Just Another Day in Paradise"
In 'Margarita Cat' Bruce Van Sant's voice spins his tales as truly as if you were sitting across the table from him in an out of the way rum shop on a white sand beach, sipping a frosty beer. The cruising life is seen through the objective, educated lens of a world traveler and makes a riveting read for old and new salts alike.
If you have cruised some of the same waters all will ring true to you; if not, you will be tempted to by these tasty snippets.
Spanning 40 years and four continents this is a window into a different way of life that still only a relatively few of us get to enjoy.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Collection of True Sea Stories, June 21, 2010, William Hezlep, author of "Into the Land of Coconut Dreams"
Bruce Van Sant's new book "Margarita Cat" is a collection of sixty-four short, true, tales gleaned from forty years of his log books; the log books of one of the most experienced cruising sailors out there (see "The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South" and "Tricks of the Trades", both by Mr. Van Sant). This is a nice book to keep by your bedside, on the breakfast table, or where ever your reading seat might be. The stories are short, perfect for an early morning or late night read, and while places and characters appear and re-appear from tale to tale, each story is complete and can stand on its own. The stories are not little suger pills about how wonderful everything always is or was; the sort of name dropping, we went here, we went there and we, we, we had just a fabulous time stories, both short and book length, of which there are way too many in print. Nothing is perfect and wonderful for two years, let alone forty, and these stories of the people, places, ports, boats, bureaucrats, weather, joys, pleasures, dangers and fears of the cruising life are told as the author expierenced it over his years of sailing--warts and all.

This is a great book for sailors and cruisers, past presant and wannabe, for parrot heads, dreamers, drifters and the secret Walter Mitty in all of us.

Truth in advertising--since 1993 I have lived on small cruising boats, sail and power, following in Bruce Van Sants wake from Canada to Venezuela and beyond, he got there first and he tells it best.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Swanson, contributor to Yachting, Soundings and Passagemaker magazines
"Bruce Van Sant spent 40 years navigating in that subculture. But coming so early into it he never really fit in with the American cruising crowd as it swelled to a movement. His apartness has given him a unique, often hilarious perspective of what happens when Middle-America decides to escape by sea. Bruce痴 mind does not work like most of ours, so when he puts his thoughts in writing, as he has done in Margarita Cat, the result is an oddball classic in a genre of one."
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5.0 out of 5 stars Cruising Guide Publications
"a lovely and indulgent book of letters, logs, and memories compiled like a giant love letter to the sea and all those who dare to venture upon her. Bruce Van Sant's Margarita Cat is yet another wonderful example of his literary and epistolary sagacity, whimsy and an ongoing love affair with the written word."