'Cruising Bulgaria and Romania' aims to encourage many more yachtsmen to discover the pleasures of cruising the Lower Danube and the western Black Sea, to visit the ports and harbours (both antique and modern) and the miles of unspoilt beaches in these fascinating areas. For the visiting yachtsman, the cruising areas of Bulgaria and Romania, the River Danube, parts of the Black Sea coast, and (in Romania) the Danube delta (a special area in its own right), offer an interesting diversity. Despite being close geographical neighbours, Bulgaria and Romania are culturally very different. Bulgaria shares the Orthodox religion and Slavic cultural roots of Russia and Serbia, whereas Romania is a country with Latin cultural traditions similar to other western Mediterranean countries. Srebarna Lake, the North Romanian Black Sea coast, Kamchia and Strandja and the Danube Delta are internationally important as nature reserves and as homes to some rare and endangered species. The River Danube is one of Europe's most ancient thoroughfares, but between Vienna and Bratislava the number of vessels on the river drops dramatically and the area is still relatively unknown to foreign boats. Nicky Allardice has lived and worked in both countries and his guide is based on extensive first-hand experience.

He proposed, but interrupted her response with, "Before you say, 'yes', you need to know that someday I want to have a sailboat and sail around the world." She cried. These were not tears of joy. Twenty-five years later, they went to sea. This is the story of their first year as cruising sailors, and what she learned about: weathering storms, provisioning, entering strange harbors, and how living on a small boat with one's spouse isn't the long awaited life-time honey-moon imagined by landlubbers. From December through April they made their way east from Florida through the Bahamas and into the Caribbean, sailing to windward into the prevailing easterly winds. They encountered weeks when they had to wait for a weather window, days of perfect sailing to the east, and days of tacking off shore in six foot seas. They also sailed to windward as they encountered a steep learning curve, numerous unexpected boat projects, and challenges in their relationship. If you're planning a long sea voyage with your loved ones -- then read this book. It won't provide all of the sailing or travel information you need, but it will make you smile and help prepare you for many of the experiences encountered while sailing in paradise. You'll learn some things here that can't be found in cruising guides or how-to sail and cruise books. As Barb says, "This is the stuff I didn't know I needed to know before we left." If you enjoy reading true stories of couples undertaking new challenges, travel journals, and self-discovery sprinkled with humor -- then read this book. It won't answer relevant questions of the day, but it will make you smile as you recognize yourself, your spouse, or your parents in these essays about one baby-boomer couple undertaking a journey together. Harts at Sea Sailing to Windward is comprised of the stories of their first year as full-time cruisers. It's an often funny, sometimes useful, and always honest record of their journey from Portland, Maine to Grenada. Barb Hart and her husband, EW, are still happily married, sailing aboard La Luna, and getting haircuts in exotic harbors.

A story from the personal journal of Henriette Groot of a two day visit by sailboat to a village in a remote lagoon in the Solomon Islands. Her story offers a glimpse into the relationships among people. What do we share? And how?

Circadian Rhythm is the name of a boat that was the vehicle for many summers of rollicking good times for a group of blue-collar yachtsmen. This book describes these adventures and provides the reader with a glimpse of the champagne life style on a beer budget. The intrepid crew of Circadian Rhythm could barely make the month's payment on the boat, but still managed to bang heads with the "blue-bloods" of the New England sailing world and come out ahead. This book is for the arm chair sailor and active sailor who enjoy a good yarn with a few chuckles mixed in.

In 1998 Brec Morgan set off in his 27' Pacific Seacraft Orion to sail around the world. He left from Block Island, Rhode Island, and by the time he arrived in the Pacific via the Panama Canal, he was convinced that it would be a solo circumnavigation. He crossed the Pacific spending an idyllic summer cruising through Polynesia before heading to New Zealand for the winter. This book is a compilation of emails prepared from a journal he sent home from New Zealand that chronicle his thoughts, experiences, and challenges in his first year out. It includes "the rest of the story" in more condensed form by supplying the draft material for his complete round-the-world narrative for "Blue Water Sailing." So, this book is more than the start of a dream come true, it finishes it by bringing the reader along from New Zealand to Sri Lanka, the Suez, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and back to Block Island by way of the Carribean.

REVIEWS: SAILING MAGAZINE:

Earning the Golden Sail: It is the goal of many of us--retiring from the rat race, buying a sailboat, and sailing off into the sunset. But the questions loom large. What type of boat? Where do we sail? How will we manage?

These are all questions sailing contributor, Matts Djos and his wife Jeanine, faced when he retired in 2006 and his search for answers is recorded in his new book, "Sailing Out of Retirement."

Starting with a trailerable Balboa 26, Matts and Jeanine move up to a Mariner 31 ketch, which they restore and fit out for cruising. Some of the chapters have appeared previously in SAILING Magazine and may be familiar to readers, but they've been updated for the book. For retirees and the curious of all ages, the book will serve as a guide and case study of one couple's endeavor to live the dream (May 2011). CRUISING WORLD:

In a nation of baby boomers, this volume targets an often ignored niche: senior sailors. The crux of the book is a primer based on the septuagenarian author's experiences gleaned when, after retirement, he and his wife bought a Mariner 31 ketch and went cruising. Djos advises on choosing and buying a pre-owned boat, refitting, selecting a marina, heavy weather tactics, and medical issues for older cruisers . SOUNDINGS MAGAZINE:

Seasoned sailors with the wind still in their sails might consider "Sailing Out of Retirement: Living the Dream" by the veteran cruising couple, Matts and Jeanine Djos. The two have extensively sailed the West Coast from Canada to Mexico, and Matts has written extensively as a freelance writer for multiple nautical magazines. In their new book, the retired couple offers suggestions on how to find the right used boat--drawing from their own experience--from an extensive restoration to a shakedown cruise.

Also chronicled are the nuances of marinas and moorings; short and long term cruising, common sense seamanship, matters of personal health, safety and onboard ambiance and comfort--all geared toward retirees and seniors .

The Djoses currently sail a trailerable 26 foot Balboa and a Mariner 31, which is moored in San Pedro, Calif. .

48 NORTH: . . . of special interest to novices, adventurers, retirees, and armchair sailors . . . Given their experience over fifty years under sail, Matts and Jeanine describe how to find just the right pre-owned boat, including what may be involved in an extensive refit, restoration, and shakedown. . . . AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION This is a book for retirees, armchair sailors, dreamers, and lovers of the wind and sea. Sailing couple, Matts and Jeanine Djos, will suggest how to find just the right pre-owned boat by their own example and describe from personal experience what may be involved in buying and refitting a boat, shaking it down, and finding just the right marina. Also included are tactics for heavy weather sailing, common sense seamanship, the pleasures (and advantages) of seniority, personal health and safety, and onboard ambiance and comfort. As the great poet, Tennyson, wrote of Ulysses, "There lies the port, the vessel puffs her sail, and while much is taken, much still abides." So come join them, and perhaps you too shall discover something unexpected and remarkable about the rollicking sea, the wayward heavens, and the wonder of discovering a well-found boat that suits your needs perfectly Matts Djos is a lifelong sailor and boating enthusiast. He and Jeanine have sailed much of the West, including the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Mexico, California, the Great Southwest, and the Rockies. Matts has written extensively on sailing and is a free-lance writer for 48 North, Sail, Sailing, and Cruising World. He and Jeanine are the Authors of The Sacrament of Sail: Finding Our Way (Amazon, 2011). Matts is the author of The Spindrift (Amazon, 2012).

A couple designs its own somewhat unconventional boat and sets out to sea. The boat is not ready, neither are they. But the ocean is a rigorous teacher and does not spare them the worst...

If you've ever dreamed of sailing off into the sunset with someone you love, and seeing the world, you will love this book. It is about young singles, cruising around on a beautiful yacht, skiing in the Alps, scuba diving in exotic locales, living the LUSH LIFE. it has elements of romance, drug dealing, getting caught, and redemption. All this and a love story which I am hoping will appeal to women as well as men. The protagonist, Ward Sheffield, get's invited on a sailing trip to the legendary COCOS ISLAND, and has an affair with the Captain's wife. They discover a chest of gold coins, left by pirates, and decide to buy a boat together and go cruising. They enlist friends as crew and take off for Europe. Follow their sailing adventures in the Mediteranean, and their love affairs which are cut short when they are busted returning to the Bahamas with drugs aboard. The boat is confiscated and the Captain jailed. In the end, the LUSH LIFE carries on unabashed.

This is a book of remembrances, about 60 years of experiences in Sail boats, Powerboats, canoes and sea kayaks. It is a book about places from the Maine coast to North and South Carolina, Florida Okinawa and Israel. I want to share a life time of joy and experiences on and around the water in small boats. Experiences which include quiet and peace as well as times of high adventure. If you chose to read my book, I hope you greatly enjoy it and have some sea adventures of your own.

A song to Pacific islands rooted in a far-ranging journey, Reach for Paradise is the Pacific addition to the world's fine travel literature. Written as he gained deep knowledge of the islands and their peoples, their history and traditions, the influences that have shaped their destiny, Rayner's story conveys the mystery and marvel of travel to destinations denied most people. Intent on exploring what if anything has survived of the paradise celebrated by travelers of past centuries, Rayner bought a sailboat and set off, picking up both boat and island knowledge as he ploughed 30,000 miles of ocean. A personal journey of delight, Reach for Paradise is rich with information gleaned from Pacific peoples, literature and observation. For Pacific voyagers, Reach for Paradise is an invaluable source. If a guide, rather than explaining how to get there it is the sort that will tell thoughtful adventurers why to go. And what you miss if you can't. Protected uniquely by distance and time, Pacific islands are extraordinary, often meeting the old definition of that devalued word "paradise" as a place that inspires blissful contentment. Island spirits and magic, landscapes, the splendor of coral reefs, the gift economy, Rayner defies you to argue that planet Earth has any better elixir for a world-weary traveler.