This obituary was written by Milt Baker.
Stephen J. Pavlidis, one of America’s top cruising guide authors, died May 29, 2018, in Covington, Georgia, after a long period of failing health. He was 65. “Steve was one of the hardest-working individuals I have ever known,” said his publisher and c lose friend, Joseph F. Janson of Seaworthy Publications. “Even as his health was failing he continued to work on projects and co-authored a new book, The Captain’s Guide to Hurricane Holes, published in 2018. He had a brilliant mind and was that unique combination of writer and cartographer in one person.”
Pavlidis lived aboard his stout 40-foot sailboat IV Play beginning in 1989 and continued living aboard for much of his life, a period just shy of 30 years. He cruised the Bahamas and Caribbean for much of that time, researching and writing more than a dozen cruising guides. His guides covered the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Northwest Caribbean including the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Guatemala and the Río Dulce River, as well as Honduras and the Bay Islands. His guides have long been described as some of the best available references for cruising the Bahamas and Caribbean. According to Janson, “Steve personally sailed to and visited each place he wrote about, and he created over 500 detailed charts for his guides. Seaworthy Publications is committed to keeping Steve’s guides up to date just as Steve always did his best to ensure. Steve was more than a good writer researcher—he was my friend. He will be sorely missed.”
