Years ago I put an ad out for a partnership interest in my plane, a high performance Cessna 210 (6 passenger, 200 mph, retractable gear). I’d had partners the entire time I’d owned it, over 30 years, but they had faded away due to age or other reasons. Planes are expensive to maintain in a meticulous manner, which I insist on after being a college flight instructor.
A nice guy answered my ad. He was from Boston, had a solid flying record, and wanted a 210 for his winter home in Naples. I fly to the Bahamas frequently, a dream of his, so we became friends and started to meet. The sign at my office across from the airport has the name of our marine & environmental services firm and also “Island Map Publishing” which produces wall maps of islands like the Bahamas! We also make maps of the American coast with editions from Maine to Texas including the Great Lakes and custom maps like New Zealand.
The partnership never came to be since he wanted a plane up on Cape Cod in the summer, but we remained friendly and he offered to edit our new Cape Cod map. We always involve a local in the maps we design since you really need someone who lives there to get the names and geographical features right. It’s not as easy as it sounds and why I always visit the area where a map is being made. The guy from Boston had grown up in Cape Cod with years of boating around Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Buzzards Bay. He did a meticulous job on the Cape Cod map and we’re proud to feature it at the upcoming Annapolis Boat Show, come see us at the Island Map Store booth if you go to the show!
Not planning on attending the show? Check out website or call today (239-963-3497) to learn more!
Island Map Publishing is a small company I started years ago since clients of our Marine & Environmental services company liked the maps we produced for their projects. I collect antique maps from the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s when most of my collection is dated. They originated in Europe where maps from that era were made and displayed on the walls of those who dreamed of and studied the New World. We decided to make similar maps of America's coast, including the Keys, along with islands in the Bahamas and Caribbean. They're colorful wall maps to dream, reminisce and plan trips upon.
We started making the maps years ago when talk of writing a Keys history book began with Brian Schmitt, my co-author and fellow map collector. Ten areas were chosen for individual maps, areas which have never been shown in the fashion we've crafted them - colorful wall maps to dream upon.
The new maps are used in our book to describe the history of those individual areas, how they were settled, when the railroad came through, unique features and stories about that particular stretch of the Keys along A1A. They're also used to compare with the first detailed Keys maps, produced by the U.S. Coast Survey in the mid/late 1800s. The Keys were virgin then and the Coast Survey work is displayed next to our 10 modern era maps at the same scale. The comparison shows how the islands were altered by causeways and bridges built for the railroad and by the later development of dredge and fill waterfront subdivisions. The changes are dramatic. Additional detail can be seen in development area overlays used in the next chapter, clear overlays on top of 1959 aerials that show how land emerged from the swamp and sea. These are at a scale where Individual lots can be picked out if you or a friend lives in the area. The images are astounding.
To check out all of our maps visit our site today! If you have questions regarding the size, material, or just curious about the store please call 239-963-3497. 
Long Island has to be the "longest" true island on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. I'm from Florida, so here are some comparisons: Long Island would stretch from Key West to the Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo about 115 miles away, the same appx distance as Long Island is from east to west Long Island would thereby cover the largest coral reef in America. It'd span over a million alligators in the Everglades between Miami and Naples, where I live on the Gulf of Mexico. Running east from Miami the island would span the Gulfstream and extend 60 miles beyond Bimini on the Great Bahama Bank.
By far New York's largest, the island runs the width of Connecticut with Long Island Sound separating the two states. The Island is as diverse as it is long, from Brooklyn's busy scene at the west end, affluence of the north shore and Hamptons, Fire Island National Seashore, the boardwalk at Jones Beach on the south shore and the relative calm of Montauk. People of almost every nationality on earth live and work on Long Island, the sum of wealth and property exceeding that of some countries.
My experience on the island is limited to a few frantic drives on business, a beautiful run out to Montauk Point Lighthouse and a crazy bachelor party on Fire Island. Since we always have our new maps checked for local knowledge, I turned to a biologist in our office who grew up on Long Island sailing the Great South Bay along the south shore with her father and mother. She checked the proper names of towns and geographic features since we don't copy other maps to make ours, we study things that make our display of the land and sea unique.
If you'd like to see our map of the island or other maps along the east coast, have a look at Island Map Publishing's web site or stop by our booth at the Annapolis boat show the weekend of Oct 8th. 
The Outer Banks is arguably the most famous string of barrier islands in the United States. The archipelago runs from south of the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia City to Cape Lookout near Beaufort, North Carolina. The Outer Banks also have one of the most impressive group of Lighthouses in America with light-stations at Currituck Beach, Roanoke Island, Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout.
The area has been popularized recently by the hit television show "Outer Banks", which tracks the path of a wayward group of teenagers who find a large stash of gold coins and are in-turn pursued by evil adults who want it for themselves. It's a favorite of my wife's 19 yr old son, of course, and of ours too. We have a friend who organizes the water scenes for the show, so we get some unique insight. He also did the water scenes for the movie "Titanic", so the series "Outer Banks" is in good hands.
As a kid, I remember vacationing near Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903. That world-changing event stuck into my young mind and I eventually became a pilot myself, working my way through engineering school as a flight instructor. I also recall epic fishing trips out of Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets where friends and I caught yellowfin tuna and other gamefish offshore. Having them onshore for dinner, with a cold beer or wine, is something every American who loves to eat fish should experience! The Outer Banks also feature loads of parks & preserves, including Cape Lookout National Seashore for kayaking, paddleboarding, boating and other family activities.
For all the above reasons it was a pleasure making a map of the Outer Banks to display on the walls of kids looking to explore and grown-ups who experienced and will never forget memories of these wonderful islands like I do. The Outer Banks Map and others will be on display at the upcoming Annapolis Boat Show in October. 
With every map we make at Island Map Publishing, I physically go to the area being drawn to meet with locals introduced through a network of yacht captains I know. They usually enjoy reviewing our map drafts and I always deliver a nice canvas copy to them when the project is complete. Experienced boaters familiar with local waters can point out things that will enhance a map and often catch errors or omissions. Marina managers will help as do locals around the docks who like to comment. You always want the map to pass local muster, which isn't as easy. We also have a marina client in Naples who's family is from Maine where they still maintain a summer home on Penobscot Bay.
When we started our two maps of Maine, I knew I'd have spend a week or two there to have a clue since my last trip was on a bike ride around Bar Harbor as a teenager. One of our maps covers the whole state of Maine and the other enlarges Penobscot Bay.
My trip started in Boston with a first night in Portland, Maine where I visited a new marina on the harbor and ate some fabulous seafood. After meeting with a captain there, I drove up the coast in a bee-line for the Canadian border so I could work my way back south. Driving around the countryside of Maine is a blast and the little towns around hundreds of bays and islands are wonderful. The weather was lovely compared to Florida in late summer I could have stayed until Christmas (guys at a craft brewery in Bath insisted they would come to Naples for Christmas and use my boat if I would please stay there).
Our maps of Maine came out great and if you happen to be at the Annapolis Boat show in October, they'll be on display in Amanda's popular Island Map booth. Come see us! 
I often give talks on history using antique maps as props. The maps are usually from my collection or from friends who are true map experts. We love the incredible stories ancient maps tell us and they've been used to help write "coffee-table" books on Naples (my home), the Bahamas (our boat's home) and the Florida Keys.
Our little company "Island Map Publishing" has produced antique style, waterfront maps from Maine to Texas including all of the Caribbean. We've finished the Great Lakes and New Zealand and are now completing California to Washington state, destined to finish the entire continental U.S. coastline in the future.
By "antique style" I mean maps which resemble old fashion wall editions (from the 1500s thru 1800s) which were displayed at European and American institutions and on private estates. They were used to discuss the exploration and colonization of the Americas.
Our map of 
Every since I was a kid I can remember going to Key West and seeing forts, lighthouses, old sailboats and turtle crawls. I especially liked sea turtles and found it interesting to see where they lived, apparently unaware of everything the world had in store for them.
The U.S. acquired Florida from Spain in 1819 and by the early 1820s established the first permanent settlement of Key West. The U.S. Navy set up a base with it's Anti-Piracy Squadron since pirates had been preying on vessels legitimately salvaging shipwrecks "wrecking" along the Keys reef. The Navy stopped the pirates and wrecking became a way of life in Key West, making it the wealthiest town in Florida by the mid 1800s. Key West's Fort Zachary Taylor remained in Union hands during the Civil War (1860s) even though Florida was a Confederate state. In 1898 the harbor hosted warships headed to Cuba for the Spanish American War, helping deliver Cuban independence from Spain.
The town's prosperity waned as lighthouses and steamships diminished the wrecking trade in the late 1800s. By the early 1900s the town was restless since the once vibrant cigar industry had all but moved to Tampa due to labor unions in Key West. Events in Cuba continued to have an effect in later years with daily ferry runs to Havana until Fidel Castro came to power around 1960. Communist rule only 90 miles away formented the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis which militarized the town and the Mariel Boat Lift which brought tens of thousands of Cuban refugees into Key West.
Henry Flagler's Oversea Railroad would establish Key West as America's southern most port in 1912. The tracks never created the expected boom though it did provide a critical link to the mainland establishing the tourism industry. The railroad built the Casa Marina Hotel in 1921 and paved the way for the Overseas Highway that opened in 1938 (the railroad was destroyed in a 1935 hurricane).
Notable guests moved to town like authors Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. President Harry Truman had his Winter White House in Key West after WWII and the Navy has maintained a presence to this day with a significant air base in nearby Boca Chica. In later years Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville theme continues to make Key West a popular tourist destination with great fishing, diving, parties, seafood and yes - historical sites!
To learn about the history of the Florida Keys check out our latest book