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What’s New in E-Charts
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Bluewater’s Electronic Chart Department has finally received its first chart plotters, a Raymarine E120 and a Furuno VX2, so we now have the ability to demonstrate cartography from Navionics in the Ft. Lauderdale store. Previously, we could only show our customers Navionics Classic cartography, but now we can show you the Gold. Check in with us regularly to find out what kinds of plotters and cartography are on display. (Please note that, while we have chart plotters for display purposes, we do not sell them.)

In July, C-Map updated their cartography of the Bahamas to include information from the Explorer Charts. Coverage of the Berry Islands, the Exumas, Bimini and some of the ports in the Ragged Islands has been updated. We’re hearing back from our customers about this already, and are pleased to announce that they are thrilled with the increased level of detail. Since the Explorer charts are maintained by Monty and Sara Lewis, cruisers who are actually out there using the information as they collect it, we think C-Map made a good choice.

If you’ve ever used the Explorer Charts, you know what they’re like: packed with information. The difference between Explorer and NIMA coverage of the Bahamas is astounding. The Explorer Charts include larger scale cartography, more depths, accurate waypoints, the most current magnetic variation, routing and distance information, and much more. Anybody cruising the Bahamas should have Explorer paper charts aboard, and now they can have Explorer electronic charts as well.

Because the Explorer data takes up a larger amount of memory on C-Map chips, C-Map had to shift their coverage slightly. This means that any NAC/M305 or NAC/M503 chip purchased after July 11, 2005, will cover a slightly different area than chips purchased before this date. The new coverage is reflected in the following images.

The new coverage for NAC/M305 is shown as in the top example: The solid red area in the northwest corner is no longer covered. Instead, the detail of coverage in the Bahamas is much more thorough.

The new coverage for NAC/M503 is shown in the second example: The solid red area on the eastern and southeastern sides is no longer covered. As with 305, the detail of the Bahamas is much more thorough.

In the Great Lakes area, a new C-Map NAC/M104 card has been created to cover the area between Georgian Bay and Lake St. Claire. This fills in the gap between 102 and 103. Also, new editions of several Canadian charts of the inland route through Georgian Bay have caused C-Map to update its cartography of the area. Please call Bluewater Justin Mann, Phil Skwiot, or Mike Gruol if you have any questions regarding coverage. (1-800-942-2583)

Other C-Map changes include the addition of a tidal streams database and improved photo resolution on all Max-C cards.

Please note that this is only a brief update, and does not even begin to cover everything that’s going on in electronic cartography. Nor does it fairly represent the scope of the charts and manufacturers that we carry. Things are changing every day, so please call us and allow us to keep you updated.

For information on the chips mentioned, please call and ask for to Mike, Phil or Justin.