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Old 08-19-2008, 05:23 PM   #1
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Can anyone suggest where I can purchase, in the United States, reasonably priced Nautical Charts, paper and electronic versions.

My plan is to travel from Florida to Argentina, via the Caribbean Sea, between Central America and the Caribbean Islands.

Is a 'Passage Planning' software package, the electronic charts or is it more then this.

If possible somewhere I can purchase online.

Many thanks

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Old 08-20-2008, 04:05 AM   #2
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Atlas of Pilot Charts to download for free

South Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean are not yet available.

Sailing through the Caribbean, the mantra was "go east". When a new cruiser said, "but xxx is Southeast of here" the reply was, "go east and you might be lucky to make southeast". You might find, as Joshua Slocum did, that it is easier to head to Europe and Africa in order to make it to Argentina.

So my advice to you is to download the pilot charts and study them. Read "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum.

Cruisers island hop down the Caribbean chain to take advantage of the lee of the islands, sheltered from the strong current and hard winds to make more easting. Look at how Brazil juts out from South America- hard easting.

Reasonably priced charts - well, you can buy photocopies, though they can be difficult to read, at a reasonable price, from Bellingham.

You might also check various marine flea markets for electronic chart chips that would fit your chart plotter.

Charts are expensive, but often you can find used charts offered for sale that are good enough for offshore passages, saving money to buy newer coastal and port charts where the updates might be more important.
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Old 08-20-2008, 04:24 AM   #3
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An expensive book but one which you may be able to persuade your local lending library to get is the British Admiralty's Ocean Passages of the World. A huge amount of very valid and useful information, originally written by officers of sailing warships who needed to know everything about wind and currents. It is still in print in updated versions. Read the appropriate parts and then make your plans.

Try also to read the South American and Caribbean Sailing Directions (Pilot books). Again, stacks of useful information concerning weather and currents even if their "target audience" is larger vessels.

Aye // Stephen
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Old 08-20-2008, 09:05 AM   #4
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For used paper charts you can try Cruising Connections - worldwide delivery.
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Old 08-26-2008, 11:27 PM   #5
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Thank you for all this wonderful information.. I will certainly try and get my hands on as much information as possible...

Will keep you posted..
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