On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 11:37:16 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:
What a lovely trip. I woke up this morning to a skiff of snow in the
yard, but then it warmed up and most of the snow turned to slush.

Until you learn the turf, be wary of those ICW charts.

================================================== =

Yes, it was a nice trip, and one that I'd been looking forward to ever
since we got interested in moving to this area.

It's not just the ICW charts that are suspect, but you're right about
that. There are a lot of stories on the cruising boards and lists
about people running aground right in the ICW channel.

One of the things that I found useful when scouting this area for a
suitable homesite was aerial photographs. Many of the charts of this
area don't even attempt to show depths for the canals and backwaters,
and most of the realtors don't have a clue either, even if you could
depend on them.

For a reasonably modest fee you can sign up for very high resolution
photos at terraserver.com. It's very easy too see the channels, and
the shoaling on those photos. What we need now is some easy way to
convert the photos into BSB chart compatible images. WIth a good GPS
and a laptop, you could actually track your position as you moved
across the picture. Somebody will figure it out eventually.