Charts for Cuba

[Chrissy]

Does anyone know what charts are available for Cuba both paper and for a Gramin Chartplotter??? We would love hearing from anyone who has cruised there recently as this is another place we are considering sailing to? Thanks

[AnchorageGuy]

Chrissy, The best source I know of for Cuba Charts is Landfall Navigation. There are DMA charts for the Cuban waters which we used and they are not too bad but are very dated for navigational aids. It has been a few years since we were there but absolutely loved it and consider it the highlight of our cruising. Soundings Magazine published a detailed article on our cruise and a copy of the article is on our Sea Trek website. You didn't say what nationality you are, keep in mind it has not changed to date and it is still illegal for US flagged boats and US citizens to travel to Cuba on a boat without permission and to my knowledge the permission process is almost impossible to obtain. There have been several discussion here on the board and we have been monitoring the current bills in congress to lift the travel restriction, but there has been no movement so far. We like you and many others are still making plans for when that happens.

[Surveyor]

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?...592&pvID=34905

That chart covers Cuba and in fair detail.

It is illegal for US citizens to travel to Cuba under certain conditions but what Big Brother doesnt know wont hurt him. I have been there well over 20 times via the Bahamas and never ever had a problem. When you get there they will look at an American passport but........

Funny how the dirt poorest people in the world are the ones that are the happiest, go figure...

[FSMike]

During the Bush administration regulations were established saying that your vessel could be confiscated if it could be shown that you merely intended to go to Cuba. Simple possession of charts or guides for Cuba could be considered adequate proof of such intentions. I do not know if those regs have been rescinded or not.
FYI.

[AnchorageGuy]

The regulations are still in place, however the implementation of those regulations have received less importance by the current administration. But that does not mean you can't or won't have a problem until the regulations have been rescinded.

[AnchorageGuy]

The Garmin chart Surveyor refers to does cover Cuba however you need to look at the underlying charts to see where they came from. The DMA charts for this area are very outdated, and although helpful to some extent, would not be ones preference. The British Admiralty charts are much better. Of course the Cuban charts would be the best but to my knowledge they are not available in electronic form.

[annk]

Bluewater Charts in Florida provide great copies of Cuban Hydrographic charts. I believe these were actually surveyed by the Russian Hydrographic office.

We used them to cruise the South coast two years ago and did not discover any anomalies

[osirissail]

The real Cuban Hydrographic Office charts are excellent, up to date and available from Canada in both paper and RNC format. There was a chart store in Miami that was making paper copies of the real Cuban charts and selling them. I would think that they are still doing that.

[Chrissy]

Waterway guy...Look forward to reading about your Sea Trek adventures. We are Canadian so maybe the time to go to Cuba is now. Thanks for sharing all of your knowlege...you are a very generous man with your time. Cheers, Chrissy and Rob

[spiv]

Hello everyone,
just stumbled on this old post....

I am planning to go to Cuba late December (Oz flag) and I am looking for charts that I can use with OpenCPN.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[spiv]

I have purchased a CD with 75 charts of Cuba on ebay.
Just for anyone interested in this Charts, here is the link: Nautical Charts OF Cuba ON CD | eBay