Nassau bad charts / Green Cay-Sandy Cay

[RickG]

We are in George Town, Exuma now and the most recent and updated Navionics charts. They look great, have high resolution, and are missing a ton of stuff that is on the lower res Explorer Charts. There are stories every week of a vessel going hard aground when relying on charts besides Explorer. We have the paper and Aqua Map with Explorer charts running right alongside our Raymarine Axiom with new Navioncs. Our eyes pick up things both charts miss.

Cheers, RickG

[Russ]

FYI

Garmin bought Navionics a bit ago. So same, same.
Newer Garmin plotters all have Navioinics charts.
Surprised there were no comments on using Explorer Charts I was told that they are the benchmark for the Bahamas

[Davidhoy]

I have Garmin charts for the area on my phone, and they *clearly* show lots of rocks, in fact the entire area is cross-hatched in red as a warning. I'm confused how this is Garmin's or Navionics' fault. I'm sorry that you ran aground, and glad that there was no significant damage, but you can't blame the charts.

-David

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by StuM

Do you know what the arrow is pointing at?
What is the curved dotted line indicating?


Hint, look up the words "rock" and "obstruction" in a dictionary.

1) OP chose to traverse the shallowest route between the cays.
2) Curved dotted line = submerged corral reef.
3) Upon reviewing the route that was traversed, it was like playing connect the dots as to passing over or as close as possible to indicated submerged rocks. Such obstructions on the charts are denoted as: "dangerous underwater rock of unknown depth", which means STAY CLEAR!

Solution: Chose the deeper channels, particularly during low water.

[Bean Counter]

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

I have Garmin charts for the area on my phone, and they *clearly* show lots of rocks, in fact the entire area is cross-hatched in red as a warning. I'm confused how this is Garmin's or Navionics' fault. I'm sorry that you ran aground, and glad that there was no significant damage, but you can't blame the charts.

-David

Interesting, the phone app appears to show the same data as the older navionics, except it is filled in with red line shadowing rather than just a dotted line perimeter. Is that something you can change in the cartography display settings?

[Dave852]

What is up with everyone trying to operate their boat by looking at a chart instead of in front of them. I think some folks are thinking that every coral head is individually charted allowing them to steer around each one. Surprise an + on the chart represents more than one head. We always cross reference our position with the explorer charts and if we are unfamiliar or if there are any + within a 1/2 mile of our position eyes are looking forward. Plenty of areas in the Bahamas that we travel at night and some where you don't take your eyes off for a moment. All in all I think they are well charted for coral infested waters. No chart can be expected to show every coral head, there are millions in the Bahamas.