Best book for navigating Bahamas/Exumas - 8 day Cat Charter

[CastawayCat]

Hello friends! I will be sailing a 42' chartered cat from Nassau over a period of 8-10 days before returning back to port. I have never sailed this area before so looking for any advice, resources to make the trip as safe and memorable as possible. Are there any better resources than the "waterway guide" books ?

Thank you!

[Sailmonkey]

Explorer guides are the key to the Bahamas

[CastawayCat]

Whats the best source for those ? I guess I am not familiar with them. Unless you mean Fodors? Thanks.

[chris mac]

Aquamaps. I have it on an android tablet. It uses the electronic version of explorer charts.
Pretty reasonably priced, actually way cheaper than a paper chart book.
Enjoy your charter

[CastawayCat]

Thank you! Yes I am familiar with them. Glad to see someone else agrees!

[Maldwin]

Originally Posted by CastawayCat

Whats the best source for those ? I guess I am not familiar with them. Unless you mean Fodors? Thanks.

You can get explorer charts at Bluewater Books and Charts in Fort Lauderdale. They have a good website, or phone them.
Best,
Maldwin

[sailm8]

Doesn't the charter company supply charts? It's been a while since I chartered but I recall the company supplied charts.

[Bargain Bill]

Explorer Charts by Monte & Sarah Lewis have served me well in the 10 years of cruising. More accurate and more detail than any other I have used (and I tried them all).

[Seriously Slow]

I swore off waterway guides a few years ago because whenever they mentioned a waypoint they NEVER would give the coordinates for it. Hundreds of times the same story. Their explanation was they did not want to be responsible for someones' poor navigation to it or for a misprint. The book was useless.

They may have corrected that by now but I doubt it. I am guessing it was a lawyers's advice. I haven't even looked at one since.

My explorer charts in my Garmin chartplotter are getting a little old but they have been quite accurate along with their chartbooks. As I now understand it Garmin is not using them any more.

It is easy and probably the best advice I can give you is to get a guide to the Exumas and spend all 10 days there.
Hopefully, the virus restrictions will loosen up at least allowing visits to a beach.

[hlev00]

I have some recent paper Explorer charts. 2018/2019. PM me if interested. Aqua Map has them available as add on to their app. You might find that the owner has them on their chart plotter.

[CastawayCat]

Thank you everyone. Great info. @sailm8 they probably do, but I want to have a little personal study time prior.

[onestepcsy37]

If you want to do some armchair sailing before you go then get the Explorer chart book for the exumas. Far better than the app. I promise you will not be sorry. Go to -

Www.explorercharts.com

[CastawayCat]

Thank you!

[onestepcsy37]

And the Explorer chart book is full of local information which you won't find on the app....

[hlev00]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

And the Explorer chart book is full of local information which you won't find on the app....

Very good point. It’s been two years since we used ours. They are a lot more than just charts.