Bahamas Explorer Digital Charts ?

jjdin · #1 (**permalink**) 08-22-2010

Hi,

I wonder if anyone knows if there are Digital Explorer charts for the Bahamas compatible with Raymarine chartplotters ?

Vasco · #2 (**permalink**) 08-22-2010

C-Maps are Explorer Charts. New Raymarines will take C-Maps, so will older Raymarines (2003 and older). If you have a Raymarine that takes Navionics chips your'e S.O.L.

sck5 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-22-2010

garmin has explorer charts as the basis for their charts. i dont know where that leaves you if you have a raymarine plotter. I thought I heard c-map had some licensing dispute with explorer but I dont remember the details.

jjdin · #4 (**permalink**) 08-23-2010

Hi, Thanks for your replies; I am afraid the chartplotter takes Navionics cards, so I may be S.O.L., as Vasco says.
I read somewhere that Navionics is/was supposed to upgrade their Bahamas charts but I have not been able to confirm that.
I guess I can always use the original Explorer charts.

Vasco · #5 (**permalink**) 08-23-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjdin

Hi, Thanks for your replies; I am afraid the chartplotter takes Navionics cards, so I may be S.O.L., as Vasco says.
I read somewhere that Navionics is/was supposed to upgrade their Bahamas charts but I have not been able to confirm that.
I guess I can always use the original Explorer charts.

Do not believe Navionics. I corresponded with them for quite a bit in 2004/5 about their geo-referencing errors in their Bahamas charts. They said they had a new chip and offered me a rebate. I asked them about specific errors and whether they had corrected them. They could not/would not tell me that. In 2006 I met a cruiser who had a petition going about the poor quality/accuracy of Navionics Bahamas chip. He had the newer chip and we discussed errors. It came as a surprise when we compared the two that the "newer" chip was worse than my older chip! Apparently the older chip had some proprietary data (I suspect "borrowed" Explorer Chart data) and this was removed from the newer version!. Navionics refuses to license Explorer Chart data saying that they do their own surveys and their charts are superior. Bahamas cruisers know that's a load of crap! If you want good Bahamas electronic charts get a plotter that takes either C-Maps or Garmin chips. If you use a Navionics chip be very, very careful, it will take you over islands if you follow it blindly.