[pturn]

Anybody know where I can get ENC for Mexico and further south? I plan on sailing down this Fall.

Pat

[jagasail]

Your best bet is Chartworld. Mexico belongs to the international ENC organizations, but based on the IC-ENC org website (best site to determine what's actually been 'officially' produced) they've only created some for their east coast. However, Navionics (also from Chartworld site) has some for the west coast.

In general the chart's for Mexico are not particularly great. Most were produced by the US in WWII (based on discussion last fall with the guy who runs one of the older marinas in La Paz). I'd have to assume these are the basis for most of the vector charts available. For now I managed to get a set of the SoftCharts for the Mexico west coast while they were still available, backed up by a paper portfolio from Bellingham Chart Printers (www.tidesend.com) - a good source for paper and electronic charts.

When are you heading south? I'm also heading down this fall, but the toughest part of my trip may be getting from here (PNW) to where you're at. I have to leave by the end of September (latest) to beat the early winter storms. My first stop will be San Diego (non-stop from probably Neah Bay) for visas and visit family.

Scot

[jagasail]

I stand a bit corrected - Mexico has produced a few for the west coast, but fairly small scale approach and harbor charts, such as the La Paz and Acapulco. There's also a large scale eastern Atlantic chart that actually appears to pick up southern Mexico both east and west coasts.

Scot

[JoeS.]

Umm, what about the Maptech Charts on CD? For the West Coast they have San Diego to Acapulco and Acapulco to Panama, at $250 each
Anyone use these?
JoeS.

[GPSNavX]

Yes the Maptech raster charts that cover Mexico will work fine with MacENC and GPSNavX, but I think going forward vector charts are the answer. Slowly governments are getting their charts into ENC format.

Not sure about Mexican coverage yet so Maptech may be the only choice.

[jagasail]

I have the Softcharts for San Diego to Mexico, but those and the Maptech BSB's would have to be based on the old US charts. While I haven't been to Mexico with my boat yet I've been advised that generally the guides (such as Charlie's Charts) are better for close in navigation advice.

I watched a sailboat get beaten literally to death on the rocks trying to enter La Paz late last November. It had got on the wrong (ocean) side of the channel and ran aground, lost it's keel, was pounded by heavy waves coming across the 'bar', and washed across the canal onto the beach. The two crew got out but one was severely hypothermic. The deep part of the "La Paz canal" is 0.1nm wide and about 5 nm long, with a long shallow bar bordering most of the ocean side. While the canal is bouyed, the existing charts are not detailed enough to easily keep you out of trouble there. I definitely wouldn't trust my GPS and a BSB/Soft Chart. Charlies is much more informative. That's one place I'd definitely get an ENC if available, assuming they're produced on new data and not just transcribed from the old vector charts.

Scot