Best Navigation Apps for the Inside Passage (WA to AK)

[desodave]

Originally Posted by NaClyDog

Can anyone speak to the availability of pump-outs along this route and if there was a change to the rules related to grey water discharge?


I heard mention recently that grey water was to be treating like black water on the Inside Passage but I've not been able to confirm anything.

Here's the location of pumpouts on the South Coast of BC;
https://georgiastrait.org/work/clean...bc-3/pumpouts/


Canadian regs allow you to discharge black water overboard in inland waters if you are in the middle of a channel or more than 3 miles offshore ie in the middle of the Strait of Georgia. You are supposed to do it on an ebb tide and moving at 4 knots or more. I know of no grey water requirements although some harbours may nominally restrict it.
Experience says some of the listed pumpouts are seldom operational. In the northern part of the Strait where we usually cruise the pumpouts are a long way from cruising grounds and seldom used. Campbell River ones are in a passage with strong tidal currents and are accessible by sailboats only around slack water in Discovery Passage. I would never try to access the Sayward one ... current conditions can be brutal in the Strait through there.
I can't advise you about any north of this area but you're not going to find many/any in most places.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by desodave

Here's the location of pumpouts on the South Coast of BC;
https://georgiastrait.org/work/clean...bc-3/pumpouts/



I can't advise you about any north of this area but you're not going to find many/any in most places.

Just a couple of pump outs north of Vancouver Island. Sandspit way too far out of the way (and likely not working).


Just be sure your holding tank and its pumpout system is working... you won't be relying on pumpouts north of Georgia Strait.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by JBP

Nice. Thanks. I trust these work without a dongle on Android? My understanding was CHS charts worked on windows, but not Android.

CHS charts (raster and vector) work just fine on Android (especially Android OpenCPN). But true-blue CHS charts are expensive. O-charts vector charts of Pacific Canada are identical to official CHS vector charts, at a fraction of the price.


Re C-Map: these charts are OK for BC, about similar to Furuno. HOWEVER, similar to Furuno charts , they are often NOT up to date with CHS chart updates (including newly discovered rocks and shallows). (O-charts are up-to-date.)

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Just a couple of pump outs north of Vancouver Island. Sandspit way too far out of the way (and likely not working).


Just be sure your holding tank and its pumpout system is working... you won't be relying on pumpouts north of Georgia Strait.

We spent last summer in the Atlantic Provinces. Pump outs were very scarce, and when available they were around $25. I never actually paid for one! With those prices, I have to wonder how often they get used. But when coastal sailing, it is super easy to plan to pump out every day when you are off the coast.

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

How did you find the [C-Map and Navionics] charts to compare? This past summer, 2022, cruising the east coast of Canada (Quebec, PEI, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia) we found C-Map charts on our Furuno to be awful to the point of dangerous. Absolutely stunningly bad. Fortunately, we had Navionics on our phone and that provided the detail for safe close-in navigation.

We find C-Map and Navionics to be pretty equal along the N Pacific coastlines.

We subscribe to Navionics (for updates and routing features). C-Map came with our chart plotters when we refreshed in 2017, and I haven't subscribed to updates for C-Map yet.

I display them side-by-side in some of our difficult waters. They take turns providing better details than each other in very specific locations; often several times along the same transit. I could go either way up here, but will continue with Navionics for other features that come with the subscription.

I just hope Garmin doesn't Garminize Navionics so it becomes less desirable in the future. They already removed the NW Passage from the chart set I payed for (unannounced- and forced the charts I had to be removed when I renewed last year- and don't offer them separately...) so Garmin remains on my fecal roster...

In case this is useful.

Cheers, Bill

[Goodxcharly]

A few that I like.

- Ports and Passes. Tide and current tables. A book.

-Current Atlas with yearly tables,supplement. Another book.

-Navionics. Chart plotter and phone.
Navionics charts can be updated by you or other users for unmarked hazards, rocks.
Garmin pre Navionics could not. I hit a rock using Garmin.
Navionics charts showed the rock and Garmin did not, I was wondering why. The above explains it.



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[MJH]

Originally Posted by amyembury

Hello,

We will be carrying paper charts, but I am interested in learning more about others experience with apps such as Navionics, iNavX, etc...between Bellingham, WA and Skagway, AK. Which app has worked for you and why?

Thank you, Amy

I will second Coastal Explorer by Rose Point Navigation Systems. While I am still using their older 3.1 version on my laptop I have to give them high marks for service and reliability. I've used their software on a roundtrip to Hawaii and numerous trips into British Columbia and a roundtrip to Alaska.
Plus they are Northwest located in Redmond, WA.

Good Luck.

[gregfreed]

I’ve had no issues with Navionics, did the NW passage, from Greenland to Nome, and through SE Alaska using my iPhone.

[jongleur]

Navionics has worked well for us in BC. No fancy equipment, just a tablet and a cell phone. Haven't been north of Vancouver Island though.

[David Johnson]

I most recently did the trip in 2020 on our own boat with my wife and in 2021 with total crew 4 on a friend's boat. And I have lived in Southeast Alaska for more than 50 years.
We had a full set of paper charts. Navionics was great for navigation. Ports and Passes has excellent tide and current information. Another publication that provides a lot of useful extra information is the Waggoner Cruising Guide.
It's a great trip, as long as you watch the weather and don't get stuck on keeping an exact schedule. Unless you have radar and are willing to travel slowly and carefully in the fog you may have to wait until nearly noon to travel some days--radar really helps!!
Be safe, and enjoy the trip.

[Toaster]

The Canadian Hydrographic Service is actively updating their charts. Chart quality is very high. We have a mostly complete set of paper charts from the mid 2010s when we cruised there extensively. Almost all of them have been replaced by the CHS.

We will be cruising in BC again this summer (2023) and plan to get new paper charts for key areas we know we will be in, especially favorite anchorages. We will get electronic CHS charts also, for OpenCPN and our chartplotter.

You may be interested in my wife's book, "Taken By the Wind: The Northwest Coast: A Guide to Sailing the Coasts of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska". It is a practical book specifically about understanding local conditions and how it affects your route planning. For instance, if you are planning to sail westbound through Johnstone Strait, she will tell you what to expect and where. Here's an extract:

"Before you round Chatham Point, listen to the most recent wind report from the Chatham Point lighthouse. If it suggests you should reef, do so in the lee of Chatham Point near Otter Cove. Once past the point and into Johnstone Strait, if you find that you are over-canvassed, head to the protection of Turn Island and reef there. If the wind is too strong for you, turn to run downwind into Nodales Channel. You can find anchorage in Thurston Bay and await more favorable conditions." Etc.

It is self-published on Amazon. Just search for the title (I'd post a link here but the forum doesn't allow that, I think).

In the Inside Passage further north (central and northern BC), you usually won't see much wind - that's why it's the Inside Passage. So, use my wife's book to figure out where you can find wind. It's also full of practical advice like what condition reporting stations to listen for, depending on where you are.


Toaster