How Good are the Navionics Canadian Charts ?

[Safari38LH]

Anyone with experience using the Canadian Navionics charts of Nova Scotia and Cape Brenton. How good are the? Any problems?

[muised]

I've done Baddeck to Halifax the hard way (via Sydney Louisbourg) with them and they were great. We had current paper charts as well. If you have an Android phone or tablet you can check them out for about $14 for all of Canada / US I believe, may be available for iPhone as well.

When I got my new boat I switched to a Standard Horizon chartplotter with CMap Max charts - I think I prefer the Navionics.

[Katiusha]

There are some small coves between Halifax and Canso, as well as in New Brunswick, where the information is sparse. But they do manage to show all/most rocks and elevation changes. But for all frequented places there are a lot of soundings and they are generally spot on.

We were sailing down with a buddy boat. They had C-Map, we had Navionics. C-Map didn't show quite a lot - they had to crawl around anchorages with an Interphase to figure out where the rocks were and where to drop anchor. Our charts showed enough that a sweep around the anchorage would show us that the chart was spot-on. We were still cautious, but trusted the chart more.

[Safari38LH]

Originally Posted by muised

I've done Baddeck to Halifax the hard way (via Sydney Louisbourg) with them and they were great. We had current paper charts as well. If you have an Android phone or tablet you can check them out for about $14 for all of Canada / US I believe, may be available for iPhone as well.

When I got my new boat I switched to a Standard Horizon chartplotter with CMap Max charts - I think I prefer the Navionics.

Thanks. That's the way we are going in to Baddack via Sydney and Louisbourg. I am switching from Garmin to the new Simrad touch screen and radar (I need a new radar) and hate giving up the quality of the Garmin charts. They have always been excellent everywhere on the US coast and I hear they are very good in Canada. I am just hoping that the Navionics are as good. I have found a few areas where they are thin from reading the Loveridge cruising guide and comparing it to the iPad Navionics app. Thanks for the info.

[twistedtree]

I'm heading up that way too including the whole St Lawrence and looking at which chart packs to get. My Furuno gear can use either C-map or Navionics vector charts, or MapMedia raster charts.

From what I've heard so far, it sounds like the Navionics vector charts are the best for the region?

[muised]

Safari38LH - unless you want to visit something like Louisbourg (old restored French fort and great tourist attraction) I would take the Canal at St Peters to enter the Bras'dor Lakes. We could not use it because it was being repaired and we were early in the season. If you do go the "long way" you can stop in Canso as well as Port Morion if you like. Only other issues are Louisbourg Harbour (study the charts and hope for good visibility) and the Seal Island Bridge entering the Lakes. Some local knowledge will help identify when the slack tide really happens, and avoid the standing waves under the bridge. Baddeck is awesome - I hope you enjoy your trip.

I should also mention there are some great places to stop on the way North along the Nova Scotia Coast. Bridgewater (LaHave River), Lunenburg / Chester, St. Margrets Bay and Halifax all have Marina services available. Liscombe Lodge is also a nice place to stop and eat / shower etc.

[Safari38LH]

Originally Posted by muised

Safari38LH - unless you want to visit something like Louisbourg (old restored French fort and great tourist attraction) I would take the Canal at St Peters to enter the Bras'dor Lakes. We could not use it because it was being repaired and we were early in the season. If you do go the "long way" you can stop in Canso as well as Port Morion if you like. Only other issues are Louisbourg Harbour (study the charts and hope for good visibility) and the Seal Island Bridge entering the Lakes. Some local knowledge will help identify when the slack tide really happens, and avoid the standing waves under the bridge. Baddeck is awesome - I hope you enjoy your trip.

I should also mention there are some great places to stop on the way North along the Nova Scotia Coast. Bridgewater (LaHave River), Lunenburg / Chester, St. Margrets Bay and Halifax all have Marina services available. Liscombe Lodge is also a nice place to stop and eat / shower etc.

Muised, I want to see the east coast of Cape Brendon on the way up and come through the locks on the way home. I have been to Baddeck a few times on the way further north (Labrador & and the Gulf St. L) on other peoples boats. This is my first trip this far north on my own boat.

I have been planning using the iPad Navionics and am sometimes not impressed with its lack of detail compared to the Canadian paper charts. I really miss the land mass place names almost everywhere and am surprised that there are areas without any depths. Will the chip for the Simrad plotters look the same? Thank God I have a paper set of charts.

On another matter, how did you manage fuel acquisitions along the east coast? Jerry jugs?

[Safari38LH]

Another iPad Navionics question:

What are the little red ducks everywhere and the little red torches everywhere?

[macmoon]

Sailed from Maine to the south coast of Newfoundland, along the Nova Scotia coast and through the Brador last summer using Navionics Canadian charts on a Lorance plotter, which I had to get as a display for the broad band radar. While they took some getting used to, there is plenty of data on that card, but it is layered. I found myself having to zoom way in to get detailed soundings. It is a bit of a pain with a 10" screen, I find it difficult to imagine using the small screen on a phone I feel the Navionics charting is superior to the proprietary charting that comes on the plotter.

[twistedtree]

Any comparison with the c-map charts? I ask because the equivalent coverage with Navionics is 2x the price compared to C-map.

[muised]

The Android Navionics app allows you to overlay Google maps for the land portions, which should provide addiitional detail, although you would need 3G to use it.

Fuel is not always easy to come by. We used jugs, occasionally were able to buy from local fishermen. The operator of the Canso Marina drove me to the local gas station for a fill - it was early in the season and he was not open for business yet (a great guy!).

[JNoel]

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

Another iPad Navionics question:

What are the little red ducks everywhere and the little red torches everywhere?

The Little Pink ducks are for Protected Wildlife areas. The little red torches are Anchorage areas. (Actually little red anchors)

[Safari38LH]

Originally Posted by muised

The Android Navionics app allows you to overlay Google maps for the land portions, which should provide addiitional detail, although you would need 3G to use it.

I tried different settings but they did not add place names just texture to the land masses.