[Paddlewise] Canadian chart alternative

I'm unhappy!

I'll be spending a lot of time in the Canadian Atlantic Coast provinces over
the next couple of years.  A complete set of charts for just Newfoundland
would run around $1500.

I wouldn't want the hassle of trying to obtain charts on site and would
prefer to purchase them ahead of time.  At this point, I know certain areas
I'll be visiting but others will be spur of the moment.  Most, if not all of
these charts would only be used once, so I'm unhappy.

The US charts are not copyrighted by NOAA so there are a few alternatives.
The most attractive (to me) are the BBA Chart kits,
http://www.onlinemarine.com/online_superstore/chart_locker/region2.htm (for
a better price, get them at Defender).  For less than $90 you can get NOAA
charts in reduced size from Rhode Island to Canada.  All other US coastal
areas (Great Lakes?) plus the Carribean are available.

You can pick up full or reduced sized black & white NOAA charts for $4-$6 at
http://www.tidesend.com/.  These guys sell Canadian charts too but they must
be the originals and go for $15 each.

Delorme's Street Atlas zooms in close enough to show fairly small island and
GPS information.

Canadian charts are copyrighted and the only alternative I've found so far
is NDI Electronic Charts on cd (put out by the government).  These go for
about $185 each and there are about 10 of them for the Atlantic provinces.
You could theoretcally print out charts or part of charts as needed.  I
think they come with a viewer so you might not have to buy navigation
software you didn't want.

It was suggested to me via email 1:250000 topographical maps might suffice
but I haven't had a great deal of success searching the net for them yet.
http://www.pathfindermaps.ca/ is the best information I've found so far.
Topos seem to go for about $10CA.

Electronic atlases might be an option but Microsoft's Virtual Globe and
National Geographic's electronic maps don't zoom in far enough.

The thing that's been going through my mind recently is just have a general
map of an area and use the GPS to take a fix at the put in and navigate my
way back to it.  I could buy several GPS units to serve as backup for the
cost of one set of charts :-(.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Clyde Sisler
http://csisler.com


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