Charts are the first step in navigation but it also helps to have a collection of books and cruising guides to highlight which ports have fuel, where nasty currents are frequent and other tricks the locals know. The first tool we found is FREE. My favorite price. It is prepared by the US government and is targeted for professional mariners so it does not focus on beachside bars and sunset views, but has plenty of useful detail to keep us out of trouble when coming into a new harbor.
Download it here (value for our taxes)
The cruising community Noonsite sugested “Brazil Cruising Guide” by Michael Balette. We can only seem to find it in hard copy for about $80. In one of the Amazon reviews, a customer refers to this as one of the two choices so I suppose the bibliography of this field would be very short. We will not count on the check-in procedures being current for a 3 year old book in a country where there is regulatory fluidity. One reviewer did comment that the author’s French ancestry may have biased the historical bits. No problem for us as our purpose it to find good anchorages and services.
A fellow Antares owner and Brazilian costal veteran recommended this cruising guide that gives tips on great anchorages, spots to avoid in heavy weather and must see attractions. We left a third choice on the cutting room floor as it was written in 2002. (South Atlantic Circuit)
As for traditional charts, our plan is to source them in Argentina. Our preference is to be skimpy since we have an almost infinite number of electronic back ups (Furuno, MaxSea, iOS Navionics, and a handheld Garmin). Our plan is to have a few small scale charts (small scale charts cover a large area) to track our ocean progress.
In order to comply with the traditional rule that you always need a paper chart, we will buy a more compact chart book. It will contains multiple charts in a spiral format, sort of like a road atlas book. We believe these will only be available in South America. Actually, Gail believes that we should always have a paper chart on which to chart fixes, Jason believes that she lives in the dark ages.
As for beyond Brazil, our plan is to wait to buy the cruising guides and paper charts. Our electronic charts will be up to date for all of South America and North America. If we get really lost and find ourselves in a land-locked lake in Minnesota, we should still be able to navigate.
We have a bit more work to do on guides for Argentina and Uruguay so will post those at a later date.
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