Explorer Chartbooks, A CRUISERS’ NET PARTNER, has long been the standard navigational supplement for enjoyable, informative, and safe cruising through the beautiful Bahamian waters and island visits.

Bahamas Chatter: ““Waterproof” charts” plus 1 more
“Waterproof” charts

Posted: 21 Mar 2018 06:53 AM PDT

My Explorer charts get wet fairly often.

Pages are ‘waterproof’ but the ink is definitely not.

As a result, my northern Abaco charts are nearly useless, having overlays on one page and blank on the other, as the ink lifts from one to the other facing pages.

Has anyone addressed this issue successfully in the past? Do Monty and Sarah sell replacement pages? It seems a real waste to have to buy another book for the sake of a few pages…

ANCHORING FEE OPPOSITION; original letter by CHARISMA

Posted: 20 Mar 2018 05:32 PM PDT

Hello fellow crusiers:

An unidentified boater from the Cruisers Net, well intentioned I’m sure, posted my letter below without my knowledge and moreover took the liberty of fictionalizing an opening paragraph. I believe many of you know that on 28 Feb, I was at my station as Net Controller in George Town…not in the land and sea park. Below is the original email letter to a friend, which I am totally happy to make public. Please feel free to copy and distribute, especially to BNT, BUT IN ITS COMPLETE AND ORIGINAL FORM. Thanks, Bill, sv CHARISM

Good morning, Joe:

Insofar as you may have a rapport with this man, perhaps you’d care to admonish him that there currently is NO mention of anchoring “fees” for vessels under ninety feet on the current park web site, Exumapark.org. I copied just now what is presented on that site and pasted it in at the conclusion of the Email.

I put fees in quotes, insofar as this charge to anchor a boat within these boundaries is tantamount to extortion. In my opinion if I anchor for the night and do not go ashore, then my activity places no strain upon the Park’s services or environs. Were I even so to float in the water to view fish and coral, what rationale is there to prevent me from doing this when I have paid my entry money allowing me, as per the Commonwealth, to physically be in any Bahamian location I so choose? Any effort to extract additional money for a particular area indistinguishable from surrounding environs is extortion, plain and simple, by definition, not opinion, and I shall not support it. Moreover, I intend to publish and circulate the above as broadly as media and conversation permits within the cruising community. The response to you from Joe in Nassau reveals his selective assessment that cruiser response is favorable; he is merely promoting the sound of his choir to advance an agenda. To the contrary the vast number of folks I canvas objectively, feel as me. That without published presentation of need, financial transparency, proper notification, and responsible methods of collection, anchoring “fees” in open Bahamian waters is a sham, and the use of the Park’s good name is being exploited. Therefore, neither I nor others with whom I have spoken will continue to anchor within Park boundaries, thereby averting conflict and discrimination we feel as a result of these sad circumstances. Furthermore, some of us who have freely contributed to the Park financially shall cease doing so. This new anchoring policy is ironically exploiting the very gift of nature it seeks to protect. Myself and others like me, and there are many, shall not be a part of it.

Please feel to forward this letter to anyone you do choose, including the Bahamas National Trust, and Exuma Land and Sea Park. I shall be doing so now to about one hundred fellow cruisers on my list.

Very truly yours,
Bill, s/v CHARISMA, Black Point, Exuma, 15 March, 2018
Captain W. Tice, USCG MASTER 100 Ton