----- Original Message ---- From: bob Austin <thataway4@cox.net> To: Passage under power <passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 12:55:49 PM Subject: [PUP] West Coast of Central America Cruising Guide >The Rains books are definately a good source, but dated. Charlie's charts are >quite dated, and when we were last there (over 10 years ago) they had some in >accuracies. Bob, good pont. I have used both Rains' Cruising Guide and Charlie's Charts in the Sea of Cortez and have found them to be accurate. However, I do not rely on them soley. I use them as a "guide". Nothing substitutes for a good pair of eyes and local knowledge. Here is what Capt. Ken Stump says about the latest revision (April, 2007) to the Mexico Cruising Guide on Amazon.com: When the notice "not for navigation" appears in this guide, they are not kidding! This guide has more errors than a collander has holes. For it being a second edition, there is no excuse for this. Some gps way points are hundreds of miles off and the worst proof reader should be able to pick these out. Others are just dislexic errors. In any event, I must agree this guide is not for navigation. The clearing in for Mexico seems to still be in a state of flux. Ask 8 officials about checking in and get 10 answers. Aparently the one step checkin in Cabo has a small "fee" attached to it. I never did find the one place to go and went to individual places, just like before. The pictures are nice and the print/format is good. All in all I would place the value of the book at somewhere around $30. But the retail price is rediculous for the errors contained there in. I suggest you use these guides with some skepticism, but they are generally accurate and quite useful and certainly better than nothing. BTW, I used the one step check-in at Cabo last November. It was quite easy and as I recall the fee was $25. That was worth it to me so that I didn't have to spend one whole day running around town, getting all the stamps and approvals. The cab fares alone would have cost that much or more. In fact Peter Pisciotta and I and our mates turned in the paper work, went and had lunch, did some window shopping and returned 2 hours later. The permits were waiting for us at the counter. The total time spent in the office was 10 minutes or less. !Disfrute la aventura! Patrick Willard 40PH ALOHA La Paz, MX