Hi Scott: Greetings from rainy Trinidad! To Dave's and Bob's excellent posts, I might add: Sailing Directions and Coast Pilots are usually more up-to-date than most charts and I would certainly have them aboard, as well as a Reeds Caribbean Almanac. I would look into NIMA (DMA) charts, too. I don't recall what your plans are exactly, but if you venture east of a line from the west end of PR to the Columbia/Venezuela border, get the Imray-Iolaire charts which have the benefit of Don Street's years of experience on them. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you join the SSCA. There are hundreds of members cruising and their reports are up-to-date and are published in the Bulletin; you can ask specific questions on the web site boards; they have cruising stations in most foreign countries and can provide local info via email before you get there. Are you set up to receive Inmarsat-C SafeNet warnings and other info? We have a TT-3022D Capsat Fisheries unit on Seahorse that automatically receives, worldwide (you select the area), distress messages, navigational warnings (Research vessels towing long arrays, pirate activity, recent wrecks, navaids extinguished, missing, etc.) as well as NAVTEX. It also tracks your boat and has a feature to write and send a customized distress message. These services are free - all you need is the unit. See this page for more info on SafeNet: _http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/snet.htm_ (http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/snet.htm) And when you get to the Caribbean, remember Don Street's famous words: "If you can see an island in the Bahamas, you're too close!" No connection. Happy cruising and Happy Holidays! Regards, John & Penny aboard "Truelove" in Trinidad > Dave provides sage advice, all of which I will follow to a T. I visited a boat here in LP and looked at charts that Maptech had provided in the last year or two and as Dave has suggested they are the same. So I've ordered a set of charts for the E side of CA and will stay with what I have for the W. Regarding all of Daves advice, I assure you, even though Ive invested in a fair amount of technology to aid my navigation, I take everything he says as golden. I don't want these charts so I can set my autopilot on a course and go to sleep. I want them so I have as much information at my disposal as I could possibly use. I also have the paper charts, which I even made sure were stacked in order of ports passed along the way. **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)