We’ve pretty well established that most of the charts of Baja California are not to be relied upon for position. Still, when you have a detailed insert for an anchorage like Aqua Verde, odds are the relationship of rocks, reefs, and land are probably OK. As we were making a night approach to Aqua Verde (we’ve been here before, so we were comfortable doing this and there was a full moon) we set up a series of distances off the headland, as well as the rock and reef which lie to the east of the anchorage. Using the RADAR to establish distance off, we could then be sure of our position relative to San Marial rock and the reef which extends to the north.

Once around the reef we then aimed directly into the center of the channel leading to the anchorage as you can see above.

Although we have both RADAR and SONAR we find that keeping a good lookout the old fashioned way still is necessary. This will occasionally show us something we’ve missed electronically. Linda is using our Fujinon 7 x 50 conventional glasses here as they have the better light gathering ability than do our higher powered Canons.

Of course the SONAR is wonderful in a situation like this. The SONAR image on the left shows the anchorage underwater with the RADAR on the right giving us the land masses and anchored boats. The squiggly line is our track coming in while checking the bottom before dropping the hook.

Compare what the electronic charting system with its GPS coordinates shows to the SONAR/RADAR photo above. These charts are off about six tenths of a nautical mile (we were anchored inside the bight at the left top side of the chart when this screen shot was made).

We used SONAR and RADAR for a practice run of a blind approach, like shooting an instrument approach in an aircraft in daylight using a hood.

With a full moon we could have more easily conned our way in conventionally. However, we want to get as much practice as possible with these electronics in conditions where they are not required so when we do need them in earnest we’ll be up to speed on their usage.

In the meantime we’re enjoying this quiet anchorage…