I just finished updating my Google Earth file to include our 2008 cruising.
In 2008 we did what's known as the "Down East Circle Route." This trip
started in the Chesapeake and wound through the Hudson River, the Erie and
Oswego canals, Lake Ontario, down the St. Lawrence river, through Canadian
Maritimes and Prince Edward Island, into the Bras d'Or Lakes of Nova
Scotia, down the coast of Nova Scotia and finally back along Maine, NH, MA
and into RI.

This file also covers almost 40,000 miles of cruising and includes
virtually all of the Caribbean, Bahamas and lots of the eastern US and
Canadian coastlines.

I also implemented "regions" which means that placemarks aren't displayed
until you zoom into the area which contains them. Prior to this there were
too many placemarks and it was confusing. Now all that you see is a colored
path showing the route that we took on a given year. As you zoom in on that
path, you'll see the placemarks.

If you click on a placemark, you'll see a snippet of the log and a link to
the full log as well as links to photo albums and videos.

To access the file directly via the Google Earth program, click on the
following link:

http://www.GeoffSchultz.org/GoogleEarth/BlueJacket.kmz

Alternately, you can use the Google Earth plugin and your browser (note
that I suggest using the program directly.) You can do this by clicking on

http://www.geoffschultz.org/GoogleEarth/

and following the directions on the page.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:27:06 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

To access the file directly via the Google Earth program, click on the
following link:

http://www.GeoffSchultz.org/GoogleEarth/BlueJacket.kmz

Geoff, nice job organizing all of that, and the pictures are great.
What kind of camera/lens/filter are you using for your under water
shots?

We have been to many of the same places in the Abacos and Exumas and
it's interesting to compare notes. Did you get to Harbour Island on
the north end of Eleuthera? We were there twice last year and really
enjoyed it.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:27:06 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

To access the file directly via the Google Earth program, click on the
following link:

http://www.GeoffSchultz.org/GoogleEarth/BlueJacket.kmz

Geoff, nice job organizing all of that, and the pictures are great.
What kind of camera/lens/filter are you using for your under water
shots?

We have been to many of the same places in the Abacos and Exumas and
it's interesting to compare notes. Did you get to Harbour Island on
the north end of Eleuthera? We were there twice last year and really
enjoyed it.

Wayne,

We didn't take BlueJacket to Harbour Island. We were in Spanish Wells
and decided that it would be much easier and safer to hop the ferry and
spend the day there instead of moving BlueJacket there. For those of you
who haven't been there, here's a snippet from my log:

******
Harbour Island is one of the oldest settlements in the Bahamas and is
only located about 6 miles from Spanish Wells. The biggest issue is
getting there with your boat as the route between the two islands is
known as "The Devil's Backbone" and that's an appropriate name. The
Devil's backbone winds through a maze of patch reefs and is extremely
shallow. Any straying from the route and you'll end up in trouble. You
need good light, calm seas and a pilot to get you there. You can hire
pilots in Spanish Wells for about $90 to guide you there. The alternative
is to take the high speed ferry from Spanish Wells to Harbour Island
which costs $25 round trip. It leaves Spanish Wells at 9:45, returns at
3:45 and it takes about 30 minutes. We chose the later option and we're
glad that we did.
*****

Reguarding the equipment that I use to do photography, you can find info
on that and more at:

http://www.geoffschultz.org/photo_web_tools.shtml

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:49:23 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

We didn't take BlueJacket to Harbour Island. We were in Spanish Wells
and decided that it would be much easier and safer to hop the ferry and
spend the day there instead of moving BlueJacket there.

We went there the first time by way of the water taxi near the airport
on northern Eleuthera but returned later in our cruise with a pilot
from Spanish Wells. We compared the GPS track made by the pilot with
the recommended Explorer Chart track and found they matched almost
exactly so decided to go it on our own for the return trip. No
problems with that but conditions were ideal. One bonus from using
the pilot was a loaf of fresh baked bread from his wife! They take
very large supply boats over the same route so it's really not that
bad if you stay precisely on target and the weather is OK. Minimum
depth that we saw was in the range of 9 to 10 feet.

This is what our track line looked like on the CMAP Explorer chart:

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7...landtracka.jpg

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:49:23 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

We didn't take BlueJacket to Harbour Island. We were in Spanish Wells
and decided that it would be much easier and safer to hop the ferry and
spend the day there instead of moving BlueJacket there.

We went there the first time by way of the water taxi near the airport
on northern Eleuthera but returned later in our cruise with a pilot
from Spanish Wells. We compared the GPS track made by the pilot with
the recommended Explorer Chart track and found they matched almost
exactly so decided to go it on our own for the return trip. No
problems with that but conditions were ideal. One bonus from using
the pilot was a loaf of fresh baked bread from his wife! They take
very large supply boats over the same route so it's really not that
bad if you stay precisely on target and the weather is OK. Minimum
depth that we saw was in the range of 9 to 10 feet.

This is what our track line looked like on the CMAP Explorer chart:

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7...landtracka.jpg

We had less than ideal weather (heavy overcast), and I was quite impressed
by all of the scars/tracks left on the bottom from the boats that frequent
that route! Considering that I have a 6' wide wing keel, I'm VERY
sensitive to shallow passages.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org