RedRascal
Senior Member
The last couple weeks of boat grounding is giving me a little anxiety. I believe i have good and current charts but i dont have bay knowledge .
Rod
Cruising guides can really help with filling in some local knowledge. Most of them will talk about the more unknown hazards or offer points of reference to navigate around something. The 2016 Waggoner Cruising Guide for example offers a paragraph of caution about the reefs the Norwester ran into and the one Latis found. This cruising guide would have been of high value to either skipper, it costs $35. In addition to a cruising guide you can also find stuff on the web. If you are going to some place new and things look skinny on the charts just do a web search on the location. You may find additional information about how to approach something or undocumented hazards. Here is another San Juan Island example about entering Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island. https://lopezfun.com/marina/ If you scroll down the marina gives you some tips about entering the channel. Here is a second example https://www.islandsmarinecenter.com/entering-fisherman-bay/
Aside from charts and guides there is usually additional information out there for popular places that have hazards. If you have a little bit of anxiety consider it an asset to help keep you on your toes.