KAVENGA'S CHART LENDING LIBRARY

For cruising vessels passing through Banderas Bay, we have a paper chart library covering virtually all of the Pacific, Caribbean and many other parts of the world as well. There is no charge for borrowing charts for the purpose of making copies for your personal use. We only ask that you take very good care of them and return them in order using our Sequence Numbering system.

Before coming to the library, review the chart inventory online here on our website and make a preliminary list of the charts you think you want using our chart sequence numbers (not the official chart number, not the Excel spreadsheet line number). That makes the process efficient for both parties. There are so many charts it can be an overwhelming task at first glance. If you have the US Chart Catalogs that show chart coverages, that helps. If not, we have them in the library, and you will also have time to go through the charts you've selected to make sure you really need them. Here the link to the library inventory Excel spreadsheet: Chart List. Feel free to copy or extract from the spreadsheet.

There is an architectural copy shop (Imprecopy) very close by (15-min walk) at the Plaza Marina shopping mall that makes full-size copies. Office Depot and Office Max in the Hotel Zone also make full size copies. Costs average around 28-30 pesos per chart. NOTE: the copy shops will most likely sort the charts by size to eliminate the need to be constantly changing machines or size of paper. Therefore, you will get the charts back in random sequence and it is your responsiblity to re-sort and store them in their respective bags when you return them. We have a bag of dupicate charts which are available for anywhere from free to the cost of a copy depending on their quality. Some of these are originals in pristine condition. You can find which charts have duplicates available by noting those whose Sequence Number is printed in BOLD.

Remember that these charts are being provided free of charge, and in many cases are copies of old editions. It is always the captain’s or navigator’s responsibility to use them accordingly. They are intended to supplement other navigational tools on board your vessel including your eyeballs and your brains!

If you would like to “lighten ship” and have charts you no longer need, we would be happy to take them off your hands with the hope that they add to or improve the library, and with the understanding that we will never sell or rent the charts for our benefit. If one of the copies you borrow is in bad shape and you'd care to make an extra copy for the library, that too would be most appreciated.

You can contact us (Steve & Kay Van Slyke) via VHF radio, callsign “Kavenga” in Banderas Bay, or by phone in Mexico, we can be reached at 322-221-2080 or cell 044-322-157-0722 or via Skype at svkavenga. We live in the Marina Las Palmas II condominiums above C Dock in Marina Vallarta.

Once you have taken the charts to be copied, please keep us informed if your schedule for returning them changes. Bear in mind that our daily plans may revolve around your stated schedule, and that other crews may be waiting to borrow the charts you've taken. Generally, we prefer not to have charts returned after 7PM and our VHF radio is normally turned off by then. If you have an urgent need to return the charts after 7PM, please let us know in advance and we will try to accommodate you.

We are also happy to try to answer questions about island groups and anchorages that we have visited as well as passages we have made. We circumnavigated the Pacific visiting French Polynesia, American Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, The Solomons, Micronesia, Guam and Japan.

Why in the age of GPS and electronic charts would anyone bother to carry paper charts?

Here are four possible reasons:

1. Coverage. Not all areas are covered by electronic charts. Our library includes French, Australian, New Zealand, Fijian and Solomon Island charts as well as the more common US and British Admiralty Charts. Minverva Reefs and Beveridge Reef are two examples of charts or chartlets that we have that are sometimes hard to come by.

2. Back-up.  Computers and similar electronic technology are 100% reliable, right? At a minimum you should carry small scale (large area) charts covering all the waters you plan to traverse.

3. Planning. Looking at the screen of an electronic chart plotter, or even printing out hard-copy screen prints, cannot compare with unfolding a full or 2/3 size planning chart of a major island group, such as Tonga, on your main salon dining table. Seeing the “big picture” makes it a lot easier to evaluate and select an exploration route among several alternatives.

4. Tradition. Some of us are just plain daffy when it comes to sticking to traditional methods. We get a kick out of plotting our ocean voyages (as well as those of our fellow passagemakers) on a daily basis. We get satisfaction out of seeing the steady progression of our noon positions advancing across a large paper chart. And when we’re in the midst of a maze of reefs and islets (e.g., Morovo Lagoon, Guadalcanal or the Great Astrolabe Reef, Fiji) nothing beats being able to lean over the chart table and study the chart details with your nose close to the paper.