Island Barriers

My plan is to head due south along the 110W meridian, possibly drifting toward 112W.  A few weeks ago Bob Carroll mentioned that I should watch out for the Socorro Islands south of the Baja peninsula.

Today I had a look with Dave's Google-map based GPS Data Logger system and found them with little trouble.  I decided to zoom in and have a look around and discovered a rock to the northwest of Socorro, at 19N1, 112W2, well within my arc of possible tracks.  It is known as Roca Partida (broken rock), and is 300 ft long and 26 ft wide, with two high points of about 80 and 110 ft.  (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roca_Partida)  It is the smallest of the Revillagigedo group of islands that includes Socorro, San Benedicto, and Clarion. 

I marked the islands with waypoints on the GPS Data Logger charts and then went on a tour of the parts of the ocean that I am likely to sail.  I soon discovered Clipperton Island at 10N17, 109W13 in one of my two atlases.

1. Revillagigedo and Clipperton Islands

The first photo is a screen shot showing the four islands of the Revillagigedo group and Clipperton Island to the south.  (The anchor symbols along the coast represent waypoints.)

2. From Baja to South Africa (NZ at far left)

The second photo shows Easter Island, about half way down the length of South America, Cape Horn, a tiny island just south of the Falklands, South Georgia, and Bouvet Island to the east.  The pair of symbols 2/3 of the way to South Africa represent the Tristan Da Cunha group of islands (Trustan Da Cunha, Nightingale, and Inaccessible Islands to the NW; and Gough Island to the SE). These symbols persist through every level of zoom.  The third photo shows a closeup of Tristan Da Cunha.  I have found these map-based charts to be frequently superior to standard marine charts because I am able to literally see the ocean bottom.  And  the position of the boat will be shown at every level of zoom.

3. Closeup of Trista Da Cunha

The fourth photo shows the islands of interest between Africa and Australia.  The two overlapping symbols half way between the two continents mark France's Amsterdam and St Paul islands.

4. South America to Australia