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Cruising

Planning Multi-Day Cruises—Example

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OpenCPN was updated after I posted this article. I have updated it with footnotes to address some of the changes in OpenCPN 5.0. Click here to see details of what’s new in OpenCPN 5.0

When cruising on Questeria, we like to have a route on our chartplotter. This makes for a less stressful day. When cruising for several days, we plan the routes ahead of time and organize them using Google Sheets.

Cruise Planning Overview

In Planning Multi-Day Cruises—Overview, I talk about how I plan extended cruises. I discuss plans vs. intentions, or being flexible. In this case, the cruise we planned never happened.

The post talks about how I create a route by starting with two or three waypoints on a small scale chart, and then, zoom in and iteratively refine it on larger scale charts.

I also give an overview of the tools we use. The next articles discuss each tool in more detail.

OpenCPN

In Planning Muli-Day Cruises—OpenCPN, I talk about OpenCPN. I discuss installing and setting-up OpenCPN and installing charts. I also talk about using OpenCPN to create waypoints and routes.

HomePort

In Planning Muli-Day Cruises—HomePort, I talk about Garmin HomePort. The post talks about installing and setting-up HomePort on a Windows PC. I also talk about using HomePort and transfering user data between HomePort and a Garmin chartplotter.

ActiveCaptain

In Planning Muli-Day Cruises—ActiveCaptain, I talk about Garmin ActiveCaptain. The post talks about the website and the mobile app. I talk about using ActiveCaptain to find anchorages, marinas and more. I talk about setting-up the mobile app on an iOS or Android device and importing and exporting user data to/from the app.

GPX Tools

In Planning Muli-Day Cruises—GPX Tools, I talk about GPX Tools. These are two utility programs that I wrote to make it easier to plan multi-day cruises.

Example Route

In this post, I put it all together. I walk through an example route that I created as part of a trip from FL Keys to Moore Haven, FL.

I talk about Plans vs. Intentions in Planning Multi-Day Cruises—Overview. This turned out to be the case here. We had a schedule—a memorial service in Chicago, and a wedding in Phoenix, Arizona. When we called the boatyard in Moore Haven, FL, they told us there was a waiting list. So we left Questeria in Marathon and took off in our RV.

I started this series of articles a while ago. For now, this is the last post on this topic. Maybe later we will take this trip, and I will follow-up with more posts. Here is my example.

Copying Data from Chartplotter

Before doing anything, I like to copy all the routes, tracks and waypoints from my chartplotter to my SD card. I use a 16GB Micro SD card with an SD adapter. It contains my map and user data, with plenty of room to spare. I turn on my chartplotter and plug in my SD card/adapter and I select the “Manage Card” prompt, and then “Save to Card” and “Overwrite this File: USERDATA”. I press “Yes”, and it prepares the card, transfers User Waypoints, Routes and Tracks. Then, I eject the SD card from the chartplotter, remove it from the adapter and plug it into my computer. Then I start HomePort—it finds the SD card. I can click on USERDATA and see all my waypoints, routes and tracks from my chartplotter.

Finding an Anchorage or Marina

Once we have a rough idea of the trip, we look at places where we might want to drop the anchor, or pull into a slip for the night. We use ActiveCaptain website to do this.

We want to spend a night at the anchorage called West Pass. After opening the ActiveCaptain website and signing-in, I search for West Pass, click on the anchorage, and it brings me here. I click Show Marker Info, if it’s not already visible. I copy the latitude and longitude to the clipboard, by highlighting them with my mouse, right-clicking and selecting Copy.

Creating a Waypoint

After copying the latitude and longitude of my anchorage, I go to OpenCPN. I create a waypoint by right-clicking in the approximate location on the chart and selecting Drop Mark. Then I double-click on my new waypoint to open the Waypoint Properties window. I enter the name, West Pass, and change the symbol to Symbol-Anchor1¹. Then I right-click in the Latitude field, and select Paste lat/lon. I now have a waypoint of the West Pass anchorage.

I do this again for the anchorage called San Carlos Bay NW.

Exporting a Waypoint from OpenCPN

When I create a waypoint on OpenCPN, I may want to have it on my Garmin chartplotter. I do this by exporting it to my PC, importing it into HomePort, and sending it to my userdata in my SD card.

To export a waypoint from OpenCPN, I open the Route & Mark Manager, by clicking the icon at the top of the screen. Next, I select the Waypoints tab and click on the waypoint to be exported. Then, I click on Export Selected… I get a File menu. If this is my first waypoint for this trip, I create a new folder, something like Route2019. I select a folder and file name. I usually use the suggested file name, like West Pass.gpx. I now have a GPX file on my PC.

Importing a Waypoint to HomePort

If this is the first waypoint from the trip in HomePort, I create a new List to hold my waypoints and routes. I right-click on the My Collection Folder and select New List. I name the new list Route2019.

To import the waypoint, I click on the list Route2019, and then click File and Import to ‘Route2019’... I get a File Explorer menu, select West Pass.gpx, and click Open. It imports my waypoint. The waypoint symbols in HomePort are different than in OpenCPN. I double-click the waypoint and change the symbol to an anchor and close the menu. I want the West Pass anchorage waypoint on my chartplotter, so I right-click on it and select Send To… I select the USERDATA ADM file, under my GPSMAP 4808 device, and click OK.

I click on my USERDATA ADM file and see the waypoint. It is stored on my SD card and will be stored on my chartplotter in a later step. Some things to note about waypoints on the chartplotter are:

  • Every waypoint, route and track must have a unique name. This also applies to waypoints that are inside of routes.
  • HomePort/chartplotter modifies a duplicate name by appending a digit to the end.
  • The chartplotter truncates names to ten characters, and ensures no duplicates by appending digits.
  • The chartplotter will force all names to uppercase.
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Creating a Route

For me, creating a route is an iterative process. I usually start with OpenCPN. I make sure that I have charts for my cruising area, and that they are up to date. First I create a simple route with a few waypoints. I click the Create Route button, and click my mouse to create waypoints. I usually start on a small scale, and create a starting point, ending point, and maybe a few in between points. It’s okay if my ending point is not on my screen, because I can append it later. If I already have routes or tracks for part of the way, I start with that.

First, I create a simple route with a few waypoints. I start my route at West Pass waypoint. I click near the West Pass waypoint and I get a message saying “Use nearby waypoint?”.  I click Yes. Next, I click near San Carlos Bay NW waypoint, and click Yes to “Use nearby waypoint?”. I end the route by right-clicking and selecting End Route. Obviously, the route needs more waypoints.

Next, I insert waypoints where my route is over land and move them over water. To insert a waypoint in OpenCPN, right-click on the route and select Insert Waypoint. I move the waypoint by clicking on it to highlight it, and dragging it with the mouse. To append a waypoint, I right-click on the route and select Append Waypoint. Subsequent clicks will append new waypoints to my route until I end it. To remove a waypoint, I right-click on it and select Delete. I can also select Remove from Route to keep the waypoint, but not have it in the route.

Next, I zoom in and check water depths and markers, and edit the route. Next, I go to a larger scale chart, and continue editing the route. It is an iterative process of zooming in to more detail and refining my route.

When I am done editing, I double-click on the route and a Route Properties window comes up. I name the route, keeping it short, because my chartplotter limits the number of characters in the name. I name this one WP-OWW. I put the Depart From field as West Point and Destination field as Okeechobee Waterway, so I remember what WP and OWW stand for.

Route Properties Screenshot
Route Properties Screenshot

Here is a screenshot of my WP-OWW route. The waypoint names are random, but I will fix them later.

Exporting a Route from OpenCPN

After creating, and refining my route on OpenCPN, I export it to my computer, so I can import it to HomePort, check it and refine it again. I click the Route & Mark Manager icon and select the Routes tab. I click on the route to be exported and click on Export Selected… I get a file explorer menu and save it to my trip folder, using the suggested name, WP-OWW.gpx.

Importing a Route into HomePort

Next, I import the route into HomePort so I can check it out with my chartplotter charts and further refine it.  I click on the list Route2019, and then click File and Import to ‘Route2019’... I get a File Explorer menu, select WP-OWW.gpx, and click Open. It imports my route. 

I click on the route to center it on my display. I zoom in and refine it.

Exporting a Route from HomePort

When, I am done looking at, and/or refining the route, I export it back to my PC. I click on the route to select it. Then I click on File, then on Export, and on Export Selection… I get a file explorer menu, save it using the suggested name and folder. I get a message saying “WP-OSS.gpx already exists. Do you want to replace it?” I click Yes. The file HomePort GPX file is now on my PC.

I’m happy with my route at this point. I could send it to USERDATA and save it to my chartplotter. But I want to clean it up and put it in a spreadsheet. The first thing I want to do is reorder the waypoints, and ensure the names are unique. I do this with the Clean Route program.

Cleaning the Route

I open a Command Prompt window, by clicking the Windows icon, clicking on Windows System and Command Prompt. At the command prompt I change directory to Route2019 by typing “cd Route2019”

>cd Route2019

Next, I clean, and reorder the route. I use a starting waypoint of 400 because my previous routes started with 0, 100, 200 and 300. I type “clnrte -s 400 WP-OWW.gpx”. I get a message saying “WP-OWW.gpx” processed to “WP-OWW_cln.gpx”.

>clnrte -s 400 WP-OWW.gpx
"WP-OWW.gpx" processed to "WP-OWW_cln.gpx"

Since I’m here, I will extract the data from the GPX file to a CSV file. I’ll use the CSV file later. I extract the data to a CSV file by typing “gpx2csv WP-OWW_cln.gpx”.  I get a message saying “WP-OWW_cln.gpx” processed to “WP-OWW_cln.csv”.

>gpx2csv WP-OWW_cln.gpx
"WP-OWW_cln.gpx" processed to "WP-OWW_cln.csv"
Command Prompt
Command Prompt

Importing Cleaned Route

My route is now cleaned up, with unique waypoint names. I import it back into OpenCPN. First I delete the old one by right-clicking on it and selecting Delete… I get a message “Are you sure you want to delete this route?”. I click Yes. Next, I open the Route & Mark Manager and click the Routes tab. I click Import GPX…, select file WP-OWW_cln.gpx. Next, I click on the WP-OWW route that I just imported and click Properties… Some of the original information has been lost or changed. I put West Pass in the Depart From field and Okeechobee Waterway in the Destination field. I change Color from Magenta to Default color and click OK. You might notice that the waypoint name are shown on the display. If this bothers you, you can rerun clnrte, or change the property of each waypoint to uncheck Show name ².

Next, I import the cleaned route back into HomePort. I delete the old route first, to avoid renaming, due to duplicate names. I open HomePort and click on my Route2019 list. Then I right-click on route WP-OWW and select Delete. I get a message saying “Items will be deleted from ALL lists.”, I click Delete. Then, I click File and select Import into Route2019… I select file WP-OWW_cln.gpx and click Open. Then, I right-click on route WP-OWW and select Send To… I click on USERDATA, and then OK to copy the route to my SD card for my chartplotter.

Saving Routes and Waypoints to Chartplotter

Finally, when all the routes are good, I put them on my Garmin 4208 chartplotter. The steps are as follows:

  • Exit HomePort, safely eject the Micro SD from the computer and insert it into the SD card adapter.
  • Turn on Garmin and select Agree.
  • Insert SD card adapter into Garmin.
  • Select Manage Card
  • Select Replace From Card. (We don’t select Merge From Card because we always keep our Micro SD card up to date.)
  • Select USERDATA
  • Select Replace From Card.
  • The Garmin will say:
    • Receiving User Waypoints
    • Receiving Routes
    • Receiving Tracks
    • User Waypoints Transferred
    • Routes Transferred
    • Tracks Transferred
    • Transfer Complete!

Organizing Routes in a Spreadsheet

When I have all the routes for my trip, I like to organize them in a spreadsheet. You can use Excel or Google Sheets. I use both. The first step is to get a template. I have a shared template on Google Sheets here. Start by copying it to your own spreadsheet. I’ll name mine Route2019. The spreadsheet has a template sheet, named RteFormat. The template has six rows of header. The first step is to customize your template. Change speed of 5.5 in cell D3 to your planned average speed, in knots. Then, change your Start, cell C4, to your planned departure date and time, for example “3/16/2019 7:00”. This field can later be modified for each route.

I keep RteFormat sheet as is, and duplicate it to create a sheet for each route in my trip. To start, I click on the RteFormat sheet and select Duplicate. Then I click on Copy of RteFormat and select Rename... I give the sheet the same name as my route, WP-OWW.

Next, I copy the route information into my sheet. Earlier, I created a file named WP-OWW_cln.csv with the Convert GPX to CSV, utility. Now, I open that file with Excel. I copy all the cells in columns A through F, starting with row 2, by dragging my mouse from corner-to-corner to highlight the data, right-clicking and selecting Copy. Then I go to WP-OWW sheet, right-click on cell A7, and select Paste. Finally, I type the route name, WP-OWW, in cell B1, the starting point, West Pass, in cell B2, and the destination, Okeechobee Waterway, in cell F2. I update the speed, in knots, in cell D3, and the start time, in cell C4, if needed. The other fields in the header are computed by the spreadsheet; Total distance of 60.04 nautical miles, in cell B3. Total time of 10 hours, 55 minutes and 6 seconds, in cell F3. End time and date of 3/16/2019 17:55:02, in cell F4.

WP-OWW Route Spreadsheet
WP-OWW Route Spreadsheet

Copying Route to ActiveCaptain App

As a final step, I add my route to ActiveCaptain mobile app. This way I can check for hazards, bridges, locks, etc. along my route. The ActiveCaptain app runs on Android or iOS, not Windows, so I use Google Drive to copy my GPX file to my device. There are others apps, such as DropBox, that will work. I open Google drive on my computer and drag wp-oww_cln.gpx to copy it to the Google Drive.

I open Google Drive on my mobile device, and find the GPX file. I select it and, when prompted, open it with ActiveCaptain. The route WP-OWW now appears in User Data.

Summary

We started planning this cruise from Marathon to Moore Haven, and I had the idea of writing about the process that we use. Once I started, I realized it was too long for a single article. I decided to break it into five posts. Even then, some of them are pretty long. There is a lot more I could have written, but I think people can read about what we do and figure out what works best for them. I thought I knew these tools pretty well, but I learned more about them as I wrote the articles. I hope that some of this is helpful to our fellow cruisers.

¹ In OpenCPN version 5.0 there is a waypoint symbol type of anchor, which corresponds to Garmin waypoint symbol anchor.

² In OpenCPN version 5.0, Show name is shortened to Name.

Cruising

Planning Multi-Day Cruises—ActiveCaptain

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When cruising on Questeria, we like to have a route on our chartplotter. This makes for a less stressful day. When cruising for several days, we plan the routes ahead of time and organize them using Google Sheets. We use a number of tools in the process, some of which I created myself. Below is a snapshot of a spreadsheet with our routes. 

Routes
Spreadsheet of Routes

This spreadsheet contains seven routes, each on its own sheet. Each sheet contains waypoints, latitudes, longitudes, distances, bearings, durations and times. I will explain how I did this in this series of posts.

The previous articles were about:

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This post is about ActiveCaptain. The next post will discuss GPX Tools. Then, I’ll walk through an example using a route that I created as part of a trip from Florida Keys to Moore Haven, FL. and explain how I put the routes together in a spreadsheet and load them on our Garmin 4208 chartplotter and other devices.

ActiveCaptain

ActiveCaptain is essentially an online cruising guide written by cruisers. It was acquired by Garmin in May 2017 and has undergone a lot of changes. Change takes some time getting used to, and I’m still getting used to all of these.

ActiveCaptain Background

We’ve had a long history using ActiveCaptain. We discovered it in about 2010. It was only a website. We used it to share routes with fellow cruisers—the crowd-sourced database was just getting started.

The developers of ActiveCaptain were boaters themselves and did a great job of promoting ActiveCaptain to the boating community. They wrote a weekly email with tips, advice, product reviews and more. It even included a discount for Defender. The crowd-sourced database continued to grow.

They contributed to the boating community in other ways. They developed a free anchor alarm app called Drag Queen and a social networking website called eBoatCards and an app to go with it called Locations. They created a Facebook group, now with over 13,000 members. The crowd-sourced database kept getting better.

The website used Flash, so it didn’t work on mobile devices. We could save and share routes using the website, and we could look at, or update local knowledge, marinas, anchorages and hazards. But we had to have an internet connection. Then, they created a companion app for android, iOS and Windows.

ActiveCaptain Companion

The ActiveCaptain Companion app was designed to be used while underway—it worked without internet access. It used your location to warn you of nearby hazards and show information about local knowledge, anchorages and marinas. The charts included with the app were not very detailed, and couldn’t be used for navigation. You needed to be connected to the internet to initially download the charts and database. Then you could run without internet, until you needed to download updates.

Other Apps and Devices

Shortly after the ActiveCaptain Companion app was developed, the ActiveCaptain database was made available to developers. App developers started integrating it into their navigation apps and chartplotter makers started integrating it into their devices.

One of the companies that jumped on the ActiveCaptain bandwagon was Garmin. They integrated it into their BlueChart app on iOS and their HomePort app for Windows and Mac. After that, we still occasionally used ActiveCaptain Companion while travelling, but more often we used the Garmin BlueChart app on our iPad or iPhones. We used ActiveCaptain on HomePort for planning. We also used MxMariner on our Android tablet to access ActiveCaptain. We didn’t use the website much after that.

Garmin also integrated ActiveCaptain into some of their chartplotters. We didn’t use it on our Garmin 4208 chartplotter. It is supposed to work, if we purchase a Wi-Fi adapter, but we don’t want to put money into a discontinued product. Our next Garmin chartplotter will have ActiveCaptain though.

Acquisition by Garmin

Garmin acquired ActiveCaptain in May of 2017. The website is completely redone. The ActiveCaptain Companion app is gone, but in its place is completely new app for iOS and Android.

The eBoatCards website is gone and the original apps are no longer supported, even though some are still available in the app stores.

Another change is that Garmin’s HomePort product no longer supports ActiveCaptain. I don’t really understand why they did this, but it means that on Windows, our only choice is the website.

The New ActiveCaptain Website

The ActiveCaptain website is completely redesigned. The Markers for Anchorages, Marinas, Hazards, Local Knowledge, etc. are still there, but everything around them is completely new. It no longer uses Flash, so it works on mobile devices. It also has new charts, which are much better than the old ones.

Using the ActiveCaptain Website

The new ActiveCaptain website is activecaptain.garmin.com. If you try to go to the old one, activecaptain.com, you will be redirected to the new one. To start using ActiveCaptain, open your browser and go to activecaptain.garmin.com.

You need to create a free account. If you created an account before May 2017, you have to create one again. To create an account, or sign-in to an existing account, click on the “Head” icon in the upper-right corner, and then click Sign In. You will get a prompt to enter your Email and Password, or a link to create a new account.

Once signed-in, you will be at the Home page. The Home page has information about ActiveCaptain. There is a menu icon (3-bars) in the upper-left, where you can choose Home, Map and Language, and the “Head” icon, in the upper-right, where you can set your Profile or Sign Out. Click on Profile to set your ActiveCaptain Name and preferences.

Click on “Map” to use ActiveCaptain. You will see a chart with a “>” icon on the left and three icons on the right. Click the top one to select chart type, the middle to go to your current location and the bottom one to measure distances on the chart. Click the “>” to open the menu, where you can search, set filters, set sorting preference, add a Marker and show a list of Markers in the current view. Click the “<” to close the menu.

You can view Sonar, Nautical, NOAA, Road or Satellite charts. You can pan the chart by pressing your mouse button and dragging it, or you can use a finger if you have a touch screen. To zoom you can use a scroll wheel, press plus (+) and minus (-) keys or click plus (+) or minus (-) icons. If you have a touchscreen, you can pinch and spread.

The chart has Markers for marinas, anchorages, hazards, etc. If you hover the mouse over an item, the name will be displayed. Click on it to open it.

You can search for a Marker by name. Click the “>” to open the menu, and type the name into the search field.

You can measure distances. Click the dividers icon, and you will get a line connected by two draggable points. Drag the points to measure distance.

The website does not allow you to create any user data (routes and waypoints). You have to use the app for that.

ActiveCaptain App

There is an ActiveCaptain app for iTunes and Google Play. I have installed it on two different devices. The app is similar to the Garmin BlueChart app which, by the way, has been discontinued.

ActiveCaptain
Screenshot of ActiveCaptain on my Android Tablet

The app is much more powerful than the website. It has much of the same capability as Garmin HomePort on Windows or Mac, with the addition of the ActiveCaptain database. You can create routes and waypoints (user data), import, export and send them to your chartplotter over Wi-Fi.

Installing the ActiveCaptain App

Download the ActiveCaptain App on your Apple or Android device by going to the appropriate app store. A built-in GPS is not required, but if you have one, you’ll have more capability. You have to download Charts and ActiveCaptain Community before you can use it.

Downloading Charts

The charts included with ActiveCaptain are pretty good, but you can purchase better ones if you want to see depths. One challenge for a cruise planning app on a mobile device is the limited amount of storage for charts. ActiveCaptain addresses this by using tiles. You download only the tiles you plan to use.

To load or unload tiles, select Charts, at the bottom of the display, press the 3-bar icon, in the upper-right, and click Download Charts. Here, you can purchase better charts, or select the default charts. Select the chart icon, in the upper-right, to load or unload tiles. Then, pan to the area you are interested in, and tap on tiles to load or unload.

If you purchased charts for Garmin BlueCharts from the Apple store, they will work with the ActiveCaptain app on your Apple device.

Downloading ActiveCaptain Community

Don’t wait until the last minute to download the ActiveCaptain Community. When I first did it, it took me several days. From the Chart screen, press the 3-bar icon, and select Download ActiveCaptain Community. Next, activate Auto Download Updates and press Update Now. When I did this the first time, I got error messages saying the download failed, but several days later it was there. Once the database is loaded, you can un-select Auto Download Updates if you want.

Using the ActiveCaptain App

I don’t have much experience with the ActiveCaptain app, but here are some things that may be helpful. I installed it on my iPhone 7S and my Nexus 10 Android tablet—the tablet screen size is easier to use. I am used to doing my route planning on Windows, but I think, with a little practice, I could get proficient using it on a 10-inch tablet.

The app has three icons across the bottom of the display; Boat Apps, Charts, and Settings. The Boat Apps screen is where you send user data to your chartplotter. The Settings screen is where you set preferences and look for help and support information. The Chart screen is where you make the most of ActiveCaptain.

Screenshot of ActiveCaptain on My iPhone 7S

The Chart screen shows GPS Speed and GPS Heading in the upper-left-hand corner and has icons along the right side of the screen. The top icon, 3-bars, lets you download, set chart options, search and work with user data (routes and waypoints). The next icon lets you choose which chart to view. Then, there is the Plus (+) and Minus (-) icons for zooming. You can also zoom in and out by pinching and spreading the screen. Next, is the “Show Location” icon. pressing this icon will pan to the vessel’s current location, either by GPS or by “Place”. I will discuss “Place” later. The bottom icon looks like an “X” made with a pencil and ruler. It expands into tools for measuring distance, creating a route and creating a waypoint. The measure distance tool functions the same as on the website.

Other tools are activated by what I call the “Donut” menu.

The “Donut” Menu

I call it the “Donut” menu because it looks like a donut that is cut into sections. Each section activates one or more tools. Press anywhere on the chart and you get a “Donut” menu. The top section, or sections of the donut depend on where you press. It lets you open a marker, route, waypoint, or other item. The lower sections let you create a route or waypoint. The bottom section, 3-dots, opens other tools, like show tides, show currents, show notes, Place and more.

Location Services

If your mobile device has a GPS you can use the app for navigation. You must enable Location Services for ActiveCaptain in your device settings. If your device doesn’t have a GPS, you can Place your vessel using the 3-dots of the “Donut” menu. The app will act as if your vessel is at this location until you Return, or Place again. If you Place on a device with a GPS ActiveCaptain will ignore the GPS until you Return. To Return, press on the vessel icon to get a “Donut” menu, select 3-dots, and Return.

Creating Waypoints

To create a waypoint in the ActiveCaptain app, pan to the location and use the “Donut” menu” to create a Waypoint. The Waypoint will have a default name and symbol. To open the Waypoint, press on the top “Donut” section, or the 3-bar icon, User Data, and Waypoints. There, you can rename, choose a symbol, move, delete, add information, etc. for the Waypoint.

Creating Routes

You can create routes on the ActiveCaptain app. Pan to the starting point of the route and press to open the “Donut” menu. Press the route icon to create the first waypoint. Continue pressing on the chart to create additional waypoints for the route. Press Done to end the route. The route and its waypoints will have default names. Press on the route, and select the route in the “Donut” menu, or press the 3-bars icon, User Data, and Routes to open the route. There you can rename it, edit it, delete it, etc.

Importing GPX Files to ActiveCaptain App

You can add routes and waypoints created on other devices, or by other programs, such as HomePort, or OpenCPN to the ActiveCaptain app. You need a way to copy your GPX file to your mobile device. I use Google Drive, but there are others, such as DropBox, that will work just as well. Sometimes you can open the files directly from the Google Drive app on your device, but if that doesn’t work, you might need to copy the file to local storage.

Once you have the GPX file on your mobile device, select it and, when prompted, open it with ActiveCaptain. The routes and/or waypoints should now appear in User Data.

Exporting GPX Files from ActiveCaptain App

You can export your routes and waypoints as GPX files. Press on the 3-bar menu icon in the upper-right of the chart display, choose User Data and press the 3-dots menu icon in the upper-right corner. Select Export to GPX File and choose your method. I use Mail, and send an email to myself. I get a GPX file with all routes and waypoints. You can import the file into HomePort, OpenCPN, or ActiveCaptain on another device to work with the routes and waypoints in the GPX file.

Summary

We have been spending a lot of our time on the RV, and this was the first multi-day cruise we planned since Dry Tortugas. We were aware of some of the changes to ActiveCaptain, but hadn’t looked at it for a while. I was overwhelmed at first, but quickly came to realize how much better it is.

The website works on any desktop or mobile browser. The ability to switch between Sonar, Nautical, NOAA, Street and Satellite charts is a great feature. The app is all-new, packed with features, and very powerful. Garmin has put a lot of effort into a free website and app for the boating community, but the real value is still the ActiveCaptain Community, and that continues to get better.

Next

In the next article of this series, I’ll talk about two GPX tools; Clean Route, and Convert GPX to CSV. The final article in this series will be an example that puts it all together.

Cruising

Planning Multi-Day Cruises—Overview

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When cruising on Questeria, we like to have a route on our chartplotter. This makes for a less stressful day. When cruising for several days, we plan the routes ahead of time and organize them using Google Sheets. We use a number of tools in the process, some of which I created myself. Below is a snapshot of a spreadsheet with our routes. 

Routes
Spreadsheet of Routes

This spreadsheet contains seven routes, each on its own sheet. Each sheet contains waypoints, latitudes, longitudes, distances, bearings, durations and times. I will explain how I did this in this series of posts.

In this post I give an overview of the route planning process. In future posts, I’ll talk about route planning tools we use before our cruise:

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Then, I’ll walk through an example using a route that I created as part of a trip from Florida Keys to Moore Haven, FL. Finally, I’ll explain how I put the routes together in a spreadsheet and load them on our Garmin 4208 chartplotter and other devices.

Initial Planning Intentions

When we start planning a multi-day cruise , we know our starting and ending points, but we might not know all the places we want to stop along the way. We might have some favorite anchorages or marinas along the way, or maybe a new place we want to explore. At this stage of planning, we think about how long we want to travel in one day. Travel time depends on boat speed and distance, but can vary greatly by current, wind and other factors. We also consider delays waiting for things like bridge openings. Weather is a big unknown. We have left an anchorage at the crack of dawn, and had to stop and wait for fog to clear. Then there’s Murphy’s Law — Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. With boating, you can never plan your trip exactly. We make intentions instead of plans.

From experience, we have found that leaving the dock can be the hardest part of the trip. There is always “one more thing” we forgot about. So, the first day we don’t plan to travel very far. After that, we get into a routine, and plan for longer days. We look at sunrise and sunset times on our chartplotter to take advantage of daylight hours. At the start of the day, we have a rough idea of where we want to stop, but we won’t decide until later, based on our progress during the day.

We learned early on, that our plans must be very flexible. It usually takes longer to get from point A to point B, than we think it will. The set of routes we make ahead of time are outdated by the first day of the cruise, but they are still useful.

I do our initial route planning on Windows. A few years ago, I transitioned from a laptop PC to a Windows tablet, with a docking station, mouse and portable keyboard. I find that this works best for my lifestyle. I could do planning on a Android or iOS tablet, but I have an easier time with a two-button mouse.

Route Planning Tools

My preferred tool for planning a route is OpenCPN.  My second choice is Garmin’s HomePort, but I use them both. I prefer the user-interface of OpenCPN and I prefer the the look of HomePort, but that is mostly personal preference.  I can import/export routes between OpenCPN and HomePort, but I must use HomePort to load the routes on my 4208 Garmin chartplotter.

When we first started cruising we bought a lot of cruising guides, like Managing the Waterway and Skipper Bob books. Now, we use ActiveCaptain. ActiveCaptain is a crowd-sourced database of navigational hazards, anchorages, marinas and more. It is essentially a cruising guide, written by cruisers, that is always up to date.

ChartPlotter

We have a Garmin 4208 chartplotter that we bought in 2006. It is now discontinued, but we are not ready to upgrade. It doesn’t have a fancy touch screen or WiFi, but it works just fine for us. It uses an SD card to transfer data to and from the computer.

Route Planning Process

We might cruise to get from one place to another, like our trip to Moore Haven, FL, or, like our trip to the Bahamas , we might just want to experience a place and come back home. Either way, we determine how long we want to take, and decide on places we might want to stop on the way.

Waypoints

First, we create waypoints for our cruise. We use ActiveCaptain to look for anchorages and marinas. Then, we use OpenCPN and HomePort to create waypoints for the places we found in ActiveCaptain.

Routes

For me, creating a route is an iterative process. First, I create a simple route, with a few waypoints. Then I zoom in and add, move or extend waypoints. I keep zooming in and modifying the route until I am happy with it. I export and import it between tools and look at it on different charts.

GPX Tools

When I am happy with all my routes I clean it up with the Clean Route tool, so it looks the same on OpenCPN, HomePort, my chartplotter, and ActiveCaptain. Then I create a Comma Separated Values, CSV, file that can be copied to a spreadsheet.

Chartplotter

The last step is to put all the routes and waypoints on our Garmin 4208 chartplotter. I also import them to a mobile device running the ActiveCaptain app. We are now ready to cruise.

Next

In the next post of this series I will talk in detail about HomePort. Then, in future posts I’ll talk about ActiveCaptain, GPX tools and putting it all together with an example.