There is a fairly complete set of NOAA charts online at http://ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/. You can buy a viewer for your PC but I found a free one that works pretty well. They claim that you can hook it up to a GPS, if you want to take your laptop sailing with you, and it will show your position on the chart. I never tried this, but I did zoom in and print out some sections of charts that I wanted directly from my PC. See SeaClear at http://www.seaclear.net/ I have a Garmin GPS and it won't let you download any charts other than the ones you buy directly from Garmin. happy navigating Steve