Nautical charts, Puget Sound

A substantial number of people come to this blog in search of nautical (sometimes they call them "depth") charts of Puget Sound.  And while it is true that I have made many chart excerpts here to cover detailed destinations of interest, I do not have a collection of full-sized charts available.

But NOAA does. 

The mother lode of charts can be found in NOAA's historical chart archive, where hi-res jpeg images of all the paper charts they have ever issued (and some that were issued well before NOAA existed) are available for download.  But be prepared... these are huge image files.

For free.  Go there and be satisfied.

If you just want to view a chart and don't need your own personal copy, NOAA also makes available a useful web-based chart viewer application that allows you to pan and zoom around a chart without actually downloading it.  Check it out.

Nautical charts, Puget Sound