The top level shows all of New Caledonia from space, a montage of 16 Landsat 7 images.

The middle four icons on the top of the screen overlay information on the satellite or aerial image:

1. The birds eye view - an uncluttered view of the image,
2. The photo chart - an overlay of depths and navigation aids (like lights that flash at the correct rates),
3. The anchor - overlays sailing directions including GPS routes and anything relevant to cruising.
4. Information - points of interest, like mobile phone coverage,VHF frequencies, dive spots, walking trails, marine parks, services and supplies.

On all the "All of New Caledonia" satellite view these overlays provide general information relevant to the whole country (like the major reef passes and lighthouses, ports of entry, transit routes to cruise all around the island, roads and place names, marine charts, tides, weather, health, parks, VHF radio, postal services, mobile phone coverage and Internet access.

Point to anywhere in New Caledonia and a summary of what's there pops up. If you click, you'll zoom in so just that area fills the screen. In this screen shot I have pointed to Noumea and the zoom will go to the area enclosed by the pink border - the south coast of Grande Terre.

The next zoom level shows a zone that is about as far as you can sail in a day with favorable winds.

As you zoom in, you'll find more detail about the area shown when you click on the icons to overlay information on the scene. For example, on this level you can see the navigation routes through the reef and lagoon into Noumea, all the navigational lights throughout this area, the location of the marine parks, and all the anchorages. There are also details on entering through each of the ocean passes with photos of the approach, waypoint routes, warnings and VHF frequencies.

When you point to a waypoint you'll see the GPS coordinates, often with a photo taken from that exact location. Point to the small sailboat icon for sailing directions through this area. We have included a remarkable program that will let up upload the waypoints and routes to your GPS or plotting program; just about any GPS or plotting program, which is saying something because they all have their own file structures. To open the program just click on the GPS icon. Here's more info on GPSutility.

When you point your cursor to an area on the image you'll see zoom-in zones appear as pink borders - like the one showing here when I pointed to Noumea. There are two different sized pink rectangles - the larger ones cover about one hour of sailing, the smaller ones are anchorages. You click on either of these to zoom to that level. Click the next tab to zoom closer.

The next zoom level covers about one hour of sailing. Don't forget, on the guide this is a very high resolution image and takes up the entire screen of your computer - even if you have a very good computer with a 1900 pixel screen you won't be using the full resolution of the image. They are stunning.

Point to a waypoint and you will see a photo taken from there and the GPS position. The exact GPS position. The yellow anchors in this level of zoom show you where the anchorages are - just point to one and click and you zoom into that area. Click on the next tab to zoom in to Noumea Harbor.

Now, using the icons to overlay the information, you can see the anchorage areas, marina locations and contact frequencies, the location of port officials, slipways, fuel wharfs, WiFi coverage, helicopter views of the marinas and anchorages, depths and navigation markers (which flash at the correct rate).

Click on the next tab to zoom in to Port Moselle Marina.

This is the kind of detail you'll get on all the anchorages. This, of course, is a marina, but in the remote anchorages you can easily see any hazards, shallow areas, beaches, walking trails and roads. These are not imaginary mud-map sketches, they are real professional survey quality aerial photos in full screen high resolution .

At this level, the overlays created when you click on the icons will give details on the anchorage (or in this case the marina) with depths, waypoints, the best place to anchor with depth, bottom holding, and protection from winds, nav aids, hazards, place names, TV, mobile phones, and VHF reception, dive spots, walking trails, dinghy landings, and anything else of interest there. All this is enhanced with razor sharp, high resolution surface level images, including sphere images - even underwater.

This is all very interactive, fast and easy to use. Click the next tab to see the image that appears when you point to the "Visitors Wharf (Customs Clearance) button.

Note also the details on the slip numbering. But getting you into this marina is about 1/200th of the information content of the guide. And the rest of the information is always just a couple of clicks away. You could click on the binoculars to search for a place or topic by name - one click and it's right on your computer screen.

When you point to the little rocket ship a satellite view of New Caledonia appears. Just point to where you want to go and in one click you'll be looking at it. As you point to different areas a text box will appear with details about what's in that region. Here my cursor is pointing to the Isle of Pines.

In one click I'm looking at the routes down to Isle of pines and in one more click I can be looking at any anchorage in the Isle of Pines.

To continue with more details about Isle of Pines and using the guide in an anchorage click here.