The Office of Coast Survey, a branch of NOAA, now offers a free on-line chart service designed to keep boaters up-to-date on safe navigation. According to the OCS Web site, “NOAA is providing about a thousand high-resolution printable nautical charts — almost the entire NOAA suite of charts — as PDF files. The PDF nautical charts are exact images of the traditional charts currently printed by lithography.” The PDF (Portable Document Format) charts are provided via an online chart viewer. For full details, please visit PDF Nautical Charts. For a quick look at the Bass Islands, click Chart 14844.