Plotting and checking

There are many resources one can use in preparing for a trip along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW).  There is the crowd sourced information on Active Captain which I use to look at navigation hazards and marina information.  There is also the America's Great Loop Cruising Association which for its members is a great resource.  Waterway Guide is another internet resource.  In addition to the boat's Garmin chart plotter and the paper charts Chip carries on the Eleohn, I will have two laptops with me loaded with my favorite chart plotter software Coastal Explorer (CE).  I have a GPS puck antenna I plug into the computer in use and watch us move along the charts.  Very cool is the fact that Active Captain data is input into the CE and displays all of its data in various colored "balloons" right on the chart; so if I see a navigation balloon coming up I just click on it to get the information.  I have plotted every inch of our way from Norfolk to Carrabelle, all 1524 miles of it, and I can take those routes and input them to the chart plotter on the boat.  Once that is done, I can turn on the Robertson autopilot and have it drive the boat down the route.  How kewl is that?