>It would be great to have the corrections on tide tables for some popular
>birding spots. I cannot access the web, but I do have current tables.
>It's calculating the differences from Aberdeen, etc. that often proves
>problematic.For instance, I have tried to plan trips to Boundary Bay, but
>haven't yet gotten it quite right...
>A good idea!
>Brenda Senturia

Since there seems to be a few postings on this, and several of you have
written me directly about "current master" and "tidetest", two PC programs
I posted about earlier, I will venture the following-- for those of us who
have trouble adding, subtracting, and (yes, sometimes) even having to
multiply correction factors to use standard tide tables:

"Current Master" is an easy to use DOS program published by Island Canoe
Inc, 3556 W. Blakely Ave. N.E, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 (206-842-5997)
The program comes with the following number for user support (which I have
never had to call). "Jake Thomas, 206-786-9799". I have no stake in this
company, but I do often need to calculate accurate tide levels, both at the
time of high and low tides and at various times in between. "Current master"
handles this chore much faster than any pencil and paper calculations. The
formulae apparently comes out of the pages in the NOAA tide tables for
calculating tide corrections at any time.

"Current master" will handle calculating tide corrections for the Straight
of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Hood Canal, South Puget Sound, Possession
Sound and Port Susan, Saratoga Passage and Skagit Bay, Rosario Straight
(including all the San Juans) and inside Vancouver Island up BC ways. It
has lots and lots of exact tidal points built in. If you are also
geographically impaired, Island Canoe will also sell you a set of charts.
(You need to know the name or ID number of tide correction station).

No computer is as handy as doing the computations on paper, at least in the
field. But I find this program very handy for advance planning for my
surveying business, as well as for scuba diving and for birding.

Unfortunately, it does not cover the Columbia nor the Pacific coast. You
have to buy it new every year, and it in the past has cost (I recall) around
30-40 dollars (but the program has been improving each year, so who knows
about future costs). I always get my copy at either Metzger Maps in Tacoma
or at any one of a number of SCUBA shops. As the name implies, it also
handles tidal current calculations.

"Tidetest" is a free windows program put together by the US Army Corps of
Engineers. It does not help predict tide heights, but is a good resource if
you want historical information about tidal ranges. It covers all tide
stations in Washington. The sort of info it contains is (using Toke Point
as an example) this sort of thing: Mean Higher high water 8.8 ft; mean high
water 8.08 feet; mean tide level 4.69 ft; NGVD (the datum for topo maps) at
the site 4.46 ft; mean low water 1.3 ft; and mean lower low water which of
course will be zero for the site. The highest tide recorded there was 14.43
on 11/1/81 and the lowest was -3.79 on 12/1/83. This is all also
corrected for different mapping datums. So, if you are a statistics junkie
you can get this sort of thing for free from Dave Lenger at the Corps in
Seattle, 206-764-3535.

-------------------------------------
Name: Jerry Broadus
jbroadus at seanet.com
901-16th. St S.W.
Puyallup, Wa. 98371
206-845-3156
Time: 20:18:56