As you may know, Garmin and other GPS navigational devices come with all kinds of alerts. They not only keep you on course, they also let you know what you will experience as you go. You can get traffic alerts to let you know which areas you may want to avoid. Your GPS device can alert you to weather conditions. Since many GPS devices come pre-loaded with points of interest (POIs) and allow you to add your own favored destinations, a GPS device can let you know that you are near a restaurant you like. There are even some GPS devices that will inform you of where you can get the best deal on gas to fill your tank.

But did you know that some GPS devices can also alert you to the presence of wildlife? This may not mean much if you are traveling through the urban jungle, but if you are in some bodies of water it can make a big difference. More and more boaters are using GPS navigation devices to aid them with navigation.

Garmin entered into a partnership with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s Manatee Awareness Coalition (MAC). Information about manatee zones is available on all new Garmin GPS chart plotters. Boaters can also buy navigation chips (SD cards) to update a GPS device that they already own.

Information about where the manatee zones are, and how far they extend is invaluable for boaters. This data empowers the boaters to do their part to help protect both manatees and the bay’s shallow-water sea grass meadows.

If you are looking for a Marine GPS device, look no further than ActionGPS.com. They have some great GPS devices like the Garmin GPSMAP 178C or the Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx Portable Handheld Outdoor Color GPS
that will take you through charted and uncharted waters.