Visit our Popular Forums

sonAdmiralson · 02-10-2012, 10:16

we are planning on living for as long as the money holds out , about 3k,aboard in the Caribbean, Bahamas. Anyone out there survived fishing and finding odd jobs to make it for a few months before being forced to sell the boat?

WebWench · 02-10-2012, 10:25

That is not a very big budget.....have you planned for boat repairs, health issues, flying back home?
It may not be easy to find work unless you have permission, you would be an illegal alien in some of those areas. What about the US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico....could you get a job there and live on the boat? Just some thoughts...

atoll · 02-10-2012, 10:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonAdmiralson

we are planning on living for as long as the money holds out , about 3k,aboard in the Caribbean, Bahamas. Anyone out there survived fishing and finding odd jobs to make it for a few months before being forced to sell the boat?

i can reliably inform you that once you stop living you will have no more need for money.......the egyptians tried it.....but treasure hunters found it un spent nearly 3000 years later

Agape39 · 02-10-2012, 10:37

You have picked some very expensive area to try and stretch you money, IMHO I would head to Florida, drop anchor, find some labor work on boats and move to the next town when the work is exhausted. You could last a very long time!

**GordMay** · 02-10-2012, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonAdmiralson

we are planning on living for as long as the money holds out ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by atoll

i can reliably inform you that once you stop living you will have no more need for money ...

Indeed.
Seems a rather paltry ambition.

**CaptForce** · 03-10-2012, 15:17

You've listed your location as Peru. Will you be on your way through the canal? It's likely you'll see to the balance of your 3K and if you can keep it stable by the time you get from Peru to the Lesser Antilles.

Bobnoxx99 · 08-10-2012, 00:13

HI sorry if i did anything wrong before to everyone this place is great. Met a few more people today at the marina, is everyone as nice? Got a few ideas and names of people to help me with the things I need AND yesterday bought a big battery for the boat since the one in it died before I bought the boat, happy as can be, lights came on, radio, wow! Got rid of the old fridge they had in there that was too big and found yet another sail! Best day yet, got to see the boat after sun went down with all the lights on in the cabin... it was magic!

jwallace7783 · 11-10-2012, 17:15

sonAdmiralson good for you...I only wish I could buy a sailboat and liveaboard!!! It is my dream but it seems like it will continue to be a dream I am tied down to a crappy job that I hate!!!! If you can go live on a sailboat and do what you love do it!!!

**barnakiel** · 12-10-2012, 08:42

3k buys us (a couple) approx 6 months in the Carib. I found finding jobs there difficult. Fishing was just so-so. Spear fishing was mostly OK, but not everywhere legal. Selling a boat there is definitely not easy but a good boat sells well nearly everywhere if you ask a reasonable price.

b.

onestepcsy37 · 12-10-2012, 10:19

$3000 for six months? easy.

first, get away from civilization. you spend money there. try the far out islands of the southern bahamas. fishing, conching and lobstering is more likely to support you there because of less fishing pressure.

second, stock the boat with staples. beans, rice, flour, powdered milk, etc. make sure it's all packed in sealable plastic containers. not too hard to take six months supply; if you need to buy more, staples are not as highly taxed as other foods in the bahamas so you can restock at reasonable cost. fruits and veggies may be hard to find and expensive there, so bring canned stuff. two 20lb bottles of propane should easily last six months.

and when you finally have to return it's good to know it's a downwind sail to florida (no fuel needed).

i have a hunch that your boat is actually a glander tavana. if it is, i'm familiar with it, having spent years in the florida keys near where they were built. they were nearly all 'kit' boats, bought as hulls and decks from glander and finished out by their owners. big advantage is the shoal draft centerboard which will let you get into places in the bahamas where others can't - might be handy when a storm is coming.
which reminds me, get yourself some kind of radio that will get you weather reports. might just be an ordinary am radio or better a grundig yachtboy or equivalent.

back in the 70's i met a couple on a bristol 27. they had spent six months in the bahamas and run out of money - living on beans and rice and lobster. he told me the last few weeks they were anchored in hopetown harbor over an old sunken boat; each morning he dove down and got a lobster for breakfast, then dove down and got a lobster for lunch, then dove down and got a lobster for dinner. then he said, 'you know, it's hard to believe, but you can get pretty sick of lobster'. i told him i'd like to find that out for myself...

onestepcsy37 · 12-10-2012, 11:03

something extremely important that i failed to mention - fresh water.

fresh water is a scarce commodity at times in the bahamas. particularly so in the southern bahamas where most of it comes from rainwater. and it doesn't rain a whole lot in the winter 'dry' season. summer brings thunderstorms but they are very local and though you may see thunderstorms all around you they aren't all going to rain where you are.

so bring all the water you can and set yourself up to catch rain whenever possible. six months times a very minimal two gallons a day (180 X 2) is 360 gallons. how much water can you carry in tanks and jugs?

**Vasco** · 12-10-2012, 11:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

something extremely important that i failed to mention - fresh water.

fresh water is a scarce commodity at times in the bahamas. particularly so in the southern bahamas where most of it comes from rainwater. and it doesn't rain a whole lot in the winter 'dry' season. summer brings thunderstorms but they are very local and though you may see thunderstorms all around you they aren't all going to rain where you are.

so bring all the water you can and set yourself up to catch rain whenever possible. six months times a very minimal two gallons a day (180 X 2) is 360 gallons. how much water can you carry in tanks and jugs?

Fresh water for cruisers is not really a problem in the Bahamas anymore. When we first started cruising those waters in 1990 it might have been difficult to get fresh water. In those days we went to cisterns and got rainwater, in Georgetown where the cruisers congregated the "fresh" water was not the best. But, even then we did not need to buy water. With the advent of RO water the situation has changed. If you cruise the Exumas fresh water is not a problem. You might have to buy water in some of the more isolated spots or in the Abacos but if you carry a few jerry jugs you should be alright.

Cacique · 12-10-2012, 11:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by atoll

i can reliably inform you that once you stop living you will have no more need for money.......the egyptians tried it.....but treasure hunters found it un spent nearly 3000 years later

Atoll you are such a joker, made me actually laugh out loud, twice my wife just looked at me as if I was weird. BTW I was in Cornwall (UK in case you are in Cornwall in some other place) all day today

onestepcsy37 · 12-10-2012, 18:09

vasco - i should have been a bit more specific. i'm thinking of sending them down below georgetown (too many ways to spend money in georgetown). french wells comes to mind, as do the jumentos.

we spent last summer in the abacos and had no water supply problems at all. there is a large well system on great abaco, with enough water that they are now piping it to green turtle cay.

atoll · 13-10-2012, 02:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cacique

Atoll you are such a joker, made me actually laugh out loud, twice my wife just looked at me as if I was weird. BTW I was in Cornwall (UK in case you are in Cornwall in some other place) all day today

one has to laugh a bit...not only is the gubbermint de-valueing our currency,they have now started taxing our pasties

seems like the op never came back to the land of the living