Month 6 Expenses & Costs of Cruising

[sailorboy1]

This past month we traveled from Green Turtle Cay to Glass Window Eleuthera Bahamas. Most of the time we spend at anchor, but we did spend a couple of days at Green Turtle and 6 days at Great Guna Cay in marinas for weather issues (we have spent at least half the time we have been in the Bahamas hiding from fronts).

We dined out some for dinner and some just for lunch/snack stop. Our dining money doesn’t go as far here as in the States

Entertainment expenses were for some Kindle books, and a couple weeks’ worth of Bahamas WiFi that became real nice to be able to watch Netflix while we were anchored in Marsh Harbor during a gale.

March Harbor has about anything you want and the prices are much better than in the out islands, but still not cheap. A case of beer at Green Turtle was $62 and at Great Guna it was $71, but in Marsh Harbor it was $41. So, if you are going to drink beer stock up. Soda was also expense but we got a couple of cases at $17/ea. anyway. And we restocked at Marsh Harbor and the freezer and probably has a month’s food.

I still use my credit card mostly instead of the supply of cash I brought. The Bank charges me 3% for this, which becomes 2% as I get 1% back. I figure ATM fees would probably add up to about the same.

Had an autopilot problem that I traced to the flux compass. Turned out I had a spare on the boat from a couple years ago, when I replaced the computer and didn’t install it. But it turned out it wasn’t the compass, it was the wiring and became a long PITA to replace and most of the months’ boat maintenance expense is a soldering iron for those damn small wires.

We don’t have a water maker so now there are water costs. When I get back this year I will have a better feel whether it makes sense to install a water maker since even with showers I know we can last 3 weeks on our tanks (when it rains here it POURS and it wouldn’t take much work to be able to fill tanks during it).

The total was $2,545.48 as follows:

Food, soda, alcohol, clothing, sundries - $ 1,015.18
Boat upgrades, repairs, maintenance - $ 78.71
Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) - $ 211.43
Dining out - $ 593.95
Entertainment - $ 86.98
Communication, storage, shipping - $ 171.12
Bank Fees - $ 42.87
Marina - $ 291.02
Medical - $ 22.27
Water - $ 31.95