S/V 'Faith'

[s/v Faith]

Completely forgot about this.. 

  Will try to get the numbers together in the next little bit. 

[s/v Faith]

I would like to see it... certainly doesn't have to be too specific... maybe just an in general monthly-weekly thing.

Craig, I'd like to see it too.

There's a couple here at the marina that has gotten me thinking about this.  He is having wanderlust real bad, but she just went to work to build up the kitty.  She was complaining to me the other day about how they spent WAY more in the Bahamas than they planned (and they are experienced cruisers, not neophytes at all). 

They were heading North the hang out at the Chez for a while, but ran out of money.  That's why they are here.

So, I'd like to see the financial results of your cruise.

Thanks in advance.

JR

Ok, here it is;

Move aboard 3 July, 2007
Underway: generous estimate of $500 worth of provisions onboard.  I am still offloading stores (I filled up 3 18 gallon storage boxes 2 days ago).  There are stores onboard that we left from NC with.  Would not have done that much differently since it is nice to have options… and a safety margin.  We did not eat any of the ‘emergency’ stores we took with us.

Underway 11 August

Main expenses for trip from NC to FL

First month
-   2 days at Bald Head Island Marina
-   1 night Barefoot Landing Marina
-   5 Days at Georgetown Landing Marina
-   3 days Beaufort SC City Marina
First month, 293.49nm and 12 days in marinas… the most of the trip.
As far as I can tell we spent the most money of the trip this first month.  I have cc receipts and ATM slips for ~ $1600 for the first month (Marina fees, provisions, eating out, fuel).  This works out to just over $50 a day.


Second month
-   1 night at Thunderbolt Marina just south of Savannah GA.
-   2 nights at Brusnwick Landing Marina
-   3 nights at St. Augustine Municipal Marina.
This month was much better.  We only paid for 6 nights in marinas, and enjoyed staying with Dan (Psyche) who would not even let us pay for meals.  We spent a total of $980 this month on Marina fees, provisions, eating out, fuel, but ran into a $115 vet bill for Peter’s USDA certificate and some meds as well as buying a Honda 1000w generator after learning the ‘Sunlinq’ flex panels were not putting out even 10% of their rated output. I chalk that $830 up to maintenance but the total for the month was $1925... about $64 a day.

Third month (first half, before we left the US).
-   2 nights at the Patrick AFB Marina
-   1 night at ‘Jones Fruit Dock’ ($10)
-   2 nights on a mandatory mooring at Vero Beach
Just 2 nights in marinas, 2 on a mooring, and 1 at a dock.  Filled up all our fuel cans, and stocked up on provisions for the Bahamas.  Still only managed to spend ~ $550  ~ $36 a day.

So the trip from NC to FL was $4035 or less then $40 a day.  We would see this number drop considerably as we increased our dislike of marinas.

First Month in the Bahamas.
Have much more accurate financial records from this point.
Couple of notes on these numbers.. gas in the Bahamas was 4-5.50 a gallon when we were there.  The water cost as much as a dollar a gallon and was part of the ‘Misc’. 

Mooring/dockage; $409.01   
Misc; $358.6
Fuel: $66.4
Maint: $17.4
Food; $113.13
Restaurants; $151
Total;   $1115.49  or $37 a day.

Second Month in the Bahamas
                  
Mooring: $106
Misc: $552.85 (including $180 for a dive trip)
Fuel; $57
Maint; $234
Food; $280.97
Restaurants; $137
Total; $1367.82 or $45 a day

Third month in the Bahamas;
 $799.18 total (went from accounting on lap top to log book… can break down individual categories if anyone needs it).  Down to $26 a day.

Last 2 weeks in the Bahamas
Grand total of $291.  or less then $20 a day.

Upon arrival in US (31 Jan 08) to arrival in Pensacola (11 March 08)
We only spent $709 for the last 40 days of the trip.  We did not stay in any marinas, and only paid for a mooring in Ft. Myers because we had to fly out to attend Rose’s mothers funeral.  Our daily cost of $20 a day does not reflect the cost of our trip for the funeral since it was not related to the trip.  Even if you deduct the food costs for those days, we still came out at less then half what we had averaged the first few months in the US.  We did not stay in a marina a single night after we got back.

Ok, so some numbers.

WRT Distance, quoted from post #135

The total distance traveled was 2,527.11nm.  There has been some discussion about how folks keep track of the miles they travel on a trip.  Our system involves a DR plot that is checked against a GPS.  Our little Magellan hand held was on for all but one of our resupply runs when we sailed from Monument beach into Georgetown and back… so our mileage is probably a couple miles more then that… but pretty darn close.

We lived aboard for 8 months, and cruised for 7 months.  About 210 days and our pace was not hurried (maybe a little in the end to make it back for the wedding).  We averaged something like 12 nm per day…. Probably about the right pace for us.

The numbers I have for our expenses are $7648.49.  Some of that was vet bills, a chunk for the generator… but I leave these in there since these kinds of costs DO come up. 

We still cruised for about $35 a day (or $3 a mile).  We did what we wanted, ate where we wanted, stayed were we wanted.  I do not like high end marinas.. I don’t feel comfortable wasting money for someone’s idea of POSH.   We did eat several pricey meals just because we felt like it.  I am confident that we could do it for far less. 

[dnice]

Nice,
I appreciate you posting this.

It sounds like a very comfortable cruise (which is a good thing!) at right around my current cost of living.
I hope I can do it cheaper though but I like that you value the freedom to do whatever you feel like doing.
Definitely something I need to think about. Most of the time I'm dead-set on 'just go with what I got' but I am sure there will be days I just want to spend the evening in the bar or eat in a decent restaraunt or whatever. not to mention those unexpected costs....

This is the sorta stuff you cannot find on any other website.

[Amgine]

Well, your cost per month is less than what we're stuck paying for just housing. Clearly I need to point this out to the significant other!

Thank you very much for posting all this. It's really helpful to have some recent real-world data to work with. And, now that you've armed about a hundred of us with "look honey, we can save money by cruising!", what're ya gonna do for your next trick? Where are you off to next, when?

[AdriftAtSea]

Good to see some real world numbers...

[Frank]

Good break-down Craig...thanks. I agree to leave funds for the unexpected ...as you state, they DO come up.I also agree to allow some funds for a few nice dinners out, a dive trip or a few pints if the band is good.If ya don't, you'll feel a slave to the boat and not truly enjoy yourself. I've never really kept a break down but I can honestly say that I spend about the same dollars for 3 months away including getting there,launch and later haul out etc as several friends do for a week at Disneyland or 4 days at Vegas.   PS..when are Rose and you getting back out?
 

[Captain Smollett]

Grog, Craig.  Thanks for the info.  Very helpful.

[Captain Smollett]

Craig (and others),

Have you seen the painting by Thomas Kincaid called "Perseverance" ?

The name of the vessel in that painting might be of interest...

[Amgine]

[Antioch]

What a great painting.

[Cpt2Be]

Truly inspiring!

I can only still just dream that we are as lucky as you two.

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy for Munjack Cay.            11 November, 07......  There are a couple of big rays that are used to being fed by the people on the dive boat.  They come up to you in shallow water and try to swim up to your feet.  Apparently they will take food offered from between your toes I did not know of this and was caught off guard the first time I was approached.  This picture was taken from the dingy when Rose came ashore with the camera.

Looking at Frank's latest post, looks like my Ray friend is still hanging out in the same place.  (If you look close at the first picture, you can see some of the dock that the pilings in Frank's picture belong to.

Pic is a Ray in shallo water near the dock yesterday. They are so graceful....beautiful to watch