thought I might share some real world numbers, in case it might help someone
We have been living on the hook in La Paz/BCS Mexico for two months and for the purpose of this thread I've kept track of our food expenses. As a side note, we haven't had any other expenses here.
for the two of us it adds up to 100?/148 USD a month. Not too bad!
so what do we eat? -the short answer is: we eat very well thanks.
a bit additional info on that.
we typically drink 1-2 glasses of wine every night with dinner and an occassional shot of tequila (the good ones,not the cheap stuff)
lots of fresh veggies and fruit
rice and pasta- mostly whole grain
beaf/pork around 3 days a week. (MX beef is GOOD, ranched cattle, very tasty, but sometimes not very tenderized, so we do that ourselves)
fresh fish around 3 days a week, mostly bought at the open market, we will fish ourselves when we sail north for the summer for added pleasure and saitisfaction and lower cost too...
beans or other vegetarian dish the 7th day.
We by basic ingredients and cook , very rarely manufactured food. This is tastier, healthier AND cheaper but takes a couple hours a day typically.
that's about it. On shore, we'll have a beer or two a couple times a week in a bar, mostly for the ambience, and a cup of coffee at an internet caf? once or twice a week.
Add cost for boat maintenance and you've got a budget. since we've owned this boat for just 6 months, I cannot yet provide real world numbers here, and it also greatly vary with type of boat, equipment and the skill level of the crew. We do pretty much ALL wotk ourselves and scheduled haul-outs would be every third year or so. In two years of full time cruising we spent 10-15 nights in marinas. Only for the purpose of travelling inland to visit friends.
We did one haul-out, for a week for a bottom-job.
A check up and cleaning with a local dentist was 30USD for me.
I had a medical check up for 10 USD, medicine is a LOT cheaper than Europe/US etcetera.
Sunshine and not a drop of rain in 6 months, no theft makes this place close to a paradise for micro-budget folks and others too.
Thats awesome~!
thanks for posting....maybe morgan and I should head to MX this winter instead of FL..... ;)
Maybe I should add....
Baja california is -according to what we hear - more expensive than further south in Mexico. dunno aobut the Gulf side of the country.
We also found the locals to be very friendly, helpful and laid back. Perhaps not always the case in the Caribbean according to what we've been told. ???
Marinas and yards are fairly expensive though.
Grog for the post!
Sea of Cortez has been om my list of places to see and cruise. Maybe once I have my feel of the Bahamas/Carribean i will transit the canal and start on the Pacific. Seen any Sailfar typish boats for sale locally? Who knows I might just start there if the right deal is to be found and if an Ariel I found for sale turns out to be nothing special. I like to keep my options open for now.
Plenty of good deals on boats of all sizes here.
Check yachtworld.com and narrow your search to Mexico as a starter
Magnus, Appreciate your post of the costs of cruising there. Very interesting and useful information.
I like the $10 for a medical exam. :)
This info will com in handy when planing my get away