We track and report every penny we spend living aboard and cruising on
Tickety Boo, our Moody 346 sailboat for a couple of reasons.
1 - It helps us see where our money is going, helps us make informed choices about where to spend our money, which in turn helps us stretch our money further so that we can keep adventuring longer.
2 - We found it really useful to check out other people's cost of cruising when we were starting out, so we figure we can return favor by sharing ours.
You can find details of how much we spent cruising in Florida and the Bahamas during March and April 2017 below. Keep in mind that this is what works for us. Everyone has their own budget and priorities and everyone tracks and reports things differently.
You can find links to other cost updates from ourselves (on Tickety Boo, camping across the States and our previous boat in New Zealand) and others on
this page, as well as on
The Monkey's Fist.
Cost of Cruising In Florida & The Bahamas | March & April 2017
Overall,
we spent $2,012 during March and April which isn't too bad considering the fact that we had to buy Tickety Boo some stuff before we headed off cruising. And it's also a lot less than how much we spent in the
previous month.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of what we spent, here are a few things to note:
1 - All costs are in US dollars. The Bahamian dollar is on par with the US dollar, so no conversion was required. It's pretty cool that you can use US currency in the Bahamas. No need to worry about exchanging money.
2 - Not all expenses are included - here's what we've left out:
(a) We don't report how much we spend on alcohol. I remember reading
some horrible, judgy comments in a blog post a few years back about how
much someone spent on booze, so I left it out when we first started
tracking our cruising costs back in New Zealand. For consistency's sake,
I've continued to leave it out when tracking our cruising costs.
(b) We've also left out our costs for medical insurance. We didn't think
it made sense to include insurance costs as they can vary so widely
depending upon your nationality, where you cruise, what level of
coverage you want and can afford etc. In case you are curious, while
we're back in the States, we do have insurance through the health
insurance marketplace (aka ACA/Obamacare), primarily to protect our
assets and cover us in case of a catastrophic medical condition.
3 - I've included any shipping and taxes we've paid in what we report. Florida has a 6% sales tax. The Bahamas has a 7.5% VAT.
GROCERIES | Total = $423.17
This category includes everything we put in our bodies in terms of food
and drink (excluding booze) that we prepare ourselves. It doesn't
include things like paper towels and ziploc bags, which I know some
people would classify as groceries. Sure, you could probably eat them,
but they wouldn't taste very good.
To be honest, this is more than I had hoped to spend, but we did do some last minute provisioning in Florida before we headed off. We also spent far more time than we would have liked in Marsh Harbour in the Abacos due to weather and other issues. The upside of our time in Marsh Harbour was access to some relatively reasonably priced groceries at Maxwell's which meant we could replenish our supply of eggs, milk, cheese and meat. If we had been able to spend more time anchored in more remote areas of the Bahamas, we probably would have spent less on groceries and made do with the provisions we had on board.
PERSONAL & HOUSEHOLD | Total = $4.28
This is the category where we include household things (like paper
towels and ziploc bags) and personal hygiene items (like soap and
shampoo). We also capture items for the "home" here - like bug spray.
The $4.28 we did spend was on some last minute paper towels and toilet paper before we left Florida. They're insanely expensive in the Bahamas, so you're better off stocking up before you leave the States.
ENTERTAINMENT | Total = $29.00
In terms of drinks and eating out, this includes everything we don't
prepare ourselves, even if we get something to go and eat it back on the
boat. We also track how much we spend on books, magazines, DVD rentals and going to the movies
in this category, as well as the occasional lottery ticket.
Of the $29 we spent during March and April, $13 of that was on take-away food before we left Indiantown. Once we left Indiantown, we didn't eat out or do take-away for over two months. The last time we cruised in the Bahamas, we ate out a few times, but to be honest, we weren't blown away by the food or the cost of eating out, so we chose to do all of our own cooking on board this time.
COMMUNICATIONS | Total = $174.00
Our cell phone is actually one of our biggest non-boat related expenses.
We have a $60 monthly GoPhone plan with AT&T which includes 8GB of
data and unlimited calls and texts. We continued with that plan while we were out cruising so that we can keep our US cell phone number.
When we got to the Bahamas, we bought a BTC SIM card ($15) and a 30-day data plan ($35). The data plan we bought was billed as "Limitless" which the woman at BTC assured us had no data cap, nor would it choke down our speed after we used a certain amount of data. Turns out that was rather misleading. Once you use 15GB of data, they shut you down without warning. Fortunately, we didn't use up our data allowance, but I know other people who did. To be fair, the cost per GB is actually pretty good compared to our AT&T plan.
BOAT FUEL | Total = $157.72
We spent $143.72 on diesel for our inboard engine. We topped up our tank in Lake Worth ($2.73 per gallon) before we crossed to the Bahamas and then again at the Conch Inn Marina in Marsh Harbour ($4.05 per gallon). We also spent $14 on gas for our outboard motor at Abaco Dorado Boat Rentals in Marsh Harbour ($5 per gallon). The upside of buying fuel at Abaco Dorado Boat Rentals is that you get free water (we filled up a couple of jerry cans for free in addition to the 22 gallons we had bought previously).
LPG & BUTANE | Total = $101.43
We have a LPG (or propane) cooker on our boat. Not long after we left Indiantown Marina, our stove broke while we were cruising in Florida. Fortunately our oven still worked, so between that and our BBQ, we were able to get by cooking-wise until we got back to Indiantown Marina and picked up our butane camping stove. The camping stove works fine as a temporary solution until we're able to replace the cooker sometime this summer, but butane cartridges are pretty expensive, especially compared to LPG.
Here's how the expenditure broke down:
- In the States, we spent $23 filling up both of our LPG tanks in Indiantown and $56 on 19 butane cartridges at Walmart.
- In the Bahamas, we spent $7 filling up our smaller LPG tank at the Corner Value in Marsh Harbour and $15 on 4 butane cartridges at Vernon's in Hope Town. (Random side note: I had had a dream about finding relatively inexpensive butane cartridges at a tiny store in the Bahamas. It was really strange to stumble across these cartridges at Vernon's.)
MARINA COSTS | Total = $46.64
Anchoring out is one of the things we love about cruising. Not only is it nice to relax on the boat in a quiet anchorage and fall asleep to the waves gently lapping against the side of your boat, it's also free. We like free! Of course, anchoring out isn't always all that it's cracked up to be - we've been in our share of roly-poly anchorages and not been able to sleep at night wondering if we're going to drag anchor, but it's still free!
While our goal was to anchor every night, we ended up having to come back to Indiantown Marina for a couple of days (you can read about it
here). The first night we stayed there was free as they couldn't lift our boat out due to the weather. The second night cost us $36.04 ($1 a foot without electricity). We also got our holding tank pumped out twice - once before we headed off the first time and once when we returned.
BOAT STUFF | Total = $809.24
This category is for all the stuff we've been buying for the boat, as well as
repairs and maintenance costs. The bulk of our spending was on a new solar panel and connectors ($163), a new MPPT solar controller ($100) and a new zinc ($100). We also hauled Tickety Boo out to check out her bottom while we were back at Indiantown Marina. Fortunately, everything was fine and we splashed again right away, but the process costs us $252.
We also spent $4 on 22 gallons of water in Marsh Harbour
at Abaco Dorado Boat Rentals. They sell city water for 18 cents a
gallon. You can buy RO (reverse osmosis water) at the marinas for around
40-50 cents a gallon. Of course, we went the cheap route and chose the
city water over the RO water. This was perhaps a mistake. While it was
fine in our tanks (which we only use for washing up, we store our
drinking water in jerry cans), it tasted kind of funny. It wasn't
horrible, it just wasn't great.
TRANSPORT | Total = $84.61
This category is for costs related to our vehicle, mostly for gas to
keep it going and drive into the nearby "big city" of Stuart for
errands. We put $42.21 worth of gas into it before we headed off. We also pay $21.20 a month to store our vehicle at Indiantown Marina while we're off cruising.
MEDICAL EXPENSES | Total = Nil
This category includes medical expenses outside of our monthly insurance
premium (which aren't included here - see section on exclusions above),
like over the counter medications, prescriptions and things for our
medical kit. It also includes the costs of doctors visits and medical
tests which aren't covered by our insurance.
Although there were a few cuts and bruises while we were cruising, neither of us needed medical attention. Well, come to think about it, Scott did have a cut that probably could have used stitches, but that's a story for another day.
OTHER | Total = $182.80
In this category, we break out how much we spend on clothes and travel
expenses. We also include a catch-all miscellaneous group for stuff that
doesn't fit neatly anywhere else - things like laundry ($2.50 for a wash at the Classic Coin Wash in Marsh Harbour).
The big expenditure during March and April was $150 to clear into the Bahamas. This covers our cruising permit and fishing license while we're in the Bahamas. We're lucky that our boat is under 35' long and that we only have to pay $150. Boats over 35' have to pay $300.
Do you track your monthly expenditure? What are your cost saving tips and tricks? What's the longest you've gone without eating out or getting take-away?
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