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June – November 2012 Cruising Expenses

Jan 10th, 2013
by Sara.
5 comments
You will run out of arm strength long before you run out of money at the Tongan produce markets - this is about $20 worth.

You will run out of arm strength long before you run out of money at the Tongan produce markets – this is about $20US worth.

I promised you that we’d keep track of what we were spending during our cruise to the South Pacific and share the totals, good and bad. While I got a little behind on actually blogging the numbers, we did keep track all the way across and here are the final budget tallies.

Hopefully this will help future cruisers in planning their Mexico/South Pacific cruise budgets. I’m sure you can see areas where we could have saved a LOT of money (less beer and trips to Neiafu’s Aquarium Cafe perhaps?). But compared to what we’re spending now with a car to maintain, cell phones, marina moorage, etc. anchoring for free in front of a deserted South Pacific island munching on fresh papayas and mangoes just can’t be beat. Even if beer is $4/bottle.

 

S/V Wondertime’s June – November 2012 Cruising Expenses

June 2012 (French Polynesia)

alcohol – $305
books – $78
bus fare – $36
clothing – $91
dental care – $162
diesel – $262
eating out – $378
groceries – $1,044
internet – $131
laundry – $8
medical care -$27*
mooring -$144
museum -$12
petrol (dinghy outboard) – $39
pharmacy -$22
phone cards -$30
postage -$10
souvenirs -$493
stereo speaker replacements – $202
storage unit (annual) – $374
supplies – $122
toys – $24
web hosting (annual) – $122

total: $4,116

*This was my total bill for having an infected stye on my eyelid lanced by a French surgeon in Nuku Hiva on a Saturday night. I might be a fan of socialized healthcare….

 

July 2012 (French Polynesia)

alcohol – $176
butane/propane – $10
clothing – $25
diesel – $55
eating out – $183
galley – $18
groceries – $542
heiva tickets – $13
horse riding – $150
internet – $40
laundry – $45
mooring – $20
souvenirs – $30
supplies – $46
water – $10

total: $1,363

 

August 2012 (Niue & Tonga)

alcohol – $144
bank fees – $67
car rental – $45
eating out – $434
garbage disposal – $12
groceries – $329
laundry – $47
mooring – $142
Niue driver license – $19
Niue flag – $33
petrol (dinghy outboard) – $64
petrol (rental car) – $25
showers – $4
souvenirs – $90
theatre – $30
Tonga check-in fees – $129

total: $1,614

 

September 2012 (Tonga)

alcohol – $201
bank fees – $24
books – $49
cell phone – $30
eating out – $356
galley – $30
groceries – $456
internet – $4
ipod replacement – $230
laundry – $82
petrol (dinghy outboard) – $80
souvenirs – $23
Tonga tourist visa extensions – $120

total: $1,685

 

October 2012 (Tonga)

alcohol – $278
cell phone – $18
check-out port fee – $17
diesel – $300
dive tank fill – $12
eating out – $242
gifts – $22
groceries – $630
internet – $8
laundry – $90
mooring – $70
pharmacy – $52
propane/butane – $37
taxi – $18
water – $9

total: $1,803

 

November 2012 (Tonga only)

alcohol – $48
diesel – $270
eating out – $106
groceries – $228
laundry – $29

total: $681

 

Exploring Auckland’s One Tree Hill…free!

April – May 2012 Cruising Expenses

Jun 15th, 2012
by Sara.
4 comments

The best parts of cruising are free

“I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go.

 –Sterling Hayden

They say that cruising to the South Pacific is expensive. But somehow — after blowing our budget month after month in Mexico — we managed to spend less in each of our first two months here than in any month on our cruise so far. I think there are a few reasons for this: since we bought 3+ months worth of food in Mexico we haven’t needed to buy many provisions other than fresh items like produce, meat and eggs (and ice-cream of course). Second, many things are so expensive that we don’t even bother to buy them. For example: eating out with drinks for our family of four can easily cost over $100, internet is $5/hour so we aren’t checking Facebook much other than a quick peek now and then to see if anyone has been born. Laundry is $10-15 per load so nearly all of ours has been done in buckets in the cockpit and dried on the lifelines. Finally, there just isn’t a whole lot to buy in the middle of nowhere, like most of the Tuamotus and many Marquesan anchorages.

Some things were rumored to be very expensive and it turned out to be just not true. We paid less per gallon for duty-free diesel in Nuku Hiva than we did in California. A returnable 17 oz. bottle of Hinano beer is $3 in the Marquesas ($2 here in Tahiti). Many grocery items are very reasonable and on par with US prices such as pasta, rice and French cheeses (and of course baguettes!). Overall, we’d say that prices down here (at the current exchange rates) seem to be about 10% over what we were paying in Canada – south seas paradise cruising is a very good deal so far for us.

S/V Wondertime’s April & May 2012 Cruising Expenses

beer – $119
diesel – $100
dinghy gas – $36
dive tank fill – $10
eating out – $390
groceries – $482
internet – $97
laundry – $88
music CD – $26
personal care – $5
pharmacy – $31
phone card – $21
postage – $3
propane – $44
souvenirs (incl. tattoo) – $757
taxi – $6

total – $2,215

January 2012 Cruising Expenses

Feb 16th, 2012
by Sara.
2 comments

It’s a good thing we spent over two weeks away from any towns or cities in the month of January because we sure make up for it when we get into town! It’s hard to resist $2 ice-cream cones heaping with handmade ice-cream, $1 tacos, towering $6 burgers with fries. We were even delighted to pay $1 each for long, hot showers in La Paz. We are taking a trip later in February up to San Diego to gather supplies for our Puddle Jump and have been giving our Visa a workout in the process. I’ll have the whole nitty gritty of what it has cost us to prepare for a major ocean crossing in next month’s expense report (which includes the repair of our nearly-new ICOM IC-7000 HAM radio that blew out in Agua Verde and the cost of a spare radio as we realized again just how important this piece of communication equipment is when there is nobody else in VHF range…). But thankfully for January, it was just regular-old-living-the-easy-life-in-Mexico expenses.

S/V Wondertime’s January 2012 Cruising Expenses

activities – $20
books – $13
bus/taxi – $26
DAN membership – $55
diesel – $315
dinghy dock – $3
dinghy gas – $8
eating out – $196
fishing gear – $11
gifts – $150
groceries – $387
banda ancha internet – $36
laundry – $22
showers – $2
supplies – $40
toys – $16

total: $1,300 USD

December 2011 Cruising Expenses

Jan 17th, 2012
by Sara.
Comments are off for this post

To be honest, we were a little nervous adding up this past month’s expenses. What with Christmas presents, eating out nearly everyday at the many amazing restaurants and taco stands around Banderas Bay, recertifying and refilling dive tanks given to us by friends in San Francisco along with hookah gear, a trip to Costco, and filling the diesel tank again we thought that our budget would be a disaster. While it’s still a boat buck above our target, considering all the fun we had — and a few projects checked off — in Banderas Bay in December we still consider living down here a serious bargain.

S/V Wondertime’s December 2011 Cruising Expenses

boat bits – $135
books/magazines – $16
bus/taxi – $49
cat care – $76
cell phone – $29
clothing – $135
diesel – $222
dinghy gas – $34
dive/snorkle gear – $329
eating out – $387
galley – $9
gifts – $239
groceries – $605
internet – $36
carousel ride – $2
laundry – $35
moorage – $146
movie tickets – $21
mp3 album – $9
personal care – $36
supplies – $85
toys – $4

total: $2,639

November 2011 Cruising Expenses

Dec 12th, 2011
by Sara.
4 comments

After a mere month in Mexico, we have already reached cruising budget nirvana! We were delighted to find in November that cruising Mexico really is still cheap. Here’s what we got for just a touch over $1500 USD for the month of November: time at the dock in both Ensenada and at the luxurious new Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz, full diesel tanks, four 6-month Mexico tourist visas and one Temporary Import Permit for the boat, a three-year birthday party, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at the gourmet marina restaurant I didn’t need to lift a finger for, countless taco cart visits, trips to the ice-cream freezer, and ice-cold Pacificos consumed at various palapa bars, taxi ride home with a huge load of groceries, a used Seatiger 555 windlass (story coming soon…), laundry dropped off and picked up washed, dried and folded, two haircuts, and high-speed cell internet service right on our boat. Living in the lap of luxury at thrift store prices — thanks in large part to our excellent exchange rate (nearly 14 pesos per $1USD).

S/V Wondertime’s November 2011 Cruising Expenses

bus/taxi – $12
cat supplies – $5
cell phone – $32
clothing – $30
diesel – $263
eating out – $264
gifts – $20
groceries – $260
haircuts – $13
tourist visas – $78
internet (banda ancha cell card) – $50
laundry – $34
marina water/electricity – $11
moorage – $242
mp3 download – $7
skype – $10
souvenirs – $44
temporary import permit for boat – $50
used windlass – $150

total: $1,575

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