Cruising on a budget

A lot of people (especially our friends) ask us how we have managed to afford to go cruising at our age and for such a lengthy period of time. "Lengthy" is a relative term, but when one thinks about it, it is the equivalent of 24 years worth of annual leave for the average person…

The truth is that we budgeted very well (2 consultants…what do you expect!) and were quite lucky to have a very low maintenance boat.

With thanks to the many people that we have met along the way, we have learnt quite a few useful tips and tricks for keeping costs low. We are currently sailing with two couples on smaller boats with no refrigerators. This is a first for us being one of the larger boats in the group at a mighty 37 feet! These guys (and others) have taught us a few things on how to cruise in a more affordable way. 

Clothes washing

Dolphin of Leith showed us that you can drag your washing behind the boat for a mile or so (tied to a sturdy line) and the sea becomes natures washing machine. No detergent needed, just rinse off in fresh water. Dolphin is a 28ft boat with 4 people on board (2 kids) and small capacity for fresh water, so salt water washing is necessary. They do rinse the clothes in a bit of fresh water though.

Fresh water rinsing

Friends on Kadoona and Dolphin both use insecticide spray canisters to rinse themselves off with fresh water after they have swum / showered. They bought them before they had been used to DDT their garden tomatoes… This is a very low fresh water usage system and works well. 

Washing in a river

Washing in salt water

We wash bodies and dishes in salt water and then rinse off in fresh. This means that our finite fresh water supply lasts longer, meaning we don't need to buy water often or lug water jerry cans around in every port we enter. On some islands (like Bonaire) water is all made via desalination and is very expensive (relatively speaking). Some islands (like Dominica) have loads of taps on the street to fill up for free!

Drinks

Cruising is quite social when you are not at sea. Often we are invited to other boats or have people round to Orion. With cruising it is generally etiquette to BYOB and a snack.

When we first started cruising and were a bit ignorant, Sally and I would cart a drinks cabinet with beers/ rum and coke for me and maybe rum punch or gin and tonic for Sally. We soon realised the dent this was making in our finances as drinking anywhere in the world seems to be an expensive pastime. 

With regards to the drinks, we now make our own ginger beer for rum and ginge. We make limeade (lemonade but with limes as they are more prolific in the Caribbean and Pacific). Or resort to a packet of Tang / cordial (also prevalent in both Carib and Pacific) to use as a mix. Once chilled in the fridge, these go down well with rum or any spirit. Rum is cheap in the Caribbean and worth stocking up on in Panama or Mexico if you are heading west as alcohol in the Pacific is incredibly expensive.

Waka Irie taught us another quite nice mix for rum called a "Cold Tea":

Squeeze one lime in a glass (sans pips…preferably - although the more drunk the company the less they seem to notice)

Dump the squeezed out limes into the glass to avoid the hassle of throwing them away

One teaspoon of brown sugar 

Dash of rum (by dash we mean free pour until satisfied)

Add water to taste 

Mix with said teaspoon (to avoid further utensils to wash up)

Serve to guests and await heaps of praise and congratulations at wonderful / imaginative drink…(don't mention Waka Irie and take all the credit…I do)

Sunset snacks

We used to take a packet of crisps (chips) with us as it was quick and easy, however at a couple of dollars per bag / box, this novelty soon wore off. We now make our own dip. Either hummus (by squishing a can of chickpeas - a fork or masher works where you don't have a blender) or guacamole if we can find a nice ripe avocado somewhere or salsa (fresh tomatoes are great, else tin of diced toms, add HALF a chopped onion and a few herbs and spices). Instead of chips, we take soda biscuits (crackers). Soda biscuits are some of the cheapest biscuits around and fairly easy to come by. They make an excellent snack both plain or dipped in one of Sally's famous concoctions.

Another firm favourite which out strips everything on price is popcorn. We have bags of the humble kernels onboard and love making a pot of it for snacks or Orion movie night. We have not quite mastered the art of not burning the crap out of the bottom of the pot though. Small price to pay as each serving costs about $0.10. 

Shopping

Another Waka Irie tip is to head straight for the "damaged goods" display in a supermarket. Often you can get half price (some times more) off slightly damaged tins or crushed packets of biscuits that can be used in cooking etc! You just never know what you might find.

To be honest, we spend quite a bit on food. We like food and cooking but are most of the time "involuntary vegetarians". Sometimes you can find cheap chicken and mince for a treat. But it will be more expensive than a packet of lentils! Most meat in far off lands is frozen and looks like things that an eskimo might build an igloo with. We prefer to catch our own fish as it always seems to taste better. To keep costs down, don't buy junk (chips, chocolate, biscuits, fizzy drinks etc) - they are bad for you anyway. Stick to fresh vegetables and pulses. Shop where the locals shop and eat what they eat. Chances are they probably have a smaller budget than you.

Saving money

Don't take everything at face value. Just because the guide book says you need an agent to clear in  for you does not mean that you can't do it yourself. There are loads of examples of where we asked around with other people and managed to avoid a few non mandatory costs. An example - doing our own paperwork for the Panama Canal. 

On the subject of Panama, loads of boats went and stayed in Shelter Bay Marina while they waited for their transit date. Some were there more than a month (it is not a pretty place). That is a huge amount of cruising budget to spend just to be tied up to a floating dock. We chose to anchor off of Colon (Club Nautico) and although there had been incidents in the past with theft and the like, we were vigilant and looked out for each other (other boats were there too) and saved ourselves a fortune. We were also closer to town (walking distance) and so was a lot more convenient. 

Lesson learnt - don't follow the herd!

Another Panama story was stocking up. Waka Irie, Dolphin, Us and one or two other boats decided to buy bulk booze from the Free Zone (nothing free about it). It was however duty free and so we got bottles of rum at $4 per bottle by buying about 20 cases of various booze and sharing them amongst the boats. Shop around - we did a lot of walking in the free zone and it is one hell of a big zone!

Buy cheap buy twice. It is rather ironic to be advocating the buying of more expensive goods in a post about cruising on a budget. As we were going to be crossing the Pacific and would get limited wind power, I was tempted to buy a small generator to top up the batteries and also to use with power tools etc. Sally and I shopped around in the whole of Panama and bought an 850watt genny for $80! What a deal. 

I took it back to the boat and fired it up and it worked fine. Took it out mid voyage and tried to fire it up…the whole starter motor came off in my hand. When i tried to repair it, the soft metal screws rounded in the socket spanner. After 10 minutes of trying I decided to make a donation to Neptune then stormed off to read my book! There are loads of other examples (like the cheap shackle I bought that corroded through in 1 month). Lesson being sometimes stuff is more expensive for a reason - be prudent! 

I am sure there are loads more. I will update this as I come across more ideas (feel free to send me ideas too!).