Summary of expenses in the Caribbean

We are management consultants, don't judge us! We keep spreadsheets and are proud of it. 

We can tell you exactly how much we spent on what and when. It makes it very useful for a little retrospective analysis and might be an interesting blog post for others who want to know what it costs to cruise in the Caribbean. 

We need to heavily caveat some of this by saying that we had just bought the boat so some expenditure was for boat maintenance / upgrades / modifications and we could have spent a lot less by being even more frugal, i.e. not eating out, not drinking (as much), not buying souvenirs, clearing in to less islands etc. Where possible I shall explain each figure's breakdown.

To summarise, these are our expenses from January to December 2012, split into categories:

Boat	$8,500.00
Food	$7,000.00
Drinks	$1,500.00
Cruising Fees	$1,040.00
Transport	$600.00
Entertainment	$600.00
Souvenirs	$430.00

Breakdown:

Boat - Boat maintenance, parts and upgrades. Also includes gasoline, diesel and propane.

10% of the total was spent on fuel for the inboard, outboard and propane for cooking (approx. $800)

30% of the total spent was spent on repairs to the boat. Important to note that we were new to boat ownership and so when the majority of things were broken at the beginning, we paid to get them fixed rather than attempt ourselves. This soon changed when we sussed the extortionate labour fees and we grew more confident in our ability. 

With the amount of money we spent at Island Waterworld and Budget Marine, we should have shares in the company! 

For example we bought our rod, reel, lures etc and classified them all as boat. If you fully kit out your boat in a cheaper country (US etc) you should be able reduce this figure drastically as there is a significant premium on goods purchased in the Caribbean islands!

Food - Grocery bills and meals out

15% of the total amount was spent on eating out. This could include anything from a $1 roti on the roadside to a sit down meal. We ate out about 50 times that year, roughly once a week. We hardly had dinner out but often grabbed something from a roadside shack as it was sometimes cheaper than buying the groceries and going back to the boat to cook them. We are foodies and love trying new things, with the shacks being a delight of ours, we easily justify this expense to ourselves.

The majority of the expense was bulk buying to stock up the boat and we still have many tins and dried goods onboard from Grenada, St Martin and Curacao.

Drinks - Drinks ashore (often so we could get the internet password) or specific booze buying to stock up our drinks cabinet. Also includes water for our tanks.

30% of the total was spent on drinks so we could use the internet in a bar. We don't have any form of internet or email onboard so this was our only method of contacting friends and family when there was no wifi in an anchorage (which was on most occasions).

Only 5% of the total was spent on water to fill the tanks. In general, water is cheap in the Caribbean as long as you are smart with where you fill up…avoid dry islands, use the lush islands such as Dominica, Grenada and St Vincent.

Cruising Fees - mooring fees, clearing in / out, permits and national park fees

50% of the total was spent on clearing into 22 countries that year (some islands we visited twice). The rest was on mooring fees in the BVIs and US VIs, marina fees in Puerto Rico and Colombia and national park fees in Tobago Cays etc.

Transport - Buses, taxis, hire cars and the fuel for them

50% of the total was spent on hiring cars / mopeds in Montserrat, Anegada (BVIs), Puerto Rico and Bonaire including the fuel.

Entertainment - Sightseeing (e.g. entrance fees to site and tour guides), Amazon e-books and other goodies for us both

Souvenirs - self explanatory

I could go into loads more detail so if anyone reading this has any queries, just comment on this post and we'll get back to you.

We have also included a snapshot of a typical months expenses (in the Caribbean). Don't judge us :)

Boat maintenance - new windlass cover, propane and diesel	$150
Food costs - big stock up in Grenada for trip to Bonaire	$500
Drinks - internet use	$60
Transport costs - buses	$25
Entertainment - new underwater camera	$400
Clothes - laundry	$5
Cruising Fees - clearing out of Grenada and into St Vincent	$50
Souvenirs	$0