$$$: Cost of Cruising the Eastern Caribbean - An Island Exploration

There are many cruisers who will not share their costs because cruising, just like life on land, is an individual lifestyle choice and everyone’s choices are different.  However, I know when we were in the planning stages and trying to figure out how we could make this life work for us, a big question was, “could we afford it and for how long?”

Of course everyone has a different style of cruising and a different boat with different issues and different requirements.  Did I stress that word enough yet?  “Different”.  That means of course that your mileage may vary from ours.

We spend very little time in marinas but we do occasionally visit one for leaving the boat.  Other folks spend more or less time in marinas, and of course your cruising grounds will greatly impact cost.  The Eastern Caribbean is not cheap - let me make that clear.  Yes, we expect to pay less than $3 for our beer but boat parts are expensive and difficult to obtain, food can be cheap if you eat local provisions and fish along the way but if you have a yearning for some special treat expect to shell out for it.  We eat out a couple of times a week, will happily partake in happy hour with drinks and will eat lunch out if we are running errands or hiking over the lunch-hour.  And then there's communication (i.e. internet) costs.  We often spend $70-80 a month but for those dollars only get about 5gb of data.  Also for us this past couple of years has been difficult with the Canadian dollar falling in value against the US dollar.  Remember that all those islands that use the East Caribbean Dollar are indexed to the USD so we are essentially spending USD most of the time.

We know that there are many people out here who spend more than we do - and as I said at the start, that is a lifestyle choice.  We also know that we could do this cheaper, but would we be happy and enjoying ourselves and would Mowzer be a comfortable safe boat? - perhaps not.  There are many reports that you can live on ridiculously low amounts but I would hazard a guess that these reports are not from the East Caribbean, and perhaps their crew is just a little bit more salty than us.

Please read through to the very end and then you can make your own decisions as to whether this information applies to you.

Mowzer:  2009 36’ Fountaine Pajot catamaran in good condition

Crew:  Henry & Catherine - 50-somethings also in good condition ;-)

Accounting:  We track every dollar spent (did I mention I was an analyst and Henry an engineer in our past lives?)  We divide our tracking into three categories:

• Boat expenses
• People expenses
• Annual / One time expenses

Within these main categories are further subcategories but our basic premise is that if we spend it on ourselves it is “People”, if we spend it on the boat it is “Boat”, and if it is a once a year or an otherwise non-recurring event we use the final category.  Being Canadian, we actually run our numbers through conversion to the Canadian dollar - that’s how we have to pay our credit card bills and the currency of our bank accounts.  However, given that most of the information you will find regarding costs and expenses on the internet are in US dollars, I have converted our numbers using the exchange rate in effect at the end of each month.

• Annual budget is $60,000 USD and to be honest we spend a little more than this but are not too far off our budget.

Here’s the breakdown of our 2016 spending into the three main categories - our 2015 data was very similar:

Here’s the next level of detail with the breakdown of each category:

*Careful with our tracking = no miscellaneous expense.

* Zero spent this year on charts & guides - purchased in previous years

Okay - that's all good information that you can use if you are planning on sailing in the Eastern Caribbean soon.  However, the Eastern Caribbean is made up of many island nations and each one will present a different spending experience.

I was interested in comparing our costs between islands and also wanted to get some average numbers around daily spending.

I took all our data since April 2015 when we arrived in Sint Maarten/St. Martin (SXM) and started our trek south through the islands.  Since then we made our way south to Grenada where we spent hurricane season 2015, then back north all the way to SXM only to return once again to Grenada for hurricane season 2016.  For each time period in a country, I pulled the data for how much we spent in each category and also calculated the number of days of our stay.  Here's a sampling of the data:

Careful, these data are in Canadian dollars.

Are your eyes glazing over yet??  No worries, this is where it all comes together.

In the timeframe we're reviewing we spent 193 days in Grenada (by far the most of any country) and our average people cost is $91 CAD ($67 USD) per day.  Do we really walk around Grenada shedding that much from our wallets on a daily basis??  Well not really of course but it is quite customary to spend $350 on one shopping trip to the grocery store, the hardware store and the bulk supplies store.

So here's what I was really interested in - a breakdown by country.  These numbers are CAD so divide by 1.35 to get equivalent in USD.  Remember - keep reading below the chart to get just a little more insight.

And here's my final set of notes on this data:

• This chart does not include the major boat expenses category (insurance, haulout, major projects, bottom maintenance, vacation travel, etc.)
• SXM and Martinique are both major boat spending centres - this is where you get your annual and expensive repairs done.
• Antigua, St. Lucia & Grenada also have good chandleries so boat bucks are spent there as well.
• Montserrat, Dominica and SVG all look relatively inexpensive but major provisioning is done on the surrounding islands before/after going there.

So that's it.  What does this really do for me?  Probably not a lot but it does help me be aware of the 'danger' zones and where our money can slip away.  While we recognize that SXM is where we get most of our expensive boat shopping done, it is also a huge cruiser's gathering place and also home to the Heineken Regatta with lots of social time spent in bars and restaurants - perhaps this year we'll try to eat more on the boat!  Just look at Antigua - lots of social and regatta time but we know that island is expensive so we've done a better job of controlling our costs there.

Hope this might be helpful and please send any comments or questions our way.

Keeping Our Cool While at Anchor

A few days ago I put up a post about Keeping Our Cool in the Boatyard.  

Given that we spend most of our time swinging on the anchor, it's even more imperative that we keep our cool while living onboard, on the water!  This can be especially important if you are spending extensive time in the tropics - like hurricane season in Grenada where the daily temps are often over 40C and the humidity over 90%.  We've added a few bits and pieces of canvas to Mowzer over the last couple of years to help us do just that, the latest being a wind scoop for the cockpit.  Amazingly simple, can't believe it's taken me two years to make this one (scroll down to the bottom for a view.)  Maybe there are a few ideas you can use on your boat.

Here's our current inventory:

Sun/rain shades on our forward hatches - we have two hatches on our forward saloon windows that interestingly open inwards.  This means that with the slightest drop of rain, we are wet inside along the backs of the salon cushions.  Even with our big sunshade up, any rain that drips over the front edge of the cabin top makes its way inside.  The solution:  I afixed some bolt-rope track under the edge of the cabin top overhang, made a couple of rectangles out of Sunbrella with corner ties that clip easily to the lashings of the trampoline and removes easily for when we are getting underway.  Now when it rains we are dry inside up to about 25 knots of wind - then it starts to blow along the deck and up into the open hatches so we shut down the hatches.  Essentially this just recreates a hatch that opens outward, which is just what Fountaine-Pajot installed on later models of our boat.

The only problem with the forward hatch covers is that they impede access to the anchor locker, but at least we don't have to go in there too often once the anchor is down.  You can also see here the sunshade covering we have on all the saloon windows to reduce glare and temperatures inside.

Hard top on the helm station:  Last year we installed a hard top bimini over the cockpit and also a hard top shelter at the helm station.  Because in the Caribbean the wind nearly always blows from the east and the helm station is on the starboard side of our boat, this means that nearly always the shade from the hard-top protects the cockpit from the most intense sunshine of the day.  If we roll down the front windscreen it also helps to keep the cockpit dry.  These were not the primary benefits foreseen when we built the hard-top, but they sure are much appreciated.

Just look at that lovely dark shadow under the helm roof.

Aft Sun-shade:  A few years ago (before we even moved aboard) I made an aft sunshade for the back of the cockpit.  As I mentioned above the wind nearly always blows from the east, which means that at prime cocktail time the sun is shining directly into the back of the boat.  It can get brutally hot and some sort of shade protection is obligatory if you are going to spend any comfortable time living on your boat in the afternoons.  Based on the premise that a light colour would reflect more light and would therefore be cooler I made a white sunshade.  It worked very well but finally after about five years of constant tropical sun it packed it in, both the fabric and thread completely sun rotted.  Considering it was not made of Sunbrella and I spent about $50 for the fabric from some discount bin I consider this to be stellar performance.  This time around though I paid heed to a number of experienced cruisers who voiced the opinion that a dark colour is in fact cooler because it creates a deeper shade.  Trusting these experienced voices, I made a new sun shade this past season out of dark blue Sunbrella and immediately we noticed a difference.  It feels like the cockpit is at least 10 degrees cooler and the deep shade is a huge improvement for the eyes.

I also made sure to split the wide panel into three pieces, joined by zippers.  This makes it much easier for one person to roll up and stow away.

Shade Awning:  A lot of boats will sport a shade awning of some sort throughout their stay in the tropics during hurricane season, when the sun is at it's hottest.  The one area on our boat where an awning is really appreciated is on the trampoline and the front window area of the salon - this means that if we want to sit out on the trampoline and enjoy the trade-wind breezes we can find a bit of shade to prevent the crispy bacon look.  I made our shade awning back in the fall of 2014 and we use it quite a bit when the wind is below 20 knots.  However, I would say that of all our little heat-beating missiles, this is the one we use the least.  I posted some pictures and commentary on the blog here.  (You can also see there our old helm protection - almost non-existent.)


Cockpit Wind Scoop:  The latest addition to our arsenal, just added this week.  I tested out the concept with a couple of sarongs, then more robustly with an old bed sheet (thanks Janice!) and finally moved into construction phase.  The purpose of this wind scoop is to capture the wind as it blows along the side of the boat and funnel it into the cockpit, creating a nice cooling breeze as we sip sun-downers behind that lovely dark blue sun shade (sure, all we ever do in the cockpit is sip sun-downers!)  You'll note that I made it out of clear plastic - the type used for dodger windscreens, edged with Sunbrella which means that it doesn't blocke our view out the side of the boat.  I won't leave it up in really heavy winds but in the steady trades of 10-20 knots it is scooping away quite happily and we are much cooler as a result.

Our (almost) unimpeded view of the anchorage at Mount Hartman Bay.

I love that this scoop is almost invisible on the boat.

And there you have it - keeping cool in the shade and the breeze makes all the difference to our enjoyment of Mowzer!

Final Update from the Boatyard - And Then a Splash

Between our return from Canada on October 11 and our scheduled launch date on the 22nd we had a few boat jobs to complete, those that can only be completed when on dry land.  Once we got going, things progressed well and to avoid a Saturday launch and potential conflict with an afternoon of fun at a Hash, we moved the date up to Friday afternoon and actually made it on time!

Here's what we got up to...

Propeller & Saildrive Antifouling:  Our propellers mount on a piece of equipment called a sail drive under the boat.  This is essentially a right-angle gearing that drops down from below the engine and about once every ten (10) years it is recommended that the lower unit seal be replaced.  We are only 7 years old but to avoid any unwanted surprises, we went ahead and had the seal replaced, then we replaced all the automatic transmission fluid that fills the unit and finally went about protecting the whole assembly from the nasty growth that can grow on underwater surfaces in warm tropical waters.  Because the propellers and sail drive are made from aluminum they should not be coated with an anti fouling paint containing copper, this can cause pitting on the aluminum surface.  Instead, we chose to use a product specifically designed for aluminum called Seajet.  The idea is that growth is repelled and will not adhere to the painted surface and it will remain nice and slippery, providing little resistance to the moving water as we sail or motor.

The process involved applying a first coat, 15 minutes later a second coat, 15 minutes later a third coat, 2 hours later a fourth coat, 2 hours later a fifth coat and 2 hours later a final coat.  Phew!!  Timing that not to get sanding dust from our neighbours in the yard was tricky business but we managed to find a day when they were taking a break.

Two propellers and two spares, along with two nose cones going through the process.

It many not look all that pretty, but our sail drive is clean and ready for painting.  The blue tape is protecting the shaft where the anode and the propeller will go.

Once we had the sail drives and propellers painted, we moved on to the bottom of the boat to give it a nice new clean bottom.  Since our epoxy bottom is nice and smooth, the primer was in good shape, and we are using the same product as before and to be honest most of it was gone anyways, we were able to just apply the new bottom paint without a lot of arduous prep-work.  Some will tell us that we should have stripped right off and put on new primer but since we have other plans we will divulge at a later date, suffice it to say, this is all that is necessary at the moment.  So happy to be able to get the bottom paint all on in one day!

Wearing your carnival j'ouvert shirt is kinda cheating Henry - it makes you look like you're really tossing that paint around.

It's so nice and easy to paint a catamaran - no scaffolding needed to reach the high spots and even the keels weren't too low to get under.

Calling it "The Boatyard Blues" but happy that job is all done.

By Thursday afternoon, it was time for a little boatyard Tetris.  Two of our neighbours needed to move out and eventually a boat about four rows back wanted out - this happens when you tell the yard you want to splash in December and then change your mind to October.  The guys in the yard a real pros when it comes to moving boats and although the process seemed very slow - we were extremely happy they were so careful, it was still faster than moving other boats (like us) out of the way and then coming back for the offender.

It was pretty scary watching a 50' catamaran pass within inches of our hull.

Finally Friday arrived and we turned on the hose full of free water to wash away the boatyard grime.  It seems that you can wash and wash the boat, but as soon as you get in the water you will still find something that you forgot to wash off.  The freshwater rinse felt so good and then before we knew it, the trailer was there to pull us away to freedom.

Previously we had been lifted out of the water on a travel lift and then transferred to the trailer for parking.  This time, we stayed on the trailer and as a first for us, we were launched down the ramp.  There were two divers in the water making sure all was clear before we were pulled over to the dock and tied up.  Being the last launch of the day, we stayed where we were to check through engines and other systems, with no worries about holding up another boat.

Heading down the ramp to freedom.

But we didn't go too far the first night - it felt good to just be on the water.

 Ah the boating life - this is what it's all about

Sunset view from Calvigny Island anchorage on our second night out.

Now, we've moved around to Mount Hartman Bay which feels like our home away from home.  We'll enjoy a couple of weeks here before moving back northbound to start our third season of cruising.

Interesting cloud formations over Secret Harbour Marina.

Grenadian Thanksgiving and kickoff to the World Series - celebrated with grilled chilli-dogs in the great company of Alan, Marie and Cathy.

Third season!!!  I can't believe it :-)

Keeping Our Cool in the Boatyard

Okay, the drought has ended on the blog and we are once again back in action on Mowzer.

We had a fantastic month away visiting family in Belgium and Canada but once again we are back on the boat and the last couple of weeks have seen a flurry of activity with our launch date set for the end of this week.

Believe it or not, we have actually stayed on the boat throughout our time at Clarke's Court with the one exception of a night spent in one of their rental rooms on the night we arrived back in Grenada after dark - opening up the boat that night after a month's sojourn was not on my list of fun things to do.

Some people opt for an apartment rental during their boatyard stay and we have certainly enjoyed visiting some nicely air conditioned places with them.  This is particularly a good idea if you can't run your fridge or freezer out of the water.  We are not in that situation so we decided to do it a bit more cheaply and stay on the boat in the yard.  Did I mention that September / October is the hottest time of year in Grenada and that the mosquitos can be quite brutal?

Here's how we handled the situation, managed to stay sane and married, and Zika free.

We bought one of those mosquito nets with magnets down the middle so every time we went through the doorway it automatically closed behind us.

Here's a better view of the screen at the door.

It might look like we're trying to repel aliens, but tinfoil on the windows immediately reduced the temperature inside the boat.  Add fans and screened, open hatches and we managed to get a little air circulation inside as well.

For our top hatch I just sewed a bit of light chain around a large circle of no-see'em mesh - stayed in place nicely and easy to close the hatch without having to remove the screen.

The item that made the most difference though was the A/C unit we rented - at $50US/week it kept our berth cool at night so we could get a good night's sleep.  We usually have to turn it off after a couple of hours so we don't end up feeling like we're sleeping in a meat locker.

The biggest issue now is making your way down the swim ladder for that needed visit to the toilet, usually in the dark of night - I'm happy to make do with a pickle-jar but sometimes you just gotta go!

And that's it - we've been sleeping well and getting work done but will be oh so happy to be back floating on the water.

Still can't sing the praises of Clarke's Court Boatyard loud enough.

Clarke's Court Boat Yard - Grenada Haul Out

I will start right out with saying how impressed we are with the haul out we just did at Clarke's Court Boat Yard on Woburn Bay in Grenada.

Yesterday Mowzer settled into her new home for the next couple of months and here's how it all went down.

We were booked in for an 8am lift.  Prior to lift day, we had removed both mainsail and genoa since all sails (excluding in-mast or in-boom furling) must be removed.  The water maker was pickled and we had moved round to Woburn from Mt. Hartman the night before to be a little bit closer in the morning.  As I started to hail the boatyard on the VHF radio a dinghy pulled up alongside us in the anchorage.  "Don't worry," says Henry, "they're already here!"

This was just the beginning of a very attentive and detail-oriented lift.

Pulling into the slip where The Hulk, a 242 ton travel lift is waiting to pluck us up out of the water.

The lift straps are carefully positioned under the boat with not one, but two divers in the water to make sure they are placed correctly.

A super smooth lift and there is Mowzer hanging in the straps.  My what a dirty bottom she has!

With two pressure washers in action the guys set to work to removed all the marine growth.

All clean now and very evident that our bottom paint is DONE.

A major disappointment of the day, we have quite a few blisters despite a repair three years ago.

Here's a conundrum:  our boat is so small that the cradle hardware can't fit under the boat.

The lads put their heads together and solved the problem.

Mowzer, transferred to the towing cradle and making her way into the storage yard.

It's a snug fit.  With some expert driving and manipulation of the hydraulic trailer she was slipped into her preassigned and measured spot.

We can actually see the water from our spot in the yard, and catch a little bit of wind in the cockpit which is a welcome relief.

Now begins the work of getting the old paint removed and new applied - more on that later.  We also have some other service items to take care of and then we'll be off to visit family in September knowing that Mowzer is safely taken care of in our absence.

Thanks to the wonderful and welcoming staff at Clarke's Court for an uneventful morning.

Do You Make Your Own Yogurt?

I know there are a number of cruisers (and land-lubbers) who make their own yogurt but I had not had a chance to connect with one for a lesson - until Antigua.  Thanks to Lann on Barefoot Life, I had a lesson, purchased some (cheap) equipment and we are now happily eating our own yogurt onboard Mowzer.

Don't get me wrong - we've always been able to find store-bought yogurt on all the islands, but sometimes the choice is pretty slim for some rather pedestrian brands.  This homemade yogurt makes a delicious greek-style yogurt that you can flavour as you like.

Below is the method that Lann taught me, if you'd like more info on this there is an excellent post on The Boat Galley by Carolyn Shearlock.

Gather your tools and supplies:

• A thermos - I like a wide mouth one
• Whole milk powder
• A thermometer
• Yoghurt starter (more on that below)
• A measuring cup
• Water

Boil up enough water to fill your thermos.  Cover it and set aside for a few minutes to warm the thermos.

 Meanwhile, mix together 1 1/4 cups of milk powder with 1 1/4 cups (or less) of cold water.

Once the thermos is warm remove the water to another container - you will use it in just a moment.

Pour the milk into the warm thermos.

Now add the hot water back to the milk, carefully measuring the temperature to reach 120 degrees F.

Add about 2 tablespoons of your starter yogurt to the mix and stir to blend it all together.

Cover the thermos and place it in a warm place for about 5 hours.  I wrap mine up in a towel as well since the lid is not well insulated.

After about 5 hours check your yogurt to see if it's thickened and set.  You can leave it a bit longer but if you leave it too long it will become bitter.  I find 5 hours works well for me but it will depend on how well you keep the temperature nice and warm for it to develop.

Et voila!  This batch makes two 35cl containers of delicious plain yogurt - all ready for some fresh fruit flavouring.

A note on starter:
Lann gave me a couple of tablespoons of starter on my first batch and now I just use the last couple of tablespoons from each batch to start the next.  If you loose your starter or are starting out fresh, you can use store bought yogurt to get you going but you do need to make sure that it has a live culture and no gelatine in it.  Fage is a brand recommended to me and the article referenced above on The Boat Galley has other suggestions as well.

Now if only we had freezer space for a frozen treat!

Up The Mast

Going up the mast is something that most sailors seem to have done at one time or another, but it so happens that we had not yet undertaken this task.  With our chaffed genoa halyard that had fallen down inside the mast, it looked like this vertical trip was in our future before we could venture north to Dominica.

Early last week on our sail from Ste. Anne to St. Pierre, just after having a great sail across the inlet to Fort de France, we went to unfurl the reef in our genoa.  Instead of shaking out to the full size of the sail, the whole sail gently glided down the furler to the foredeck where it toyed with the idea of blowing overboard into the waves below.

Once we collected our thoughts, looked at each other and commented, "That's not quite the unfurl we had in mind!", Henry took control of the wayward autopilot that couldn't quite handle the sudden change in sail trim, while I went forward to wrestle the sail into a bundle that I then tied to the fuller and crossbar with the sheets. 

Not an elegant look, but at least the sail was safely onboard.

Once in St. Pierre we had a better look at the situation and realized that it would be prudent to replace all our lines at the mast, so the task was set once we procured all the necessary lines.

Fast forward to Wednesday after our shopping trip and excursion around the island, we were graced with a cloudy but relatively dry day and set up our plan:

1. Replace the topping lift - done from the deck just by using the old line to guide the new line into place.
2. Replace the spinnaker halyard - also done from the deck in the same way
3. Replace the main halyard which is a 3:1 setup with the bitter end tied to a shackle at the top of the mast.  We removed the connection to the main sail and then tied off a bight in the main halyard to raise the bosun's chair.  This meant we weren't using the 3:1 mechanical advantage but were also not using the bitter end of the line in the lift.  Once up the mast I could cut the knot and replace with the new halyard at the top of the mast while still attached to the old main halyard, and using the new topping lift as a safety line.
4. Replace the genoa halyard, feed the line down the mast and fish it out the exit hole about 12' up the mast.  My fingers just wouldn't quite fit in the hole in the mast, but careful use of a skinny screwdriver and a piece of wire fished out the line successfully.

Amazingly things went pretty well to plan and we had the genoa ready to be hoisted back up pretty quickly - just one last job:  replace the missing tell-tales that had disappeared over time.

Temporary butt-splice of the old and new line.  We found that even a wrap of tape over the splice was too thick to pass through the mast fittings.

New telltales on the genoa - we'll see how purple ripstop nylon holds up.

While up the mast I managed to snap a few pictures as well with a view of the anchorage and Blue Moon beside us.  Jason, meanwhile took a few pictures of me up the mast and reminded Henry that, "Now is the time to negotiate anything you want!".

Clouds rolling in from Mt. Pelee, St. Pierre waterfront is still dry.

A new view of Mowzer (yes, that's laundry drying on the front of the boat.)

Blue Moon in the anchorage next to us.

Hi there - but I'm not letting go!

It felt like a long way to the top.

Our mast has an air draft of 55' and while not particularly tall compared with other boats, every little wobble on the water is amplified.  It was a pretty calm day but I still came back to earth sporting a few bruises on my knees and forearms.