February 2014: cruising budget

I would like to point out that even with over $450 worth of purchases to address our propeller situation, we’re still under budget this month. Cause for celebration! That’s what happens when you spend the majority of your time out at the islands: you don’t give yourself many opportunities to spend money. The biggest expense, aside from the repair, was shopping in Santiago. It’s easy to go overboard there because everything is so accessible and the supermarkets have lots of tempting goodies (dry cured salami and sharp white cheddar cheese anyone?)

• Transportation – At Santa Catalina we decided to accompany our friends to Sona. That was before we knew a) how long the bus ride would last (over 1.5 hours) and b) what the total cost would be, ~$20 for two people roundtrip. By the time we finally arrived we only had one hour in town before the last bus returned to Santa Catalina for the evening. Adventure!
• Sailboat Maintenance – After contacting every boat person we’ve ever met and perusing every possible online source of props we decided on a new prop from Frank and Jimmie’s prop shop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They offered us a great deal – a new two blade prop (15” diameter, 10” pitch, 1” bore hole) for $300, metal “tabs” to help secure the prop for $10 and a new cutlass bearing for around $50. The shipping to David via DHL is setting us back about $90.
• Shopping – We splurged and picked up some new lures for our hand lines and poles. We already snagged a Barracuda with our $60 investment (think of how much fish we could BUY with $60).