June by the numbers.

Below are the numbers for June, including what we spent.

I’ve frequently read that the first year of cruising tends to be the priciest – at least until big ticket items need to be replaced.  Ten months in (wow – time flies!), I now understand why that’s the case.  We had a few high cost upgrades that we decided would make cruising work better for us AFTER we started cruising (hello roller furling!), and we spent many more nights in a marina heading south down the ICW than we anticipated.

Going forward the only very high cost upgrade I can see us getting is a watermaker, and that will only be if we decide to travel farther afield.  Buying reverse osmosis water in the Bahamas turned out not to be a big deal at all, and only cost us $34 thanks in part to the free r/o water in Georgetown.  As for marinas, after three months in the Bahamas our confidence in anchoring in crappy weather and high winds skyrocketed which equates to fewer marina stops unless we simply want to.  All of this means that as we get better at cruising, our annual average is trending down overall as the months pass (with an occasional blip) – thank goodness.

This month we returned to Connecticut where we immediately hauled Pegu Club to take care of some routine maintenance.  Depending on how long the bottom paint lasts, we may be able to avoid hauling her out next summer.  We also spent two weeks traveling to visit friends and family in Western New York and the West Coast. The upgrades and the traveling are 50% of the month’s expenses.

Here we go:

Days under way: 4

Nautical miles covered: 126

Number of States: 3 (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut)

Nights at anchor: 5

Nights at a dock: 1 (Shenny wash down dock the night before we were hauled out)

Nights on the hard: 24

Expenses:

Groceries/Non-food Groceries: $386.09

Diesel/Gasoline: $65.20

Medical: $116.99

Cell phone and internet (2 phones, iPad, iCloud storage, Garmin inReach subscription): $192.74

Mail: $300 (one time annual payment for our mailbox at the UPS Store)

Amazon Prime: $12.99

Netflix: $13.12 (we have since decided to cancel this again because we aren’t using it enough to justify the cost)

Annual State registration for the boat and dinghy: $135

Boat Items: $2,361.68 (Engel fridge, Pelagic autopilot, club burgee, bottom paint for the boat and the dinghy, boot stripe paint, roller frame, paint brushes, rollers, Waterway guide, epoxy, hardener, epoxy pumps, shaft zinc, two shackles, replacement flag halyards, spare dinghy propeller, replacement Origo gasket, anchor ball)

Restaurants/Entertainment: $111.73

Uber: $30

New York Times subscription: $20.20

Clothing: $276.78

Travel-related expenses to visit friends and family: $853.90

Random: $78.57 (haircuts, galley items)

Total: $4,954.99

2019 monthly average to date: $3,560.30

2018 monthly average (September – December): $4,465.95

Monthly average since starting to cruise: $3,922.38