Sailing Baby Blue

Why is it that everyone seems to give such vague answers to this seemingly simple question? Maybe they have a fortune stashed away in some offshore bank account to fund their trip and don’t want the IRS to catch wind of it, or they’ve discovered some get-rich-quick scheme that actually works and aren’t interested in letting you in on the secret. While this could be true for some of the mega-yachts out there, it’s not likely the case for your average cruiser.  So what does it cost to go cruising? Well, it really depends. People who are otherwise so willing to share their cruising experiences with anyone interested are not suddenly tight-lipped about the costs because it’s none of your business, but rather because it varies so widely depending on how you do it. Let me first explain a little about why it is so hard to give a concrete figure and then I will share some averages for the costs of our 2 year trip down the Atlantic Coast then through the Eastern Caribbean and back.

It's a little late, but after getting a lot of questions about how much it cost us to go cruising, we decided we should share our initial outfitting costs along with our monthly expenses. Some of these prices are estimates and I'm sure we're forgetting a few things, but it should be pretty accurate. We'd never taken the time to tally everything up, so it was a little shocking for us to see the total at the bottom.  Outfitting Expenses Ground Tackle 33lb Rocna Anchor $300 50 feet of chain $250 300 feet 5/8 nylon rode (used) $80 Sails and Canvas Second reef point added to main sail $210 Lee cloth and miscellaneous covers $90 Mast ladder materials $35 Electrical 12 volt inverter $60 LED interior bulbs $150 15w Solar panel $120 Solar charge controller $