# Financially, realistically, how does one cruise the bahamas?



## peterchech (Sep 2, 2011)

I read so much about cruising the bahamas, but I need to know something. How do people generally do a trip like this financially?

I would love to quit my job and cruise the caribbean, but realistically I have a ton of student debt and a decent job which is not easy to come by in this economy. So do regular, working people who are not retired and don't have huge life savings regularly do this?

I live in New Jersey, and have thought about maybe towing my 25' hunter down to florida and launching there. But... towing a 4,000 lb boat is not as easy as it may seem, and I only have a 4 cylinder car. What do others do? Do people leave their boats in a marina in Florida and just fly down once a year? Do people regularly trailer their boats down? 

Or is cruising the caribbean a rich or retired man's sport, unless one decides to "check out" of the rat race and live a bare bones lifestyle, working odd jobs at various ports for the rest of one's life? (not that that sounds bad lol...)


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## night0wl (Mar 20, 2006)

To be honest, it doesnt come easy. Most cruisers eschew debt at all costs...which you're already behind the 8-ball on with your student loan debt. Living the lifestyle is not too expensive if you can stay away from Marinas, Restaurants, and Bars. But then, whats the fun!

If I'm in your shoes, I'd plan on charter vacations a couple times a year before cutting the docklines and going cruising full time.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Peter, if your job has the typical two weeks per year of vacation time? Either you'll fly down and charter someplace every year, _or you'll spend more _trying to drive and tow and store your boat in between trips to it. There's only so much you can do with limited vacation time. Unless you can work on a much better than usual schedule.


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## CorvetteGuy (Jun 4, 2011)

hellosailor has it, 2 weeks paid vacation is ideal for a nice charter without to many worries, To own a boat and live in the bahamas can be done fairly cheap depending on your lifestyle. Fish daily, anchor in bays and meet locals for the sweet deals, or docks, marinas, and steak is another way to go. Either way get there,,,do that,,,,,good luck


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## ArcherBowman (Jul 1, 2009)

Peter - 
You've pretty much called it. I didn't start sailing beyond a sailing dingy on the local reservoir until I was debt free. These days I sail on local lakes and take advantage of when my job sends me around the southeast. I drive and tow the boat rather than fly.

It's still not the Caribbean. That's for my retirement.


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## Seaduction (Oct 24, 2011)

Lots of folks here also looking for crew to move their boats north/south or south/north or florida/bahamas, etc. Perhaps you can do a crewing stint to satiate your sailing urges.


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## ChristinaM (Aug 18, 2011)

I'm probably closer to your age than the average poster, so I'll share what I'm hoping will work for us. We're coming up on 30 years old but we spent nearly 7 years in university.

We were lucky enough to come out of school with technical grad degrees and without debt. Internships, scholarships, Canadian tuition and generous parents all played a part in that. Then he got a decent job with good raises and I switched jobs until I got somewhere that was also good. It took about 5 years to get there.

All the while we've known we wanted some freedom in life so we've never taken on debt and we've saved as much as we could while still enjoying good food, sailing and travel. No tv, keeping cars for 8+ years, lots of home cooking, etc. If we'd had student debt, we'd have an older beach cat, spend less on food, and take all our vacations camping. 
We've also resisted having kids when peer & family pressure kicked in.

We've accumulated some decent savings and equity while watching friends pile on lifestyle debt and buy bigger houses & new cars. We didn't know exactly why were we being conservative but we were knew we couldn't be happy as "wage slaves".

We'd fallen in love with sailing at that point, bought a beach cat, and read lots of sailing books. In retrospect, it was inevitable that one of us would ask whether we could take off and go cruising.

From the time we decided we'd probably go, it'll take 3-4 years before we can actually go. Then we'll be gone about 3 years. Before we go we need get on a more conservative budget, buy a boat, get used to it, outfit it, ... Then we'll sell the house and set off. After 3 years we'll come back with enough cash to handle a 6 month job search. As long as one of us works we can get by.

My husband was offered one job with a company that had a provision for a 1 year leave of absence after 2 years. It was brought up by the hiring manager who has a Vindo for Great Lakes sailing. I'm in software so I should be able to step back into a crappier job than I have pretty easily.

So if I were you and I wanted to go on an extended cruise instead of vacations, I'd figure out how to pay down student debt or get it forgiven as soon as possible. Then start accumulating some cash and figure out what it'll cost you to cruise. I've seen figures from $800-5000/month, though most are in the 1000-2000 range.

Once we were comfortable with our financial position, we starting trying to negotiate extra vacation instead of extra pay. That worked really well when my employer was going through a slow time but my husband hasn't had any luck with it. He'll be changing jobs shortly and more than 2 weeks vacation is requirement. With my vacation, I could do a few 2 week charters to scratch the itch, so that could be an approach that could work for you. Took me 5 years to get here, though once I found a small business where I could take on responsibility that would start me at 3 weeks, it was much quicker to get even more vacation instead of raises. Lieu time instead of having overtime paid out might work too.


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## Piratesoul (Jun 22, 2008)

Is your boat in the water now?


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## peterchech (Sep 2, 2011)

ChristinaM said:


> I'm probably closer to your age than the average poster, so I'll share what I'm hoping will work for us. We're coming up on 30 years old but we spent nearly 7 years in university.
> 
> ........


Wow thanks for an excellent post Christina. I think you have a wonderful plan!

Where are you going to cruise to when you actually go and do it? How big a boat are you thinking to do it on?

I would personally like to spend some time in east asia, really learning the cultures and maybe some languages. I feel like basic travel lets you see a little of what's out there on this big blue planet, but the only way to really open your mind and begin to understand a culture/people/place is to live there at least several months. By picking up on the language a bit, meeting local friends, etc., you _really_ expand your horizons. A week long vacation to thailand lets you get a glimpse of another culture, but a months long stay helps you _understand_ it. IMHO of course, and that's really why I want to go cruising.


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## ChristinaM (Aug 18, 2011)

For now, the plan is to leave in 2-3 years and cruise for about 3 years. Plans are all very early but we have an idea of what seems to make sense for us. We're in Canada and love to travel but also love to really spend some time in a place to get more than a quick tourist's experience. We'll start out with a few months in the Great Lakes, work our way down the eastern seaboard, then to the Caribbean in the first 6-8 months. After about 2 years, we'd make a decision whether we're going to cross the Atlantic and spend about a year in Europe.

Then it's back here to top up the cruising kitty and probably have a few kids. That'll keep us close to family for a few years. Hopefully finances work out and we can head out cruising again while the kids are in elementary school. It'll be another big decision how far and long to go then.


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## Siamese (May 9, 2007)

You're not in a position to do what you want to do right now. Not responsibly, anyway. You could choose to be irresponsible (to yourself) right now and somehow do it anyway...and that would be a valid choice. But probably a really bad valid choice. 

Best to bear in mind there's more than one way to have fun sailing.


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## lans0012 (Jul 16, 2008)

*Out of the box ideas*

Peter,

I live in St. Petersburg, FL and my fiancé and I sail my cal27 a over the west coast of Florida. Last year we spent probably 30 nights on the boat not counting countless cocktail hour sunset cruises and racing with friends.  We spent about half of those at marinas and have made some great friends.

My suggestion would be to sell your boat and move here, find a job and liveaboard at one of the many local marinas. Your rent will drop to about 300/month and that alone should help you pay off the debts, save some cash and give you more experience in the process.

We have regular jobs and do weeklong trips once a year. We do a ton of weekend trips. You might get your cruising fix that way...we do...for now. We do have some plans.

Regarding your dream to travel in Asia, have you considered teaching English in Thailand, S. Korea, China, or Japan? I went to Korea to teach at a camp in my college years and was offered a job to stay for a year. Generally they pay for your apt and you get two squares a day at the school where you teach. They'll pay you about 2500/month. My friend is doing that right now and saves 10k year. That would be enough for one year's cruising not counting the boat. Your hunter 25 would be fine for a single liveaboard in the bahamas. Just 
Setup shop in east Florida and find a nice calm day to make your trek across the gulf stream.

We live in a townhouse, but my slip neighbor lives on and maintains his Cal 25 on what he makes at a big box store. He keeps it simple and walks or rides his bike everywhere. No debt.

By going into debt you have made your bed and will have to lay in it at some point. You might be able to put it off for a while. The financial aspect of sailing and cruising is just as significant as buying a boat, outfitting, and learning how to sail safely. Sacrifices will have to be made. Plan it out. Don't underestimate the power of a one track mind


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## Undadar (Mar 24, 2011)

lans0012 said:


> My suggestion would be to sell your boat and move here, find a job and liveaboard at one of the many local marinas. Your rent will drop to about 300/month...


Please share the marina names that have wet slips for liveaboards for this price. I am looking hard on the west coast of FL but all that I've found are in the $600 and up range (35' boat) - most seem to be closer to $750/month.

Thanks!


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## LandLocked66c (Dec 5, 2009)

Great thread as i'm in the same position. I don't have the debt, but with only 2 weeks vacation I have come to the realization that my sailing will be done on inland lakes. We've joined a local sailing club and look forward to raft ups and club races! It's not blue water, but it'll do for now!


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## lans0012 (Jul 16, 2008)

*Hijack*

Unadadar,

St. Pete municiple is 260/month for 28' and under. There is a 150 live aboard fee but nobody actually pays it. Harborage Marina in st. Pete is like 360.

Burnt store marina in Punta Gorda, which I highly recommend, is about 13 per foot. So yes it's more than 300 but I was talking 25-30 foot prices not 35.

Manatee river has two really good marinas that are affordable. Regatta Pointe and twin dolphin. I've stayed at both and they are top notch.

Ft. Myers now has a mooring field that is cheap if you don't need power.

Gulfport and Vinoy basin are going with mooring fields now too.


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## CaptainForce (Jan 1, 2006)

peterchech said:


> I read so much about cruising the bahamas, but I need to know something. How do people generally do a trip like this financially?................Or is cruising the caribbean a rich or retired man's sport..............)


Shifting back to the original post, it should be first noted that the Bahamas and the Caribbean are different places and the Bahamas are far closer to the OP's New Jersey home. If you were to trailer your boat down to a Palm Beach County, Broward County, or Dade County storage lot in advance, then it would be possible to take an economic trip to the Bahamas by crossing over to West End (Settlement Point on Grand Bahama) and cruisng across Little Bahama Bank to Green Turtle and the Marsh Harbor area where anchoring out is easy and provisions are relatively inexpensive. Two weeks would be a rushed minimum trip and a month very suitable. We think the best weather choices for this trip are in the spring. Some people leave their boats protected on the hard on Green Turtle, Hope Town or Man-o-War Cay and fly back, having their boats staged for future cruising without the crossing. These choices require storage fees and entry fees that might make the chartering choice more appealing. We've done low budget cruising to the Abacos since 1975. Take care and joy, Aythya crew


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## lans0012 (Jul 16, 2008)

*Good point*

Good point C Force. St. Pete is a long way from the Bahamas. But there are many places where a college grad could liveaboard and work a decent job while preparing for a trip to the Bahamas on the east coast of Florida. At least that way you can work on your boat and sail year round.

I'm originally from Minnesota so I understand the allure of turquoise waters and warm breezes. I found myself in FL by chance following job opportunities so I never had to make the choice of one for the other. It just sort of happened. I doubt I ever would have made the move no matter how many days below zero there were in a row if my work would have kept me in MN.

That being said, the Bahamas are on the list and maybe the idea of sailing it over and leaving it there until I can come back and get it makes sense.

Do you have any rough numbers on dry long term storage in the region?


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## CaptainForce (Jan 1, 2006)

lans0012 said:


> ..............Do you have any rough numbers on dry long term storage in the region?


Since my boat has always been my home, I never have done any dry storage, but I would check with Black Sound Marina on Green Turtle and Edwin's Boat Yard on Man-O-War. They have contact information online.


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## emoney (Jun 2, 2010)

Unadar, look in the Tarpon Springs area as well. Lots of empty slips on the water, so these folks are much more flexible than they used to be.


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## peterchech (Sep 2, 2011)

I haven't responded but I have been reading. Thanks for the advice and support.

haha I heard "occupy student debt" is looking for 1 million signatories who pledge to default on their student debt. Maybe that's an option


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

One potential problem with slipping over to the Bahamas for a holiday on a tight schedule is that you may have to wait for a weather window. We sat in West Palm Beach for a week in November waiting. If you are on a tight schedule it might convince you to to when you really should not.


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## peterchech (Sep 2, 2011)

killarney_sailor said:


> One potential problem with slipping over to the Bahamas for a holiday on a tight schedule is that you may have to wait for a weather window. We sat in West Palm Beach for a week in November waiting. If you are on a tight schedule it might convince you to to when you really should not.


I think the problem wouldn't be so much heading there, as heading back. Even if a 1 week fudge factor is included, there is no guarantee that the "weather window" would appear in that time...


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