What does it cost to Cruise? August

Time for the Crass Cost summary again.  I know that when  we were still in the ‘Dreaming’ stage we wondered a lot about what it would cost to cruise and hard information was difficult to find.  So, we will do our bit to help fill the void.

August was perhaps a typical cruising month for us, we just bummed around the islands and enjoyed the days.  We did however have a trip back to Portland one weekend to visit, and that has shown up on some of the extra costs  as we had ready access to places like Lowes and great marine stores here in Bellingham.  And some more will show up next month as we do not actually PAY the moorage, nor the rental car until Sept! Ha – Just Push it out!

OK, here is our August summary.

Maintenance:      $378
Fuel:                   $-15
Moorage:               $0
Groceries:           $619
Dining Out:          $275
Personal:             $297
Insurance:           $314
Transportation:      $24
Communication:    $166
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Total:               $2,058

Communication was up a bit as I purchased a used Nextel phone, and am going to give it a try using the Boost pay-per-day plan.  Talking to a few folks who live and work up here (as opposed to visit while cruising) – they say the old Nextel (iDEN) network seems to work the best.  Will give it a try.  And stay tuned for more changes in the Communication Front as we seek out solutions that work, as well as avoid the recent actions from T-Mobile that will increase our current approach's costs.  (more later)

Dining Out is about 1/2 from our trip to Portland, the rest of occasional Lunch and Coffee :-)

Transportation was a day-ride ticket on Orcas Island bus for Kristi and I.

And yes, that is a Negative $15 in the Fuel column!   A weekend charter had run out of gas for their dinghy and pressed $15 into my hands when we gave them a couple of gallons.

Overall we made our goal of $2-3K this month.  Next likely will not as the week's moorage and car rental will show up.  And it does seem Groceries is a bit high, but then food can be expensive in the islands.