Sailing around the Med with a 4.5k budget

[Crisby]

Great, so we’re not too late then?!

We have friends who left the U.K. 2 years ago on the Oyster Rally, just arrived in South East Asia, fantastic trip but still have all of the Med to do......

 

[sailaboutvic]

Great, so we’re not too late then?!

We have friends who left the U.K. 2 years ago on the Oyster Rally, just arrived in South East Asia, fantastic trip but still have all of the Med to do......

No still ok here in the Med , although the cruising world is changing every where in the world .
The Med is still one of the safest places to cruise .
For tho thinking that the grass is greener over the other side , maybe a read of this will give you a better view .
No sure I want to take my love once off the beaten track , at it been put to save a bit of money .
https://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy/piracy-security-incident-reports-2018

 

[vyv_cox]

No still ok here in the Med , although the cruising world is changing every where in the world .
The Med is still one of the safest places to cruise .
For tho thinking that the grass is greener over the other side , maybe a read of this will give you a better view .
No sure I want to take my love once off the beaten track , at it been put to save a bit of money .
https://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy/piracy-security-incident-reports-2018

That list makes you think! We have not locked our boat for something like 9 years in Greece, rarely even put the washboard in. Unfortunately there are increasing reports of thefts in mainland ports but so far the islands seem free of trouble.

 

[dslittle]

Re: A serious reply!

I think the point with Annie Hill is that they spent a lot of time at sea and eat a vegetarian diet - mostly beans!

Helps with propulsion when you are stuck in a wind hole as well !!!

 

[saxonpirate]

£4.5k will certainly have to do me on my next visit..

My first trip to the Med was in the mid 80s, but I've been back since then three times. The last being when I brought back my Contest 33 'Island Rambler' from Leros in the Dodecanese. Things have changed over the years, undoubtedly, but for me, Greece and the Islands are nothing short of paradise, despite the changes.

I'm aiming to be heading south in another couple of years if everything goes to plan. At the moment I'm into a major refit on the boat, and the renovation of my old house in France, so money is rather thinly spread. At this moment in time my state pension is my only income, hence the £4.5k budget.. ha ha. I can do it though, and still really enjoy myself, and I can state that with total confidence.

Just being back among the islands in the sunshine is enough for me.. :encouragement:

 

[steve yates]

Re: A serious reply!

Steve, it looks great until things go wrong due to health or other mishaps. Then they fall back on the state.
Elsewere, that might be more problematical.

No, it doesn't look great to me, I wouldn't fancy living like that. I was just pointing out tat it can and is done. She is almost 50 now but has lived like this for over 20 years, and yes she has had many mishaps, yet has never claimed benefits of any kind. I don't think being treated by the nhs is really "falling back on the state" since private helath care is still the exception in this country. (she tore her cruciate ligament climbing)

 

[sailaboutvic]

Re: A serious reply!

Advise needed on how to start a internet Crowdfunding please
Since leaving Malta in late feb we sailed to Tunisia for a cheap haul out .
Haul out 160 euros ( normally you looking at 250 a lift plus hard standing and pressure wash )
antifounding paint , and other bits connected to haul out maintenance 460
22 weeks @ 100 a week food and cleaning products 2200
Fuel to fill tanks 280
Six meals out at @ 30 euros for two 180
The odd beer coffee and ice cream out and treats 60
We needed to do a few little jobs on the way , 230 in bits
Cruising permits 50
As you can see we getting desperate,
Still another four months to cruise and we down to our last 900 euros
We still going to need more fuel at some point , and this time it be 1.55 and not .45 a liter we got it for last time , marina fee for our three month winter stay around 1500 at less
Another 26 weeks of shopping ,2600
Any thing that breaks or need to be replace .
Maybe a few more meals out birthdays coming up .

Off cause this is very basic full time budget for cruising and living full time aboard .
Missed out loads of stuff And We not got to winter jobs yet .

Oh forgotten to mention the sail we blow out 2100 good job it's the first in 40 years we blown one ,although it needed replacing any way but lets not count that other wise we wouldn't have a budget left and be looking for a job

Now you could find a river some where , not move the boat in which case the only expense you have is your day to day living expense , cut out the cleaning product as no one will want to visit you and your pounds in .

 

[Crisby]

Re: A serious reply!

Buy a video camera for your birthday, people need to see you struggling, it’s no good just telling us!

 

[sailaboutvic]

Re: A serious reply!

Buy a video camera for your birthday, people need to see you struggling, it’s no good just telling us!

Chris I would but , it would mean losing out on my ice cream And the odd beer , plus we can't afford clothes so it mean see us naked and that enough to put anyone off cruising

 

[Crisby]

Re: A serious reply!

So, on the plus side there will be more space in the anchorages.......

 

[sailaboutvic]

Re: A serious reply!

:encouragement:

So, on the plus side there will be more space in the anchorages.......

 

[GHA]

Re: A serious reply!

Meanwhile back in the real world........

Load of boats are cruising round the planet on very little having a great time without waiting a few more decades working in the cold north to save enough to live in luxury. Happily oblivious that some on boats in the Med find it annoying and impossible...

Each to their own

 

[Kelpie]

Re: A serious reply!

Prompted by this thread,I went and got a copy of Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a small income". Her annual budget at the time of writing (1992?) was £1300, which using a basic inflation adjustment tool I found online, translates to about £2500 today. So £4.5k sounds like luxury!

 

[sailaboutvic]

Re: A serious reply!

Prompted by this thread,I went and got a copy of Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a small income". Her annual budget at the time of writing (1992?) was £1300, which using a basic inflation adjustment tool I found online, translates to about £2500 today. So £4.5k sounds like luxury!

Not sure what GHA And others are waiting
for ,
why not jump aboard and go for it , 10 k should keep them going for at less two and a half years .
Then they can write their own books .
Now back to the real world as he said #72

 

[Tranona]

Re: A serious reply!

Prompted by this thread,I went and got a copy of Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a small income". Her annual budget at the time of writing (1992?) was £1300, which using a basic inflation adjustment tool I found online, translates to about £2500 today. So £4.5k sounds like luxury!

It is indeed if you live like Annie (and the Pardeys, Hiscocks and many other of the early voyagers) and spend the majority of your time at sea and mainly stop in undeveloped countries. Nothing to spend your money on in those places except basic foods.

However these days such places are becoming more rare or are unsafe and continuous sailing less common. Now most people try to follow a regime that holds onto modern life while living on a boat that they can move from place to place. Even this style is becoming more and more difficult to do on a low budget because so many people are competing for the land based resources and boats are becoming larger and more sophisticated. It is also the case that the profile of liveaboards has changed dramatically from the pioneering days

It is still possible to emulate those seemingly halcyon days of the 50s and 60s before the explosion of wealth in the western world but guess those willing to do it are still a tiny minority, just as they were in those days.

 

[vyv_cox]

Re: A serious reply!

About 20 years ago our son Owen met a couple in Mallorca who existed on a very small income to cover everything. I forget the exact sum. His impression was that their life was utterly miserable, eating the cheapest possible food, no public transport, never eating out. They were terrified that something on the boat would fail that they could not afford to replace. He felt sorry for them.

 

[GHA]

Re: A serious reply!

Not sure what GHA And others are waiting
for ,

Nothing.

Been cruising full time for years. Though nice to have a few pennies so when if a bit of work does come along I'll grab it.

Doesn't mean that lots of people content to do even less work than a bit every year or 2 can't do it on a shoestring though.
Despite what you might think they are out there having lots of fun around the world. One's I've met seemed to be more in anchorages in the topics though for whatever reason. Maybe just not Med types.

Why do you find that so annoying?

Each to their own

 

[sailaboutvic]

Re: A serious reply!

Nothing.

Been cruising full time for years. Though nice to have a few pennies so when if a bit of work does come along I'll grab it.

Doesn't mean that lots of people content to do even less work than a bit every year or 2 can't do it on a shoestring though.
Despite what you might think they are out there having lots of fun around the world. One's I've met seemed to be more in anchorages in the topics though for whatever reason. Maybe just not Med types.

Why do you find that so annoying?

Each to their own

I do find it annoying ? Only the snide remark you keep on making about people sailing in the Med
I do find it very unusual at times your take on the cost of cruising , not once given any facts here or any where else but what your guessing others people cost are

I have to wonder how you get your info from , seeing some one on a small boat means nothing at all to me Even if they are flying a country flag for thousands of miles away .they could be on holiday just like many are right now and even if they are liveaboard do they come over and tell you their financial situation?
What all of them ?
Do they also tell you how long they been doing it for . Week month, a year .


I am in no doubt there are some living on board a boat , some even on a shoe string as you suggested but living is mostly likely what they are doing sitting weeks on end in one anchorage then moving on to the next , we know a few ourselves, except they seen to stay in the same anchorages near they favorite bar ,
pumping out there crap polluting the seas .

Some how I don't think people who ask question here are looking for that kind of life , I cant see a couple given up there jobs , home and moving away from there families , to some where off the beaten track where wifey can find a fresh water stream to wash there clothes in while he goes off picking wild greens to eat ,
sitting at night by an oil lamp reading .
Living out cold winter months on a deserted anchorages not seeing another human being .
I mean if they wanted that they could do it without moving across oceans ,
So you keeping beating on that it can be done on a shoe string , is pointless .
Time you moved on .
Not trying to be offensive but your well behind the times .
You could almost say we doing it on a shoe string , but it's a bloody long shoe string .

 

[GHA]

Re: A serious reply!

I do find it annoying ? Only the snide remark you keep on making about people sailing in the Med
I do find it very unusual at times your take on the cost of cruising , not once given any facts here or any where else but what your guessing others people cost are

I have to wonder how you get your info from , seeing some one on a small boat means nothing at all to me Even if they are flying a country flag for thousands of miles away .they could be on holiday just like many are right now and even if they are liveaboard do they come over and tell you their financial situation?
What all of them ?
Do they also tell you how long they been doing it for . Week month, a year .


I am in no doubt there are some living on board a boat , some even on a shoe string as you suggested but living is mostly likely what they are doing sitting weeks on end in one anchorage then moving on to the next , we know a few ourselves, except they seen to stay in the same anchorages near they favorite bar ,
pumping out there crap polluting the seas .

Some how I don't think people who ask question here are looking for that kind of life , I cant see a couple given up there jobs , home and moving away from there families , to some where off the beaten track where wifey can find a fresh water stream to wash there clothes in while he goes off picking wild greens to eat ,
sitting at night by an oil lamp reading .
Living out cold winter months on a deserted anchorages not seeing another human being .
I mean if they wanted that they could do it without moving across oceans ,
So you keeping beating on that it can be done on a shoe string , is pointless .
Time you moved on .
Not trying to be offensive but your well behind the times .
You could almost say we doing it on a shoe string , but it's a bloody long shoe string .

As for where, well young French kids seem to be up for it, not always on the best kept boats. Met a few in Senegal, some more in Brazil. Obviously very low budget and having a lot of fun. Seem to remember some more low budgets in Suriname. Heard from a friend that Guyana was a funky fun place with some interesting characters, I should have popped in there for a look Another English couple met in Brazil then in carib - again not sure of budget but way below the poverty line for most on here and having a lot of fun. From their very occasional youtube they've since circumnavigated and were back in Brazil a while ago. One thing features fairly high in being self sufficient in the extreme, and accomplished sailors in looking after the boat - a successful passage is where nothing breaks . Not that you have much choice in much of the world but to fix it yourself with some help from the back street fabricators. Brazil again for about a fiver you could get as much iroko offcuts as you could carry from the back street furniture shacks, or whatever hardwood it was . Heavy wood! I still have some left.

They are out there, having fun and doing it on a shoestring, barter going on in the anchorages like help out with the guy with the huge beard who stayed and does sail repair in a shack on the breach in return for sewing machine time - stuff like that. But very different mind set , having a positive can do attitude seems essential for a happy time on a budget. you seem to have made your mid up that it can't and doesn't happen

It can and it does. Now, not behind the times. And not trying to be offensive but.... you don't know what you're talking about

Each to their own

 

[Tranona]

Re: A serious reply!

Right on cue, we should all read the blog in the thread under this one.