Are We Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago? – Bequia, The Grenadines, March 26, 2024

Posted on March 23, 2024 by Sally

Are We Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago? – Bequia, The Grenadines, March 26, 2024

First off, Happy Anniversary to my beautiful husband! We have now been married for 11 years and boy, have we covered a lot of ground in that time! Raised 4 daughters, lived and worked in suburbia, retired, sold our house 3 times, travelled to at least 20 countries (many multiple times) together (with and without the children), moved countless times, become nomads and minimalists, and so much more. You have been a gift and saved my soul!

A brief recap on where we were 4 years ago and how much has changed. 4 years ago, we were both working fulltime in corporate America, had 1 kid still in the house in high school, 3 kids in college, a house in suburbia and 6 cars, 2 motorcycles, and a house full of stuff. Wow our lives look so much different now. We now have 2 kids getting ready to graduate here in 6 weeks from college, two kids already graduated from college and adulting, no house, no car, 2 motorcycles, 1 boat, 1 parttime consulting gig, 1 blog, a storage unit full of stuff, and spend 6 months a year living in the Caribbean. Quite a big difference I would say. I think we are so much better off now than we were 4 years ago.

A key part of the journey has been trying to arrange all of this and our strategic tools, finance all of this, and carry healthcare in the process of all of that in the states and internationally. I did a post last year on our finances and I wanted to give a brief update there. We still use the empower app to track our budget (which used to be personal capital) and I have the say I still love it. Let’s look at last year vs. this year and I work best with a picture so here goes. The blue is 2022 and the orange is 2023.

Now what does this say to me? Well here goes:

Overall, we spent about 20% more in 2023 vs. 2022. However that is offset by also saving 20% of our income for 2023 as opposed to about 5% in 2022.
Boat Maintenance went down in 2023 quite a bit since not only did Ron do most of the work but any work we did hire out was done in Grenada (which is significantly cheaper than what we had done in the states). We felt like we worked a lot harder on the boat in 2023 (mainly because of the bottom job) even though we spent less.
Restaurants are still embarrassingly large in 2022, then actually went up in 2023! Yikes. I guess we still have some work to do. It went up because we sat in Columbus for the whole off season, and it was our main form of entertainment. I am hoping the new magic grill will chance this category significantly in 2024 since we have started to eat a lot more on the boat and plan to buy the same grill for the RV.
Travel went down significantly mainly because in 2022 we spent way more on hotels driving out west. In 2023 we flew more but used points so there was not much cost.
If I add together the Housing and Travel categories, they are about the same for both years. It doesn’t matter if we rent an apartment or stay in corporate housing/hotels. At the end of the day, it really all equals out. I am glad to know this as I think it gives us more flexibility during the off season. It will be interesting to see how this changes when we get the RV and the costs there.
Groceries didn’t change even though we are spending more on restaurants. Not sure why this is but I think it is because we are giving/throwing away more groceries when we change locations for the season. We are unable to store any uneaten food in the boat or storage unit and must rebuy when we get to our new location. Maybe?
Boat Storage was cut nearly in half since we moved the boat from the USA to Grenada. This was a large part of why we are storing the boat in Grenada again. Hard to deny this.
Our Automotive cost was down significantly since we rode the motorcycle and did not rent a car for most of our off season.
Our Gas/Diesel costs were about the same both years even though we have sailed much more this year and spent more time in a marina this year since we went home for Christmas. This may be partially due to where we bought the diesel vs. how much though? As you will notice our dockage doubled in 2023.
Telephone was the same.
Bike upgrades went down in 2023, mainly because this covers the cost of us adding the trunk for our trip out west in 2022.
Th Insurance category includes not only our motorcycle insurance but also insurance for the boat and daughter #4’s car. Our insurance cost has gone down 4% in 2023, however the way the billing works out we pay for it in December so it is prepaid a year in advance. I still don’t fully understand this one yet.
Our healthcare went up 1% since we changed daughter #4’s healthcare to the University plan which is more expensive than having her on our Obamacare plan this year. Our insurance went down in 2023 and will drop again when she starts adulting post-graduation.
Electronics was up since Ron had to buy a new phone in 2023 because he threw his old one into the ocean.
We spent more in the Everything Else Category by far again as an entertainment mostly during our off season. We certainly could get this back in check this coming off season.

Being a budget nerd and an early retiree, I think it is important we keep a pretty short leash on our budget. Ron and I have reviewed this together and are looking at this coming off season with some major changes. Initially we will have an investment in the RV but we should be able to get an ROI on this compared to our housing & travel costs in a maximum of 7 years. Exploring the southern Caribbean the next few years will certainly pay off in the boat storage if nothing else. With 2 more kids graduating college here soon they will drop off our support ticket which will reduce the healthcare, insurance, and everything else categories by a nice chunk. I am excited to see what our 2024 comparison looks like in January! More to come!

Have You Hiked Your Volcano Today? – Bequia, The Grenedines, March 22, 2024

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Sally

Have You Hiked Your Volcano Today? – Bequia, The Grenedines, March 22, 2024

We left off our story in Portsmouth, Dominica and I have to say we have changed our mind about this island, so we were eager to give Martinique another try as well. It is a French Island but also one of the richer ones. Things had not been difficult enough lately, so we decided to start off by climbing the active volcano of the island – Mount Pelee. The elevation gain in the hike is nearly 2158 feet but the trail is supposed to be well traveled. We had rented a car for the day and drove the 2 hours to the northwest side of the island.

It last erupted in 1932 but the worst eruption destroying the town of St. Pierre (which we had just stopped to visit). It killed 28,000 people there and the only known survivor was an inmate in the jail. He was badly burned but once he recovered, he was immediately hired by Barnum & Bailey’s circus!?! The museum there was cool along with the ruins from the eruption.

We drove the 2 hours from the anchorage of Le Merin part way up to the volcano to where the trail started (after it had stopped raining that morning). As we started the hike it was VERY muddy with a lot of standing water on the trail. We weren’t the only idiots out there but after about half a mile, we decided to jump ship on the trail and go somewhere else for our hike due to all the mud. It was still worth the drive there and even the top of the hill where the trail starts has beautiful views of the town and the rainforest.

Our next stop was a quick 5-hour sail to Marigot Bay, St. Lucia for a quick overnight. We had been here before and thought it was a bit shady then but this time it was actually worse. We were approached several times by the locals trying to sell us stuff. This was expected but the final approach was after dark, two guys in a dinghy called “Tip-Sex” came and basically tried to get us to take them with us to St. Vincent. That when it got uncomfortable and while Ron was trying to be cordial, by asking “what do you do?”…his answer was “I hustle.” We did finally get them to leave by assuring them we would discuss this with them in the morning (knowing we had a 5:00am departure date) and when they were planning to show up at 9:00am, we would be long gone. It’s amazing how quickly forget how poor this island is regardless of how nice and what a vacation hotspot Marigot Bay is.

We did head out at 5:00am without issue and once again decided to skip St. Vincent. This is based not only on the recent incident in Grenada where a yacht was boarded but also on our recent experience in Marigot Bay and head straight to Bequia. It really is the major downside on these southern islands. The upside is the waters in Bequia are beautiful and Ron was planning to teach me a few scuba diving skills while we are here the next couple of days. Yeah!

Heading to Wally World – Portsmouth, Dominica, March 9, 2024

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Sally

Heading to Wally World – Portsmouth, Dominica, March 9, 2024

Our last tour had gone so well we decided the next day to take a guided day tour of several of the waterfalls. Maybe we are organized tour kind of people? The tour included our tour guide (Omar), an older French couple (Davey and Marie), and a solo Sailor (Jay). The tour started by us being picked up at our boat at 9:00am, and we all loaded into a little van to head to the north end of the island to visit our first highlight, Titou Gorge. It was another site used in the “Pirates of the Caribbean 2.0” movie, so we were anxious to see it.

However as usual, nothing goes as planned when Ron and I go anywhere together. This little trip was no exception and our first issues started after about 30 minutes into the car ride. Steam/smoke starts to come out of the engine and the van starts to smell very hot. So, we pulled over…. Keep in mind, Dominica is the most mountainous of the Caribbean Island and the elevation here go to about 4,000+ feet. Good thing is, Omar didn’t realize he had brought the engine whisperer with him. That name was given to Ron by a fellow cruiser a few years back. Ron did a quick diagnosis, and the suspicion was a radiator leak. Between all of us we were able to gather enough water to refill the radiator and continue. At this point we were about halfway there.

We were fortunate to only stop a couple more times to get water and let the engine cool off a bit. We made it to the first attraction, Titou Gorge. Ronnie was the name of our next guide who took us to see the Gorge. You must swim through this large gorge to get to the waterfall itself. It was a gorge/waterfall that was fed from a 6-acre freshwater lake at the top of the volcano. Ron and I agreed it reminded us very much of “The Narrows” in Zion National Park, which we had gotten to hike through on our motorcycle trip out west 2 years ago. It was smaller but simply stunning!

Our next stop was the highest waterfall in Dominics, Trafalgar Falls, which meant more uphill driving in our wounded jalopy. With our water reserves refilled, we headed on and without incident, managed to make it to the next stop which was a short 15-minute drive. While we were heading to the waterfall, Omar confirmed our radiator leak and had the van switched. Now we had one issue off the list.

Omar had sold all of us on the idea of hiking to the top of the waterfall. He said it was challenging but only took about 20 minutes, so we signed on. I feel like Ron and I have hiked a lot, seen a lot, and let me tell you, this was not a “moderate” hike. It took us about an hour to hike us and then back down, was past noon and no one had eaten, and about 80+ degrees. Our new French friends only made it about halfway up and he was very tired so they waited for the rest of us to make us up and back down. We did make it to the top but wow, it was more what I consider “bouldering” than hiking and on top of that, we did it in bare feet. It definitely goes on the top 5 stupid things we have done this year including the Barbuda, St. John 5-mile dinghy ride. While beautiful, I was happy it did seem easier to get down than up.

That was when calamity #2 struck. The older French gentleman had a hypoglycemic incident, was overheated, and started passing out. While Omar was sympathetic, Ron was the only one with any kind of first aid training. All his years of being a dive instructor and having a type one diabetic daughter gave him enough background to know what Davey needed right away. All our bags were in the car, and we were about a 10-minute walk from the van or the office, so Ron took off running back to the car to get him a Coke and some cookies. The poor man continued to get worse. So, I took off running back to the office to see if anyone there had any kind of medical background to assist but sadly, no one did. I passed Ron on the way back with the goods and by the time I had turned around and gotten back time to him, the Coke had kicked in and Davey was MUCH better and able to walk back. It was all a bit scary. Omar took us all the lunch after this before stop #3 and by then of was about 2:30.

Our last stop was about halfway back to Portsmouth. It was a natural spa called “Screw,” and run by a local Rastafarian, who strongly reminded me of Prince. He welcomed us by offering us a toke of his joint(which Ron did), and then proceeded to describe how he had built this place with his bare hands. It was a beautiful waterfall with hot springs and a mud bath. Ron and I were the only ones who had enough energy after the last hike to get in the water again. The hot water spring felt wonderful and the mud bath with sulfur water rise really did make my skin feel very smooth and lovely. The whole spa was a trip, but the vibe there was cool and had it not been the last stop, I would have stayed longer. For the sake of the rest of the group, we made our dip short and by the time we made it back to the dock…it was dark. The whole day felt a bit like the movie “Vacation” with its calamity of errors, but we did make it home and as always, it was an adventure, and nothing ever goes to plan. The beer tasted very good at the end of this day.

Dominica 3.0 – Portsmouth, Dominica, March 8, 2024

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Sally

Dominica 3.0 – Portsmouth, Dominica, March 8, 2024

Ron and I enjoyed a couple of low-key days snorkeling, Ilse Des Saintes, which is a small set of islands just south of the main island of Guadeloupe. We redid a couple of hikes we did last year, one called “Le Pain” which ended up being about 6.5 miles. It was an elevation of about 1,200 feet but once we got to the top the view was stunning!

Amazing view once you make it to the top

The next day we took it a bit easy the next day and kept our hike to 3.5 miles up to Napolean’s Fort.

The fort was closed so we explored the moat.

After that we decided to give Dominica another try. We had stopped here twice before and had always felt a bit uneasy. We aren’t really organized tour kind of people and typically prefer to explore an island by ourselves (which we did last time). Many of our cruiser friends simply loved Dominica and we decided to give her another try. This time, however, we would hire a guide. The first tour we did was the “Indian River Tour” which is where our guide actually rows us up the river explaining local flora, fauna, and wildlife. It also so happens that the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” was filmed here in that river, so we got to see some of the movie set as well. It was relaxing and we met a few new sailors but unfortunately, they were heading north.

Made specifically for the Pirates of Caribbean

Decision Fatigue – Jolly Harbour, Antigua, February 23, 2024

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Sally

Decision Fatigue – Jolly Harbour, Antigua, February 23, 2024

We have been moving pretty quickly lately and you may be wondering why we are suddenly heading south again after all the talk of going to Brunswick, Georgia for the off season. Since our guest left, we have been spending a lot of time discussing our off season plan and what we are going to do for that 6 month period. After kicking around ideas we think we have made one of the necessary choices. We considered:

#1 – spending a month in each place we wanted to visit including Georgia, Ohio, and a couple of other states

#2 – Getting an apartment again in Ohio

#3 – Spending the off season in Georgia at a marina on the boat

#4 – Turning around, hauling out again on Grenada, and buying an RV to travel in for the next few years.

You can guess where we ended up since we have turned around. It turns out that when we consider insurance, haul out prices, storage prices for the boat, flights, and the time we have left, Grenada won out. It was cheaper there, we had flights with points, buying an RV was cheaper than rent, we could still travel (which we both wanted to do), we could easily see family more often, we only have 2 more months of sailing season, and lastly it was a La Nina year. This means hurricane season was supposed to be terrible and we didn’t want to chance leaving the boat in the water. We were only one-third of the way to Brunswick and realistically needed more time to choose the right weather to make it back to the states.

Whew! It was a lot of analyzing but we now officially have a plan and after taking the last available window to go east back to Antigua (for at least the next month), we are in a place to pull this off and set ourselves up to have some fun in the process. Neither of us loved the southern islands but we have decided to give them another try. We didn’t dislike everywhere but would be a bit more choosey about where we decided to stay and frankly slow down a bit in those better places.

We left St. John where the winds had clocked around to the south and it was so bad neither of us got any sleep but got up and left for Antigua anyway. It was the only day the weather would let us leave and we couldn’t miss it. Our weather service (Chris Parker) assured us there would not be another chance for potentially another month or more and there was no time to waste.

So, we start again in Jolly Harbor, where the best Mexican food is the southern Caribbean is! Not a bad place to be. After a few days of rest recovering from our last overnight sail this season we filled up on our required Mexican and made the small hop down to Guadeloupe and then Iles Des Saintes. We were very lucky on our sail down we saw a baby whale and he was about 5 feet from the boat! He was incredible!

Our first stop was Deshaies, Guadeloupe where they have the most beautiful botanical garden. It was home to the flamingos! We felt very lucky and have gotten to see some amazing things this week!