February 2014 Recap

Dates: Feb 1-28, 2014

Black Point, Bahamas – Little Farmers Cay – Staniel Cay – Norman’s Cay – Nassau – The Berry Islands.

Sailing: 15 hrs

Motoring: 16 1/2 hrs (includes motor-sailing)

Mileage: 140 Nm (Nautical Miles)

Budget Amount:      $1590.00 US (All budgeting is in US funds)

Charts/Books:          $      0.00     

Boat Parts:              $     47.00     

Marinas:                  $    62.00

Diesel:                    $    50.00

Beer:                      $   422.00

Grocery:                  $  605.00

Entertainment:         $   220.00

Fees/Services:          $    67.00     (pump-outs, laundry, wifi, taxis, etc...)

Clothing/Shopping   $    45.00

Misc:                      $    46.00     (Propane, hobbies, etc...)

Total:                      $1564.00

Debit/Credit:           $    26.00

Under budget again, just! Not really that impressive, since we were in the islands away from shopping, for most of the time. That of course is reflected above, and so is the big provisioning we did in Nassau. In hind sight that really wasn't the smartest thing we've done on the trip, but at the time we still thought we had 4 - 5 weeks in the Bahamas.

The entertainment was a little high, only because if you do anything ashore in the islands, it’s expensive. And, you either just do it and don’t fret about the cost, or you don’t. But after being away from civilization for a few days, we tend to get a little silly.

So the plan for the month of February was to enjoy the bounty of the Bahamas, and we did. In hind sight we wish we would have enjoyed it more, but there will be other winters, and perhaps next time we will plan our time a little better.

What we discovered this month is that the world is a whole lot bigger than we ever realized. And that is really hard to explain, but perhaps the best way to do so, is to say that there are so many things to do and places to see, that there is not enough time in our life to get to them all. What that really amounted to for us was some reflection on what we wanted out of the cruising life, or life in general. That coupled with the new realization that we were not physically capable of living the world cruising vagabond lifestyle, is slowly rewriting our dreams to suit us.

It is funny how much of an idealistic attitude we generate about our dreams, regardless of how ignorant we are about the reality of them.

So, here we sit in Vero Beach, Florida. 4 days on a mooring ball, for no other reason than we are enjoying it here. Before we left I would have shunned the idea of wasting money for no reason. But happiness is not about proving you are right, it’s about figuring out what is right for you. And that is what I learned in the last four weeks.

That's it for this month. Next month I will try and do this again. The format may change a little as I go. If anyone reading the blog would like to see anything in particular, let me know, I may be able to squeeze it in, especially if it seems like good info to pass on.

Now back to your regular blogging........