Is it too late?

[Guest]

I just copied this post from CF

 

Friends have got great deals on boats which were outfitted by guys who wanted nothing but the best. They took so long to get out, that they ran into health problems before ever leaving. having to sell the boat with their dreams unfulfilled. That is an increasingly common story. We aren't getting younger. The world is not getting freer.

In 2,000 it cost $3 a night for a mooring at Niue. In 2003 , it was $5.Now I'm told it is $15. Mexico was a great place to cruise. I wouldn't bother now , and if I hadn't gone when I did, I might never have. Cruising fees and restrictions are getting ever greater, and putting it off may eventually make cruising off limits.

A client, who has a fireman's pension, Canada pension and Old Age pension said the fees in the Caribean are getting so high as to make it prohibitively expensive. Expect that to spread.

Go now, or you may lose the option.

 

 

 

Maybe not too late in some places , others already yes, but the areas where it is too late are spreading, I must admit we have pretty much given up, and I know others.

[Guest]

Don't give up Squid, ya just never know what's around the corner.

 

It's knot too late, more just a case of changing the thinking as to where, when and so on.

 

We have no destination plans only get on a boat and see where the wind blows us. I suppose you could say 'cruising' is more a state of mind for us rather than any destination/s. About 4-5 years and we then can dump D2 then it's bye-bye O'clock.

[smithy09 50]

That's sad.

I have to say, when we did it in the mid 80s it was cheap and easy, once you had a boat. Even easier in the UK than in NZ. No Cat 1 garbage to go through. Just clear customs and sail away! Safety was your problem.

 

The only country that gave us any grief was Italy where we had to have compulsory 100,000 pounds third party insurance with a letter in Italian from the insurance company to prove it. With the exception of the odd marina, marina fees and port charges were all very reasonable. Sure there was paperwork and burocracy, but I'm sure there is still plenty of that.

 

I hate hearing these stories as it means my kids will simply not have the freedoms that I had.

[Bad Kitty 252]

Never too late! Sure it's different but people who cruised in the 50's probably laughed about Squid paying $3 a night for a mooring in the eighties.

I'll be laughing my tits off in 15 years time about how in 2010 we only paid xx a night in Denerau and now you poor bastards pay how much?

We can't change how old we are, or what our personal or financial situation is, but we can choose between getting up and going now, or going to the office again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.

Just go, and make the best of what is out there.

[BelowPAR 0]

Obstacles are the things we see when we take our eyes off the goal. Henry Ford.

 

Found in the front of my "Thermofluid Sciences" text book.

[wheels 543]

But you could aslo say, Obsticles are the things you run into, when you don't have your eyes on the road

[Guest]

http://www.allatsea.net/article/July_20 ... Our_Agents

[smithy09 50]

Wow! That does sound bad. Having worked with Egyptians for the last 6 months I believe every word!

[rigger 47]

the Suez Canal also know as the the Marlboro canal.

 

If you speak a bit of the local language it is easier.

 

The dual beam search light requirement is a real joke....

[Atom Ant 0]

So... don't transit the Suez. Isn't the world big enough that you don't have to go there? Leave the thieving bastards to starve.

[wheels 543]

So... don't transit the Suez. Isn't the world big enough that you don't have to go there?

There is a slight problem if you want to get to certain places. The choice is, Suez and get ripped off maybe robbed, perhaps shot at or go round the Bottom of Africa, which can be the worst piece of ocean in the world, then have no ports to go to for thousands of miles.

Or you can go through the Panama, get ripped off, possibly robbed and maybe shot at(not so bad today) or go around the Horn through the worst piece of ocean on the Planet.

It is a tuff choice.

[Atom Ant 0]

Cheers Wheels, you've convinced me - I won't go near either place. We always have choices, but I have to be honest if you go there knowing what's going to happen it's like complaining about about getting caught DIC after you've been drinking. I have empathy for the cruisers but if it's that bad, don't go there, after all it isn't like this is a new phenomenon - it's been happening for years.

[wheels 543]

Yeah, although for some, they don't mind taking on the big seas. And for others, they don't mind taking on the Pirates and Land Sharks. So I guess it depends on what you are able to handle. For me, I am not so sure which. I'm a country Lad that grew up in a very small country town and don't much like the big smoke and bright lights and tend to trust people far to much for my own good. So I am not sure how to trust people from some of those places.

[tuffyluffy 76]

It would be interesting to get some context to this i.e. how many cruising boats have gone through the Suez without much of a problem? I bet thousands.

[Atom Ant 0]

It could well be. On the other hand this might be a problem of pandemic proportions... What's the best way to put out a fire? Starve it of oxygen.

[Guest]

There is a paradigm shift happening in the offshore cruising fleet. And it does centre around money.

Once upon a time nearly all full time cruisers were, by definition, poor. There were fewer of them, and fees and charges were minimal.

Nowadays your average cruiser is not "poor", though there are still some trying to get by on a budget.

Your "no longer poor" average cruiser doesn't blink at paying for a marina berth, and in the example above would pay up and tell everyone they had no problems, what's all the moaning about?

But the more that happens, the more the locals , private and govt employed alike, see cruisers as a source of income. At which point they take exception to the mere existence of the budget boat that doen't want to pay $100US to have one load of laundry washed (I was quoted this in Mexico 10 years ago).

Unfortuantely the "wealthy" cruisers are growing in number and the "budget" cruisers are being forced into an ever diminishing space where this has yet to happen.

 

Now if you are an ultra right wing capitalist this is a normal progression as demand for waterfront land and services increases.

If you are a sandal wearing tree hugging sea gypsy, then it is the death of a glorious lifestyle.

[Atom Ant 0]

Well put DT. So... do tree huggers cut down trees to make masts? Or do they think carbon fibre spars save trees?

[markm 30]

AA, they make their masts out of recycled beer cans. It's my duty, public service no less, to create an abundance of good cheap recycling materials for Squid. More supply, cheaper cost, he can save his money for a new hemp suit.

[Guest]

AA - don't tell him about the old tyres!!!!!!!!

[tuffyluffy 76]

Oh jeez Squid, you need to change your reading material and stop dwelling on the negative. For every piece of negative crap thats published, there are thousands of unpublished, happy stories by people whom are just doing it, for nix.

 

Most of the dooms-dayers will sit on their unready boats, tied to a jetty complaining about bureaucracy, lack of money, pirates, and every other excuse not to leave, when, the fact is, most of them are ill-prepared dreamers whom will always find an excuse not to face their fears and leave. The biggest barriers these people face is in their heads, not beyond the horizon.

 

If you watch Coronation Street, the character Norris is a classic example of these types.

 

Don’t let the 5%ers get you down!!!