Tag: Shetland Islands

Now, if your first thought is, “I wonder how I missed the first 136 lessons learned?” you wouldn’t be wrong.  While almost all of the posts related to cruising on Dauntless have some lessons learned, I don’t label them as such.

So, as mentioned I have fleshed out a general cruise plan for the coming year and into 2017.  In a nutshell, we’ll be cruising the west coast of Europe from north of Scotland to southwest Spain by year’s end.

Now, every day, without much else to do, I look at the map, longingly; like porn, maps grab your attention and won’t let go.

I imagine sitting in Dauntless on the Algarve or Cadiz next winter.  I know the Med is no fun in the winter.  But the spring? The following summer 2017??  How can I not go check it out?  A few miles here, a few miles there.

Then, the cold hard facts strike home:

• $1.10 per nautical mile fuel cost crossing the Atlantic
• $1.34 per nautical mile in fuel cost in Europe this past summer;
• $4 per nautical mile for all costs.

So this means that while a good rule of thumb is $1 per nm when crossing oceans; this past summer, cruising along the coast, stopping for the night, eating, drinking and general shenanigans cost money on the order of $4 for every nm traveled.

Sure, this coming summer, I will average less than half the miles every month then we did this past summer.  But 30 days on the road is still 30 days on the road.  My travelling less, I save fuel money, but that’s it, at only 33% of total costs.

So that $4 figure, may get as low as $3, but won’t go to $2, let alone $1.

Another issue, we still want to be in the Pacific by January 2018!  That means, being in the Canaries in October 2017.  So, if we are in the south of Spain Jan-Feb 2017 and then maybe go as far as the Balearics in the Spring of 2017, as weather permits, what next?

So I longingly gaze at the charts.  I would love to see the Adriatic and Greece by Kadey Krogen.  I have friends there. How neat would that be!

But the distances!  1,000 miles just to Sicily.  One way. 1300 nm to Greece, 1800 nm to Venice. Now double all those numbers, as we have to return.

And now multiply by $4.  $12,000 to see the Greek Isles; not happening.

Too many miles, too many dollars, too little time.

But the year not spent in Europe, will be a year spent in the Pacific.

New places, new faces and new friends to make.  It’ll be a fun time.