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Cost of Sailing and Exploring Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is a beautiful island filled with lush forest, plenty of beaches, and extremely friendly people. We wish we could have spent more time here but our insurance company wanted us in Grenada by July 1st so our time was limited. We arrived in Puerto Rico to Puerto Real on June 24 and set sail from Puerto Patillas to St. Croix on July 9. With this route, we only got to explore the Southwest and South coast. However, we did have my family fly in for a week and we had a blast spending time and adventuring with them.
We look forward to coming back to visit the North coast and spend more time here! This article lists our particular cost of sailing and exploring Puerto Rico.
Customs
Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory so clearing customs as American citizens was very easy. We used the CBP ROAM app. This is a free app that allowed us to report our entry to Customs Border Protection using our own cell phone. You can also use this app to check-in from a tablet at approved sites such as Marina Pescideria (our first stop). On the app, you enter your personal info, boat details, decal number, and port of arrival. In our experience, a CBP agent called and confirmed all info entered online.
The app is free to download but you must purchase a decal. This decal proves you paid the user fee for entering the U.S. The decal is good for the year.
Customs total (decal cost): $29
Groceries
My family came to visit and you know moms, always wanting to pay. We tried to balance out them paying for excursions by us making lunch and dinner:)
Ponce
Wal-Mart $812
Lifestyle Healthfood $53
Groceries Total: $865
Restaurants
Puerto Rico was a great mix of local authentic food that stems from Spanish, African, and Native Tiano Indian culture. A few of our favorite dishes included mofongo, amarillos, and empanadillas. There were also plenty of American chains to satisfy our cravings after being away for almost three months including Cheesecake Factory and Krispy Kreme
Cabo Rojo
La Bodegguita del Puerto $39
Mercados Bakery $13
Ponce
Tango $63
Krispy Kreme $5
El Tablado $40
Restaurant near Hair Cuttery (cannot remember the name) $10
San Juan
Cheesecake Factory $63
Restaurants Total: $233
Dockage
After spending weeks at different marinas in the DR it was nice to finally be able to anchor again! We spent our first two nights in Puerto Rico at a marina to catch up on sleep and fill up our water tanks but after that, it was finally back to free anchoring:)
Marina Pescaderia
1.20/ft a night plus tax
Dockage Total: $102
Fuel
We had to motor sail a good amount from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico and we knew we would need to continue motor sailing along the south coast of Puerto Rico. We topped up our tanks right when we arrived.
Marina Pescaderia
Diesel $3.41/gallon
Fuel Total: $61
Water
In the DR the marina attendants said you could drink the hose water… but they do not. After hearing that, we spent the remainder of the time buying 1 and 5-gallon water jugs.. We asked about water at Marina Pescederia in Puerto Rico and they said we were in the clear! Thank goodness, we HATE buying plastic water jugs (A water maker is on the list!). We filled up our 80-gallon tank and were good to go!
Marina Pescederia
$2.50 per day
Water Total: $5
Boat Parts
We wanted some extra shade on the front of the boat and we figured a backyard sunshade from Home Depot was an affordable short-term option.
Home Depot sunshade $50
Boat Parts and Accessories Total: $50
Other
Car Rental
We shared a car with our friends Beau and Brandy to run to Best Buy and grab dinner in San Juan.
$25
Best Buy
Our hard drives were full and our camera was broken so this trip was expensive. Thank goodness for Best Buys camera insurance! This has saved us SO many times. We bring our non-working camera to the store and they give us a gift card for the original purchase value. We knew we needed to make the 2-hour car ride to San Juan because this was going to be the last Best Buy available for a very long time.
$435
Excursions and Tour Guides
As mentioned before my family came to visit and was kind enough to pay for River Tubing and a trip to the National Park. To pay them back we provided many meals on the boat and a day sailing trip to Coffin Island 🙂
USPS
We needed to ship a few things to friends back home.
$30
Hair Cut
We were both in need of a hair cut so we walked to Hair Cuttery in Ponce and had them chop off our locks. It was a little difficult to describe what kind of hair cut we wanted without being fluent in Spanish. Good thing hair grows back!
$50
Other Total: $540
Total Cost to Visit Puerto Rico: $1885
The numbers listed above are OUR costs of sailing and exploring Puerto Rico. Your numbers can range drastically depending on your priorities and the needs of your crew and boat. We were relieved to be able to spend the majority of our time at anchor again.
If I divide our total costs by our 15 days in Puerto Rico we average about $125 a day for two people and a dog.
This is more than double our daily cost in the Bahamas but a bit less than our cost in the Dominican Republic.
Next stop is St. Croix!
I write these articles with hopes to give you all an idea of how much we spend so you can plan your own trips. You can see where you would want to spend more and where you could save. Now it’s your turn 😉
Thanks for reading!
Sierra
Thanks so much for the break down
Nice haircuts!