416 Miles Traveled
206 Sailing
210 Motoring
In the North Channel, most of the anchorages were very close together. We didn't put many miles under the keel once we got to the North Channel Cruising grounds. The majority of the miles in August were at the beginning of the month (Sault Ste. Marie to Turnbull Island) and the end of the month (Killarney to Bad river, and South to Port Huron). We were able to sail about 50% of the miles we traveled in August.
27 Nights on Anchor
3 Nights At Marina
1 Night on Passage
We spent 3 nights at paid marinas in August. We started the month at a Marina in Sault Ste. Marie after 2 weeks in the Lake Superior Canadian wilderness. We decided to spend the money on the next two, but they were voluntary: Killarney Mountain Lodge was recommended by many cruisers, and was a refreshing stop. Tobermory was the last one, and it was a choice we made so we could spend some time in the town, stock up on groceries, and get a permit for the Five Fathom Marine Park. We could have done this all by dinghy, but we liked the town and taking the dinghy would have been a long 4+ mile ride each way. We ended
53 kWh of Solar Generated
In the month of August, we generated 53 kWh of solar, or 1.77 kW/day on average. Overall we've been able to keep up with the power loads, but we've had to go into power management a few times (turning off Starlink more hours per day and using the electric kettle less). The lowest our batteries got was 52%, which was due to 2 full cloud days with minimal solar. We're starting to see our solar output reduce with the shorter days, so we're being a bit more mindful than we were in July
$1,911 Total Spent
$61.64 Average Per Day
Groceries, non-food, and fuel were the top three categories in August. Since we landed in Sault Ste. Marie on August 1, all the expenses from that day hit in August. We bought about $192 in Fuel that day, which was the fuel we used while we were in Lake Superior (this is about 2/3 of the fuel we spent money on in August). Non-Groceries is a catch-all category for things that aren't groceries, but not for the boat. For example, the Coco Coir we use for our composting toilet or cat litter. We made a big Amazon order that we're shipping to our parents in Detroit which we needed several items that will set us up well for the next few months. Groceries were more expensive in Canada than we were anticipating, as the small town grocery stores are generally more expensive.
We did add a new category, which is 'YouTube Related" which is a catch-all for expenses related to doing our YouTube content. This month we bought a new hard drive and a full-year subscription for Artlist music. They aren't necessarily Cruising expenses so we wanted to split them out.
September will be a very expensive month. We're going to motor a TON with the Erie Canal and rivers, plus we need to unstep and step the mast for the canal. Fortunately, we should only have to pay for about 3 nights at a marina/mooring, but we'll see!