After 6 weeks of cruising from Florida to Annapolis with a mixture of ICW (intra coastal waterways) and offshore passages there are some remaining impressions.

Florida to us was hot,busy,expensive and crowded and except for the Kennedy Space center, left no further desires to explore more. The 10-40 million dollar mansions along parts of the Florida ICW left a lasting impression. Wether positive or negative is a deeper question.

Both South and North Carolina were positive experiences. Nature to Europeans is exotic,people friendly and both Beaufort SC and NC,allthough different, are very beautiful villages with strong marine inheritance and history. The ICW has pros and cons. Although protected it demands full concentration in large parts with areas of very narrow channels,large shallow areas,bridges and traffic. Moreover as foreign yacht you need to report to CBP (Customs Border Police) in every new anchorage. Since our CBP Roam app stopped working (the log in code supposed to arrive on sms didn´t work)we needed to call to report which was a tedious task in every anchorage. We had a tight time schedule on the ICW which is NOT a good idea. To weigh anchor at sunrise and drop anchor at sunset day after day on the ICW is demanding. You simply get worn out and tired. Infrastructure for cruisers is good with plenty of opportunities to stock up food and fuel.

A shock for Europeans on the US east coast are the prices. I wrote a post on this blog 2022 ("The Marinaplague") when passing Holland on the way to the Mediterranean. We stayed in a marina where it used to be a fishingport and free to tie up alongside (2008 with former sailing boat Tarita). When passing April 2022 there was a huge marina and the cost/night for Dora Mac was 60Usd.

Today that´s probaly doubled but in the US a normal price in a marina for Dora Mac has been 200Usd/night excluding electricity ! The only area that can compete with these prices in Europe is the western part of the Mediterranean where prices are similar. What happens seems to be that large corporations buy up old ports and land, build a marina complex with apartments and vacation services with prices tripled.

In Scandinavia taxpayers ports and land to a large part remain in the hands of the state and we normally pay around 40Usd for a place in a marina in Sweden. In France and Greece it´s similar (at least some years ago). Labour for dealing with boats is also extremely expensive in the US. For a diesel mechanic you pay around 180-200Usd/hour in comparison to Las Palmas last year where we paid 70Usd/hour.

If you dig into statistics marina prices have tripled in the US in a 10 year period and labour for boats more than doubled. At the same time the salary for a senior surgeon in Scandinavia increased 25% during a 10 year period. When confronting fellow American cruisers on the topic many have told us "ordinary people in the US can´t afford crusing life any longer"

I have always been on the rightwing/conservative side of politics. I spent 26 years working as a surgeon in public health care but due to management bureaucrats taking over I moved to a private surgery clinic in Stockholm. There 40% of all income I produced to the clinic went to my company. The huge problem was how my (and all collegues) mind got corrupted constantly suggesting unnecessary controls,operations and investigations to add income. After some years it became unsustainable and I quit , now working in Norway and Scotland.

History shows clearly that capitalism is a superior system to socialism but todays hyper predatory capitalism sneaking into every corner of life is destroying us. It´s remarcable that todays leftwings dont´t pick up that thrown gauntlet instead focusing on meaningless woke.