Hard to say. Are you going to be eating all your meals in restaurants and spending a lot on drinks? Or are you going to be buying groceries and putting your own meals together? Your best source of info about living costs is probably your brother. How does he live and what does he spend?

If your brother cooks and you sail around for entertainment, the cost will be minimal- $50/per day. If you expect to eat out at all or do some other activity, I'd plan $100/day. If you are going to be renting car or scuba diving, that'd be extra.

Chad,

If you have a roof over your head and someone with knowledge of the island (your brother, I assume), you should be able to eat for pretty cheap at places like Woody's, Skinny Legs, Island Blues, breakfast and pizza at Donkey Diner, Uncle Joe's BBQ, a pizza place that I can't remember the name of and others.

You can also buy some groceries and keep 'em on the boat for lunches and breakfasts (granola bars, deli meat, etc) then hit the casual places for dinner.

There are also a few places that have sandwiches to go but I'm not sure of the prices.

Lunches out at casual places range anywhere from $8-12/per. Breakfast a DonKey Diner was, like, $6-10/per with cheaper alternatives. Pizza at Donkey Diner, just cheese, was $12 and leftovers are great for breakfast (pizza is offered only a few nights a week-ask which ones)!

Dinners were the most expensive anywhere between $20-$60/per person.

Don't be fooled, cheap eats CAN be had in STJ! You just have to ask around.

I'm also not factoring in the cost of drinks in these prices. Island drinks range between $5-$12 per (the island martinis are 'spensive). I'm not a big beer drinker but I assume you can p/u beer for much cheaper.

I'll probably buy a few small things like granola bars and other snacks for breakfast. But I was planning on mostly casual lunches and dinners with maybe one or two nice dinners. There will definitly be some drinking going on too. I really wasn't hoping to spend more than $1,000 but I wasn't sure if this was realistic. My brother always accentuates the positive so it's hard to get a realistic figure from him. Thanks for the responses so far.

If you stick to your plan of casual lunches and a few nice dinners, I think you'll be fine with $1,000!

A nice seafood or steak dinner in the usual Cruz Bay places like Lime Inn, The Fish Trap or Morgan's Mango will run you $50 including an appetizer, a couple of drinks and tip. Panni Beach probably runs $20 more. We did have fabulous pizza at a place near Panni Beach that was around $20 for a large with everything but it did make a yummy breakfast the next morning too. My guess is that you and your brother will drink a beer or two so that adds up. I took a box of cheese and crackers (the kind in a package of six assorted with peanut butter or cheese) and some granola bars in my suitcase and none of them were left when we flew home. I also threw in a can of mixed nuts that I had emptied into a ziplock bag. Also, try Chilly Billy's for breakfast... lots of food for a great price and the potatoes (I can't stop mentioning them on this message board!!!) are to die for... and you'll get a huge plate of BBQ at Uncle Joes for $9-$10. I bet if you are planning on $1000 you'll have plenty of money... I don't know what scuba diving costs with the rentals, etc. but for $20 you can get a mask and snorkel before you leave home and you'll use the heck out of it while on the beaches of St. John and see more than you can hope for!!! Have fun.... I'm so jealous.

I'm with Kathleen! SO JEALOUS!

I'd give my firstborn to have a brother staying on a sailboat in STJ! Well, maybe not my firstborn...but you get the picture!