My sailboat 'Magnolia'

Just before my 43rd birthday. I'm almost 51 years old now (4/2009).

I was a computer programmer. Worked 8 years at Bell Labs, 10 years at a couple of voice-telephony companies, then 3 years at a couple of internet/database companies. Never made much money on company stock options, just saved my money. [Then, after I retired, the stock market took half of it away.]

Many reasons came together:

• Any time I thought of "paradise", it involved a beach and warm weather.
• I wanted to try living a different way; I'd always lived in an apartment, worked 9-5.
• I was bored with my job; started doing the same kinds of projects repeatedly.
• I had saved up enough money that acquiring more wasn't a big goal.
• My father had died recently, prompted some introspection about my own life.

Yes. Although it's been painful a few times, inconvenient and frustrating many times, and selling the boat could be hard, it's been worth it.

I needed to change my life, to get out of a rut. All I was doing was going from apartment to cubicle, back and forth. Some tennis and hiking on weekends. One good foreign vacation each year. Putting lots of money in the bank. But not doing anything new.

Well, in 39 months of living on a boat, I've changed in a hundred ways, been places most people never get to, learned and done many new things. And I've just scratched the surface of the possibilities.

I've learned a lot about piloting, living aboard, maintenance, retirement, the coastal USA. I haven't begun to learn about nature, languages, foreign cultures, history, a musical instrument, lots of other things to do. And I've had lots of free time for reading books and magazines and listening to radio.

The worst things: not having a paycheck, watching the stock market take away a big chunk of my savings, not having medical insurance, trying to sleep when it's hot and humid, feeling you're shackled to the boat and have to be on it or check on it every day, some loneliness.

...

Some people ask if living aboard at a dock would be good for them to do; would it be cheap, fun, not too hard, let them still have a job and a car and so on. But the only reason I'd live on a boat is to be able to cruise. Living at the dock or in one place forever doesn't appeal to me, and there are many drawbacks to living on a boat. The worst is trying to sleep on a hot, humid, rainy night with no air-conditioning.

And in expensive housing markets (just about every coastal city, these days), so many people have tried anything to get affordable housing that the live-on-board lifestyle has become very expensive and very regulated. In some places, marinas are not allowed to have more than a certain percent of slips used for liveaboard. Marinas are being bought and torn down to build condos. Slip prices have skyrocketed.

...

What would I have done differently ?
It would have been nice to "ease into" the lifestyle, instead of quitting job, moving across the country, and right onto the boat full-time. Getting an apartment and maybe a job for 6 months while boat-buying and then starting to learn the boat would have been better. ...

As of 9/2006: one thing I would do differently now: not go to Florida !
The stories I read are very alarming: Florida is becoming totally hostile to living aboard and/or anchoring. One or both are being outlawed in most of Florida, it seems. And marinas and boatyards are disappearing, bought out to build waterfront condos. If I were looking to buy and live aboard today, as a US citizen, I think I'd go to Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands and buy and cruise/live there instead of in Florida.

It's a very individual choice. Making the transition was stressful even for me, a single guy living in an apartment, with lots of money. The same transition for a couple with kids, pets, a house or two, maybe older, maybe less healthy, maybe less available money, maybe more ties to church or neighborhood, would be harder.

Think long and hard before doing it. Research it: read this web site, especially my Lifestyle of Living on a Boat page.

Also, there's more and more pressure against this lifestyle, as the coasts get built up and towns get desperate for more revenue and more space. Marinas are being sold and demolished to build waterfront condominiums. Marinas are restricting the number of liveaboards, mostly because they use the facilities more than non-resident boaters. Towns are outlawing anchoring and filling their harbors with moorings that cost $5 to $10 or more per night. Spilling oil anywhere, or running aground in coral or protected areas, can result in huge fines. Countries are raising their entry fees or the prices of their cruising permits. Boat insurance costs are skyrocketing, and more restrictions are being added. Canals and marinas and waterways are silting up, and environmental rules and government lack of funding are preventing dredging.

But the first step toward doing it, simplifying your life, is worth doing anyway. Start getting rid of material possessions right now. That pays off in many ways, even if you don't end up on a boat. Same for the other big step: saving money (mainly, stop spending it).

This is hard to say, because a lot of the boat costs have been things that should have been upgraded 5 or 10 years ago (gate valves, charging system, ground tackle). And I've put off some costs (some rigging, new sails, air conditioner repair, freezer upgrade).

Now that the upgrades are mostly done, I think boat maintenance will be $5k per year or less (doing virtually all the work myself). Fuel another $1K to $2K per year (but rising).

I think I'm living on $5k per year of personal expenses. But I've always lived cheaply; I don't go to restaurants and bars, don't buy a lot of stuff.

See the "My Costs To Date" section of my Costs page.

While in USA:
More and more, Wi-Fi signals are becoming common. This means I can connect my own laptop to the internet, which is great for copying files back and forth, and updating the software. Sometimes the Wi-Fi signals are inside libraries or (for a fee) cybercafes, but sometimes they can be found free on the street or even used right from the boat (the ultimate luxury).

...

> You mention in your daily log file that you do your banking
> via a wireless connection (from a foreign country).
> Security people tell me that this is not safe, that your
> passwords,bank account numbers, etc can be compromised.
> Do you think this is true? I am travelling to Antigua for
> 30 days and need to pay bills remotely. All connections are
> HTTPS but can't the wireless provider defeat this?
> Just curious if you have had any trouble.

[2/2012] I have never had a problem, and I've used a LOT of connections from half a dozen different countries, not to mention various libraries and other public computers in the USA.

Yes, theoretically it is possible that an ISP or internet cafe could capture your info. Probably most likely threat is that a computer in an internet cafe could have a key-logger program installed on it. These days, I'm almost always using my laptop, not their computer.

The only time I heard of a cruiser having a problem was when they were using Yahoo Mail on a computer in a cafe in Luperon DR. Internet went down, and they left. Internet must have come back up soon, someone else sat down at that computer and was still logged into their email, and deleted everything (email, address book), maliciously.

I wash and rinse with fresh (drinking) water.
Use liquid laundry detergent.
Agitate by hand.
Let it soak for a while.
Dry the clothes on the lifelines.
Probably takes 4-5 gallons of water for a small load; up to 10 gallons for a big load.
Gets the clothes about 70% clean; not as good as machine-washing.

I've left it anchored several times, and haven't had a problem yet.

• I find a well-protected harbor or wide creek, in a high-visibility area.
• Put down two big anchors, with all-chain rodes, with good scope.
• Put the anchors down a week or more before I leave, to make sure they're well set and I'm not swinging near anything.
• If it's hurricane season, assume a hurricane will hit the boat while I'm away, and prepare the boat accordingly.
• Get someone to keep a bit of an eye on the boat while I'm gone, if possible.
• Lock the dinghy and bike to the boat.
• Lock the hatches, although someone determined could get in.
• The large size of the boat is a deterrent; it's a bit of an effort for someone to climb aboard, and my valuable solar panels are high up on top of the pilothouse, strongly mounted, and large and unwieldy. Theft from a smaller boat would be easier: someone just stands up in their dinghy and tears off a small solar panel.
• Getting dinghy rides to/from the boat require imposing on a friend or bumming a ride from someone.

I don't think boat-books are very lucrative. Much of the info on this site is from other people, so I couldn't use it in a book. And a web site is better than a book: much more up-to-date, links to other info, and I'm always getting email from interesting people.

Most of the web site is best done as web pages: big pages where I can control the organization. Much of the content comes from other places, so putting it into blog entries would be inappropriate.

I could change just the log file into a true blog, but:

• I'd have to separate it from the rest of the web site, probably.
• I want a totally free host.
• I want to be able to make a little money from Google Ads and Amazon Associates.
• I don't want to have to deal with user registration, spam, flames.
• I want to be able to move all of my content elsewhere later, if needed.
• I want to be able to go back and update past log entries as needed.
• I want to be able to search past log entries easily.

Not really, but I do try to do some maintenance-type chore every day, to get a sense of accomplishment if nothing else. And there have been whole months when I worked away on several big projects fairly continuously. But my log file may give a maintenance-heavy impression, because I always record the maintenance activities, and don't write about times I'm reading, listening to the radio, doing routine cleaning or hygiene, etc. And a fair amount of time is chewed up launching the dinghy, traveling somewhere, hoisting it later, etc. Maybe the equipment failures are the most interesting things to write about and read about, and the most memorable ? I certainly don't feel that my boat is always breaking down.

Generally, I really like the lifestyle. Tons of time to read and listen to radio and see new places. Some snorkeling, some nice people, etc.

I'm not a party animal; never was. I enjoy reading and radio and music and quiet things. Since I don't go to bars and restaurants, I'm not good at meeting women. I'm a bit of a loner, but I enjoy a good conversation. The wider lesson: don't expect your life and personality to change to "constant wild parties and sex" just because you've bought a boat and are cruising; your lifestyle depends on you.

Yes, since we're physically apart, and not pursuing similar lives (kids, work, etc), I've found old friendships tend to get tenuous. But I'm making new friendships among cruisers. Of course, when we head in different directions, we may lose contact with each other.

Email and Facebook help me keep contact with relatives and friends.

I mention my dinners mainly to shame myself into eating better.
Breakfast usually is a cup of granola, and lunch usually is a PB-banana or PB-jelly sandwich, with iced tea made from teabags.

I have no idea what the fishing regulations are, and they don't seem to be easy to find out in many of these islands. And I cross a lot of borders from one country or territory to another, so I'd have to be careful. Although I've almost never heard of the authorities busting sailboaters for illegal fishing, and I'm sure some cruisers do it.

Fishing at anchor is a different story: you don't want to fish in a dirty harbor, and you don't want to fish anywhere near a reef (because of ciguatera). So fishing at anchor isn't very practical. Although some people do it.

Once you're on your boat for a week or two, you quickly learn what you do and don't have to close when it rains. My boat has a pilothouse, so I can leave the main hatch open in all but the windiest rains. Yes, it gets hot and humid and uncomfortable down below. Often I can sit in the pilothouse, where it is better. The worst is at night, if there's no wind and a very light rain: you're stuck lying there in hot and humid conditions with everything closed up, unable to sleep.

At the dock, the rain situation is more complicated because the boat can't swing to face into the wind. So rain coming from stern, say, may change which hatches or ports can stay open.

Also, you quickly learn where the deck-leaks are on your boat. Sometimes they change according to the direction and strength of rain and wind.

I took sailing classes, but I still think navigation is pretty easy to learn on your own. With GPS, a chart, and good alertness, it's easy. Maintenance is harder to learn, but with some books and willingness to buy tools and give it a go, you can learn it. Figuring out your own style of living aboard (how much you want to cook, where to do laundry, how to run the dinghy, etc) takes some experimentation.

Docking still makes me nervous: I don't like to be near hard stuff that I can run into, especially other people's boats (very expensive hard stuff). That's one reason I stay out of marinas. Takes practice to learn how your boat handles, how your slip is situated, etc. Having help aboard the first several times would be good.

I'm not a real "party" type of guy, and I'm trying to live for the rest of my life on my savings so I don't want to spend a lot of money in bars. So I don't meet a lot of women.

I do know some guys down here who are trying hard to meet women, and generally failing. I don't think local islanders socialize much with the boaties, unless the boatie is turning into a permanent resident. Even then, there is a separation.

Probably if you had a job ashore and a car and maybe had the boat in a marina, and enough money to spend time in bars and restaurants, it wouldn't be too hard to meet someone. Living cheaply and at anchor and being transient, it would be much harder.

And among single boaters everywhere, the ratio of men to women is about 50 to 1.