Lisa and I are both retired, me from aerospace and Lisa from teaching. Until recently we have been sailors, living aboard now and then. Our last boat, a Little Harbor 54 named Chasseur, was a fine home on the water, but was a challenge at times for just the two of us. So we sold her and contracted for Privateer to be built. She was delivered in October of 2016. By that point we had sold our home in Amherst, NH, moved a few keepsakes to a storage shed and spent a year travelling. The high point of our travels was the three months we spent in Tonga as caretakers for an eco-resort that was closed for the season. True remote island living you can read more about in our post on Tonga.
We commissioned in Stuart, took her to Ft Lauderdale to show her off in the boat show, then headed off to the Bahamas. Our blog posts cover eight years of living aboard full time, travelling from Maine to Turks and Caicos but mostly spending time in the Bahamas for the winters and Newport, RI for the summers. Travelling south in the fall and back north each spring we split our time about 50/50 between the ICW and offshore. Most of our offshore hops were 1-3 days but we did one direct run from central Florida to Newport.
Seven years into a five year plan we decided to sell the boat and move on land. A tough decision for both of us but now that we have been off the boat for a few years we think the timing was pretty good. Still miss the lifestyle, but maybe not the overly exciting weather events, impressive yard bills and endless maintenance.
We did try a transition boat, a Back Cove 372, but after a short stint with her we decided to go full in with the land life and are now boatless. we did keep our kayaks so at least we get out on the water now and then.
Our home in Vero Beach sits over the ICW so our evenings are spent watching the boats go by and when a Krogen passes we drink a toast to a great boat and a great life.