Best US Liveaboard Locations

[bstreep]

The Corpus Christi Marina rules are well enforced. Everything except the alcohol thing - they use the "no alcohol" rule to urge drunks to go to bed! Some folks complain about the rules, but they really do work. For instance, every time you go to the boat, you are required to call and stop by the office and pick up your parking tag. BUT, this lets them know who is and who is not in the marina - and if someone is on your boat, they WILL take care of it.

[Pa La O La]

I'm from St. Pete and friendly ? Pick up a South winds Mag one time. They are free. Then there is the cost! I lived up in the panhandle (Ft. Walton Beach) and it is over double the cost here. They look at you like you are trailer trash when you ask if you allow live aboards. I had a bit of a shock looking for a place down here that would let the wife and I live aboard.

[Pa La O La]

Oh yea, They do like live aboards at the St. Pete municipal but the waiting list for slips under 50 feet is 150. There were three for 50 foot + two weeks ago. That was $100 cheaper than where I'm at now. Now do I want to move?

[Immanuel]

I agree with Starfish 62. I am at a marina up in Broad Creek, (just North of Oriental about 7 miles), that is fairly reasonable, ( $1800.00yr.). We stay for long weekends ( cause we still work ) and there are a couple of liveaboards there, very friendly. Not much in amenities except for a lounge/bathhouse and portable manual pumpout. BUT YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT THE VIEW AND THE QUIET.
I do not know if there is any availability out there. The marinas I know of out there are Point, Ensign, & Paradise cove.
Lot's of places to hang on the hook and Ocracoke not far away.
Good Luck!

[sneuman]

There are a few marinas in Annapolis, but you have to look around.

Actually, I think live aboards are likely to be MORE welcome in the coming months/years. There were a lot of empty slips in Annapolis area this past season and likely to be even more next season.

[cedric.02]

Hey there. San Diego is the spot. Actually $1,500 doesn't seem too bad for the spot. If you had an apartment, it would be that or more a month. With your boat, you get the benefits of your surroundings verses a bunch of buildings to look at.

I agree San Diego is the best place since we don't get hit by hurricanes so far.


Best Regards
Ceddy

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I love being here in San Diego, but it costs an arm and a leg. Nearly $1,500 /month for 43' of boat in a slip. Great place, great marina. But expensive.

We haven't had a hurricane hit San Diego as far back as written records go.

[Hudson Force]

We've lived aboard for thirty-seven years; we arrive at a marina; we pay the monthly rate. We don't hesitate to admit to being "fulltime cruisers" that don't own anything that is not on the boat. Our legal address is St. Brendan's Isle at Green Cove Springs, Fl. This legal residence is on or driver's licenses, passports, checks, voter's registration....everything!....We've spent years at marinas thart "don't allow liveaboards". Our vessel does not appear diffferent from those that are only weekend sailors. We have kept long term slips in Florida, Maryland, & South Carolina. We might call ahead to a marina and ask if they have a transient slip for a couple of months, but we never ask on the phone if they have slips for liveaboards. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

We've lived aboard for thirty-seven years; we arrive at a marina; we pay the monthly rate. We don't hesitate to admit to being "fulltime cruisers" that don't own anything that is not on the boat. Our legal address is St. Brendan's Isle at Green Cove Springs, Fl. This legal residence is on or driver's licenses, passports, checks, voter's registration....everything!....We've spent years at marinas thart "don't allow liveaboards". Our vessel does not appear diffferent from those that are only weekend sailors. We have kept long term slips in Florida, Maryland, & South Carolina. We might call ahead to a marina and ask if they have a transient slip for a couple of months, but we never ask on the phone if they have slips for liveaboards. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

It is always easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by goshea

Of course, you can hang out (literally) at the Sunset Beach Bar on St Maarten and you're getting half price drinks (topless women drink for free) and you can watch the tourists get blown around on the beach by departing 747s

See, I always thought topless women were cheap dates!

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by johneri1

Opps, wrong one, Here it is:

www.portofnewport.com/

Hey, the other one may be friendly too!

Heh, yeah, that "other Newport" has got to be far too expensive for most of us to live aboard. Plus, it gets REALLY cold there in winters!

By the way, is Newport, Oregon where they fimed part of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"..... the part where Jack N.'s character takes everyone out on a big fishing boat "charter"?

[1stMate49]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

We've lived aboard for thirty-seven years; we arrive at a marina; we pay the monthly rate. We don't hesitate to admit to being "fulltime cruisers" that don't own anything that is not on the boat. Our legal address is St. Brendan's Isle at Green Cove Springs, Fl. This legal residence is on or driver's licenses, passports, checks, voter's registration....everything!....We've spent years at marinas thart "don't allow liveaboards". Our vessel does not appear diffferent from those that are only weekend sailors. We have kept long term slips in Florida, Maryland, & South Carolina. We might call ahead to a marina and ask if they have a transient slip for a couple of months, but we never ask on the phone if they have slips for liveaboards. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

Thank you crew of Aythya! This is very enlightening information. Basically just do it, and don't look like a bum boat. (How do you hide the jerry cans and wind generator?) Since you have been cruising, how have perceptions of full time cruisers changed? More accepted, or less?
And thanks to everyone who has responded! There has been lots of great suggestions we intend to fully investigate. The Cruiser's Forum ROCKS!
1stMate49

[exranger]

The good old crew of Aythya has it down pat. The problem with calling marinas about "liveaboard" slips is that we all can kind of guess who makes up the majority of those calls. Sadly, it's the owners of those run-down (not old, or classic, RUN-DOWN) boats with things falling off and engines that don't work. They want to live cheaply, not pay the slip fee near theend of having worn their welcome out, and leave the area a mess. In my marina we had one guy on a powerboat (a misnomer since it never actually had a functioning engine in the 3 years we were both there), that had two junker cars and tons of parts and plastic tubs all over his boat. We all used to whistle the theme from "Sanford and Son" as we passed it by. He towed it out USING a jetski!!!! Classic.

Anyway, come in and be normal people, keep your boat clean and be respectful and you will rarely have a problem.

[Roy M]

Join a yacht club that allows liveaboards. The cost is often half what a commercial marina is, the folks are generally interesting, experienced in actual sailing, cruising and fishing, and you can walk home from the bar. Plus, when I go cruising, I can pre-pay for my slip fees while I'm gone and have the nicest spot on the Bay when I return. I've done the calcs and it beats owning a house or condo all to pieces.

[Hudson Force]

1stmate49, As to the windgenerator question (I never thought about it), ours is up the mizzen. My avatar is a ten yr. old photo so the radar, wind generator & and solar panels above the dinghy davits are not present. Where we are on the east coast of Florida, there are many non-liveaboard boats with these features because many captains will cross to the Bahamas for a few weeks and find them usefull. We carry 110 gallons of diesel below and 260 gallons of water so we only keep a 2 gal. tank for dinghy gas on deck aft. When I consider your question about how the acceptance of liveaboards has changed since the early 70's, my first thought is little of significance. We used to rent slips for $50 to $80 per month and now the rates are ten times that, but everything else has inflated at about the same rate. I don't find any significant change in the ability to locate slips. In 1973 the only way I was able to move to the marina of my choice was to buy a boat from them! The biggest change is the population dynamic. When we bought our first liveaboard boat in 1971 there seemed to be a few liveaboards of all ages. Now in our sixties, we seem to be flooded by the influx of all the retirees of my generation taking up cruising and living aboard. When we sail to Georgetown in the Exumas now, it looks like an adult day care camp. Marathon and Key West are ripe for "assisted living marinas"! I know they are my generation, but I didn't expect so many to join me. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[sandy daugherty]

Anything to do with boats that insn't expensive is simply an untapped oportunity. Someday we'll pay for wind.