Cruising Patterns for Liveaboards

[Hudson Force]

My wife Nancie and I thought we were the most typical liveaboard/cruisers, but we were surprised to find some much variety in what people actually do. For our first years we were working as teachers and raising our children while living aboard, so we had a home port that we stayed in most of the year. Cruising was for summers off to the Bahamas or shorter cruises during spring break...Christmas or Easter Holidays, but now as retired liveaboard/cruisers we are more free to choose. What are some of your choices for those in "the same boat"? We seem to have settled into a pattern of north to the Chesapeake or on to Maine in the summer with much anchoring out, but sometimes a month stay at a marina. We're back to our north Florida region for Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and then to the Bahamas, Keys, or Gulf Coast for the rest of the winter until spring. We know other latitude cruisers, like us, that take the two week quick trip north or south and then spend a full five months at their seasonal marina. Others are crossing that line to spend hurricane season south of the risky area down in Trinidad. Others must be always sailing new territory and off to new horizons. We seem to have settled into our pattern and I love to return to many favorite spots. So, what are you fulltime liveaboard cruisers doing out there? Are there West Coast,US lattitude cruisers in the same huge numbers as on the East Coast, US? Is there a significant seasonal flow of European Cruisers? Are you Aussies doing the seasonal cruising? 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[sneuman]

At the moment, I am much more conservative than you. I have a home port and will spend the warm months this year "gunkholing" around the Chessie on weekends. I'm tied to a job (as long as it lasts ... but who knows in this economy?!) and have a new first mate -- she's very eager but needs some time to get used to the boat, so I want to take things slow so as not to kill her enthusiasm. I hope to work up in a few years to an Annapolis to Bermuda crossing and then we'll play it by ear after that. I am in no hurry.

[Jack Tar]

We live aboard in the PNW. We have a very active sailing group here in Puget Sound. Most of the coastal cruising here can be devided into to groups. Around August the cruisers heading for Mexico to do the Baja ha begin to head down the coast. The other half are already busy exploring the rejions of the inland waterway. Canada and it's many beautiful destinations are a choice for many. There are simple trips or trips that take more skill. Large multiple rapids, rocks and large tidal changes make some of the areas a chalenge. The rewards are beautiful waterfalls and pristine forests. Locations with names like Desolation Sound, Octopus Islands, Priates Cove. If your have a very adventurous spirit you can head further north and visit Alaska and its treasures. Make a left turn at the top of Vancouver island and you can circumnavigate the entire island. West coast you ask. Yes we have out large sailing communities too. The big differance is the coast line isn't broken up like the East is. We have the Pacific Northwest, SanFrancisco, LosAngeles, Long Beach, San Diego and Mexico. Plenty to do and see as well as great people to meet.

[Hudson Force]

Jack Tar, I wasn't sure how to interpret the thought that the West Coast isn't "broken up" like the East Coast. Are you referrng to the long stretches without easily accesed inlets?