Favourite places to live on the hook

[scottfree1]

Originally Posted by CookiesnTequila

There's a lot of talk about mooring fields taking away anchorages.

Do you know the ins/outs on med mooring/cans? I.e. are they typically for rent or for purchase (costs??).Also if you own beach front land, do you know what your rights/process if you want to install a mooring?

[Chriswlan]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Pretty sure you can get visa extensions to 12 months easily enough and possibly longer.

Don't forget New Cal: great place to cruise around and be on the hook; can get chilly in winter, if desired. And if you got a EU passport... Expensive though.

A scheme to avoid hurricanes, while cruising the So Pac: try Hawaii [not too much free mooring...] > Fanning island with nice cooling Trades (?4 months max Immig??) > French Pol.... and back.

Christian

[Triples]

If you want to experience large cruiser communities on the hook there's one in George Town, Bahamas every winter and another on the south coast of Grenada every summer. They both have a ton of cruiser friendly activities that are loosely organized and usually low budge. Some folks make every effort to avoid these scenes and some folks love them. You may need to try them to find out which kind you are. ;^)

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by CookiesnTequila

We've been living aboard for almost 4 years now in the Med. We would not heasitate to stay at anchor all winter. The only reason we don't is the live-aboard communities in the main livaboard marinas are lots of fun

There's a lot of talk about mooring fields taking away anchorages. That is true, but our experience has been that that ia only happening in the real hotspots that most livaboards would not want to spend much time at anyway (lile the core anchorages in the BVI or Grenadines). There are so many gorgeous anchorages a person could spend 20 years here and not see them all.

We'd also agree that the safety factor of the Med can't be beat, but I don't think the Caribbean is quite so bad that you would want to miss it!

Get in your boat, cast off the lines and go where the wind takes you!!

seems that you folk are having a good time ,, a Catana 50 is a fair sized boat ..

[PutSon IV]

Originally Posted by SY Kelpie

We're two or three years away from setting off on our liveaboard adventure, and starting to get quite excited at possible destinations and itineraries.

As our budget will probably be quite tight we hope to spend most of our time living on the hook. But I am aware that there are areas of the world where this simply isn't possible, due to lack of natural harbours, or anchoring fees, congestion caused by moorings, etc.

Our home cruising ground is the wonderful west coast of Scotland. Abundant islands, inlets, anchorages; stunning scenery; shelter and good holding to be found never more than half a day's sail away. I won't mention the weather- nowhere is perfect!

Given that this is the sort of cruising that we are used to, what other parts of the world should we be getting excited about? I know it's a very open question but it would be great to compile a rough list of places/areas where it's feasible to live on the hook.

Thanks in advance

Gulf coast of Florida 1. Maximo Park Anchorage near GIWW, in St. Petersburg. Nice boat docks 5 min dinghy ride away. One mile south of Anchorage is a 65 ft bridge crossing over into Tampa Bay under the Skyway. Municipal Marina an hour and a half away has excellent services. Especially the cheap pump out. 2. Sarasota Bay Anchorage downtown area not far from the Big Pass (high tide and local Knowledge desired). 3. Anclote Anchorage near Tarpon Springs.

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by SY Kelpie

We're two or three years away from setting off on our liveaboard adventure, and starting to get quite excited at possible destinations and itineraries.

As our budget will probably be quite tight we hope to spend most of our time living on the hook. Our home cruising ground is the wonderful west coast of Scotland. Given that this is the sort of cruising that we are used to, what other parts of the world should we be getting excited about? Thanks in advance

Given: Tight budget. Not sure where to go. Used to West coast, Scotland. Willing to explore. Apparent long-term time frame. Can you fish? Eat shellfish & seaweed? British passports, right? So...

Trip One: Ireland, then hook a left into the Med. Explore. Winter in Majorca. (Quite low cost during the off season.) Over to the Carib. Explore. Up North & explore...Maine, Nova Scoatia, Newfoundland.

Then decide. Is that lifestyle suitable? Can you, your partner, and the boat handle it? Not your cup of tea, then back to Scotland. But....

Trip Two: Set sail down to the Carib. Explore. Through the Canal. Up the coast & hook a right into Pudget Sound. Spend a year or two or three playing. Six months in Washington State (bouncing around the San Juan Islands) then six months in British Columbia (East coast, Vancouver Island). Repeat as necessary. Ready now? Want to get a little warmer? Okay...

Trip Three: Down to Mexico, exploring along the way. (Check out something called "The Baja Ha Ha" Might be fun.) Then the big leap west to the Marquesas Islands and the rest of French Polynesia. (Check into something called the " Puddle Jumpers" who do the coconut run. Might be fun.) Lay over for hurricane/cyclone season(s) as desired or press on and continue island hopping across the South Pacific. Explore. Tonga has multiple inlets/coves in the volcano-remnants of the Vavaʻu island group that have served as cyclone holes. Duck down to New Zealand & drop the hook in the Bay of Islands. Explore. Regroup. Ready?

Trip Four: East Coast, Australia.

That's about four to forty years of your life so far. Don't want to hang around some of those places for (insert reasons)? Want more? Then New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa (etc.) Tired of the tropics? Then up to Japan, Russian far east, over to Alaska. All beckon.

Or go west (kind of) to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India. Get ready to fend off pirates & head to the Red Sea for transit through the Suez Canal. Alternative... Pop down to Capetown, South Africa.

Do your research. Prepare your boat, yourself, and your crew.

HEED other boaters who've been there, done that. Then decide... And Go!

Bon voyage!

[Peterbreit]

Cherod, I would first explore the Mediterranean, especially the eastern portion. Croatia, Greece and Turkey. Then work yourself west to the Canaries' and to the Caribbean in Spring. Mt favorite cruising place is still the BVI and American Virgin Islands. Plenty of anchorages or moorings if you prefer. For the hurricane season you have to make a choice to go back further south or north past the Bahamas to at least north of Florida, better north of North Carolina. Bermuda maybe... Coming from the UK these are all places you can stay quite some months if you care to.


BTW. I have a Beneteau Oceanis 461 and met a Scottish couple in Florida who had their B461 sailed from Scotland to Stuart, Florida. Didn't have time to do it themselves. Not sure where they are now.
Anyway you will be pleased to find tides of 2-3 feet. I have seen your tides in Scotland...
Cheers and best of luck.

[CookiesnTequila]

Originally Posted by scottfree1

Do you know the ins/outs on med mooring/cans? I.e. are they typically for rent or for purchase (costs??).Also if you own beach front land, do you know what your rights/process if you want to install a mooring?

No I don't. I've often wondered but never enough to do the research. A great place to get info on anything related to sailing or cruising in the Med is the "Med SIling" facebook group.

We avoid all moorings, harbours and marinas like the plague! First thing we did when we moved aboard is upgrade our ground tackle to overkill status. We sleep very comfortably and would much rather be on our anchor - in any condition - than anyplace else!!

We've seen too many marina pontoons that have broken loose, boats broken loose in marinas drift onto other boats, moorings that have parted, etc. Seclusion and distance between are our best friends!!

Cheers

[CookiesnTequila]

Originally Posted by Cherod

seems that you folk are having a good time ,, a Catana 50 is a fair sized boat ..

Almost too big for a retired couple! Lots of maintenance, but we're loving it!

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Peterbreit

Cherod, I would first explore the Mediterranean, especially the eastern portion. Croatia, Greece and Turkey. Then work yourself west to the Canaries' and to the Caribbean in Spring. Mt favorite cruising place is still the BVI and American Virgin Islands. Plenty of anchorages or moorings if you prefer. For the hurricane season you have to make a choice to go back further south or north past the Bahamas to at least north of Florida, better north of North Carolina. Bermuda maybe... Coming from the UK these are all places you can stay quite some months if you care to.


BTW. I have a Beneteau Oceanis 461 and met a Scottish couple in Florida who had their B461 sailed from Scotland to Stuart, Florida. Didn't have time to do it themselves. Not sure where they are now.
Anyway you will be pleased to find tides of 2-3 feet. I have seen your tides in Scotland...
Cheers and best of luck.

well thank you for that PB, but it was not me who was asking , it was SY Kelpie , ( i just offered a few opinions ) , but i do also have a Beneteau , a 36 ft catamaran , which i hope will be taking my good wife and myself to the Med nxt year so your input is much appreciated by me ... ta R

[Fullmoon]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Aw come on you guys, even I don’t do winter there, and I have lived aboard frozen in before. Burrr!

We have spent the last two winters between the Bahamas and the Carribean. We spend the vast majority of time “on the hook.” The difficulty in this is hurricane season. Safe anchorages are of short supply.

Luperon in the Dominica Republic. We like that a lot, very inexpensive.

Rio Dulce in Guatemala, big live aboard community, lots of services. But it’s sorta down a wind hole, takes some determination to get out of there.

Grenada and South are pretty storm free. Maybe you spend the hurricane season between Grenada, Trinidad, Ghana for the truly adventurous, ABCs, then Cartagena, Columbia before bashing back up to the leewards and restarting the cycle?

I lived on my sailboat in the British Virgin Islands for a year and a half. Many people that I talked with said the BVI is as good as it gets. Lots of places to shelter on the hook and numerous balls to pick up. You will have to leave and go back periodically but the USVI is about two miles away. You can go South for the hurricane season. Living on a boat is a lot different than most people think. You live on SALT WATER which means constant maintenance. You have to monitor your water, fuel, batteries, weather and other boats around you. It is a great life, but not for everyone. Good Luck

[SY Kelpie]

Thanks for all the replies, suggestions and advice- a lot to mull over!
A couple of people mentioned that I hadn't specified the boat or scenario- I thought my boat was displayed beside my username but just in case that doesn't work, it's currently a 33ft lift keel yacht. Pretty versatile as she only draws 3'6 with the board up. However we are probably going to move up to a bigger boat of maybe 37-40ft drawing 6ft or so.

As to scenario, we hope to be financially able to keep on the move indefinitely and do not want to have to stop to seek work. We will be renting out our house so flying home is actually going to be very expensive for us as we will lose that income unless we stay with family. We expect to have sufficient income to live comfortably but only if we avoid daily berthing/mooring fees.

I know that many people stop for part of the year, but ideally we would want to minimise this- yes there's always some maintenance required but if we wanted to be sedentary we wouldn't be moving onto a boat! The dream scenario is to follow the trades and only settle in a place if we really like it.

Anyway having said all of that... I was hoping to just compile a big list of people's favourite areas for cruising where anchoring remains free and reasonably easy/safe. Not trying to pick a 'best' place- really just trying to whet my appetite and explore the possibilities whilst we wait another few years before casting off the lines

[Juho]

I propose to sail to the archipelagos of Sweden and Finland. You will have lots of good places to set your hook in.

[gulfislandfred]

I'll add my voice to BC, any time from March to September/October. Summer can be crowded, but not by European standards. There's always another anchorage a bit farther North, or up one of the inlets, off the beaten track. You can go all the way to Alaska, and work your way back as fall comes on. San Juan Islands in the US are nice, too.


Winter can be wet and gray. Not super cold, but it gets dark at 4:30, stays dark until 8:30 AM. With the damp and rain, it can seem like a long time until spring. Then, sometimes, we get weeks of crystal clear skies in January. Lovely sailing, if you have a warm cabin to duck into, lots of empty anchorages in the Gulf Islands in winter.



If you wait beyond the beginning of September, it may be too late to go down the West Coast for a warm winter. I'm not familiar with sailing to Hawaii later in the year. Maybe if you get off the coast, it warms up. Or not.

[CookiesnTequila]

Originally Posted by Fullmoon

I lived on my sailboat in the British Virgin Islands for a year and a half. Many people that I talked with said the BVI is as good as it gets. Lots of places to shelter on the hook and numerous balls to pick up. You will have to leave and go back periodically but the USVI is about two miles away. You can go South for the hurricane season. Living on a boat is a lot different than most people think. You live on SALT WATER which means constant maintenance. You have to monitor your water, fuel, batteries, weather and other boats around you. It is a great life, but not for everyone. Good Luck

We've lived aboard for almost 4 years, in the Med (off to the Caribbean next year). If you want to live in one place like the BVI (we chartered there a dozen times over the years) - I couldn't agree more, a boat is lots of maintenence and I would not recommend it, but that isn't what living aboard is about!

Sailboats are meant to be sailed! We decided that we'd move aboard and start cruising wherever we found the specific model we wanted, which turned out to be in Tunisia - we are Canadian. Over the past 4 years we've "cruised" around parts of (you'd need a lifetime to see it all) Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Montenefri, Malta and of course Tunisia - over 8,000nm. I could not pick a favoirite, all have their own special beauty. We felt at least as safe (mostly safer) and welcome in every one of those countries than we do/are at home.

We are totally self-sufficient. We make our own water and energy and live on anchor whenever possible (it is the safest place to be next to at sea!). Does our boat require maintenence, absolutely! But aside from swimming, fishing, reading, exploring, what else do we have to do, and overall it'sa pretty small price to pay for our lifestyle!

Unless you are just looking for cheap way of living, the whole point of living aboard is to travel and experience the world. We can't wait to sail the BVI in our own boat, and will probably spend a month or so there, but I can't see us staying lomger than that!

I'll try to attach a pic of the view from our cockpit this morning - Valletta Malta (never done that before). We'll be here another week or two, or three, then it's off to Calabria Italy....

My point is, there are great things to see and do almost everywhere. And usually a good anchorage no more than a day's sail from anywhere.

Fair winds all.