Liveaboard's

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Welcome to the forum, Obsessed1. I believe that you are just waking up (ala Matrix), and have realized that there is more to life than the 30 year commitment to making someone else rich. Back in my younger days, I worked out of FL during the winter running fishing charters and I would see these Senior citizens wandering around with hollow looks on their faces and when they found out I was from AK, they would exclaim "I always wanted to go to Alaska, but then I got married, and then we got kids, and then I got too old". To me they looked like husks, used up by life and were just waiting for the final bell to toll. I swore by all that was holy, that would not be me. It all depends on your personal priorities.

+1

I've been thinking/working towards getting out and living a fulfilling life but I have a wife who wants to keep trying to reel me into the dilusional "American Dream" with the big house and "high-paying" government job.

I know better.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

+1

I've been thinking/working towards getting out and living a fulfilling life but I have a wife who wants to keep trying to reel me into the dilusional "American Dream" with the big house and "high-paying" government job.

I know better.

One thing I have learned, is that there are a lot more people who want you to be working until you die, than people who want you to be enjoying life.

[redhead]

Dear Obessessed: (God, I feel like Ann Landers)
"Am I just going through a mid-life crisis and all will be well as soon as I get a cruiser?"

Time will tell. If it's a phase you will grow out of it and something new will interest you. If it's something you're meant to do, the thought won't leave you.
I never saw the ocean till I was 11. I knew then I had to live near it and as time went on I knew I had to live on it.

Learn about boats. Wander marinas and boat shows. If someone invites you aboard, go. Follow these forums. It's not going to happen tomorrow so give yourself a break. I had to wait more than a decade after deciding to live aboard and go cruising - very frustrating, but I passed the time learning skills.

We're on the boat now, fixing her up to move on. But the day we cast off is not the first day of the adventure - that was the day 12 years ago we decided to do it. Good luck and welcome.

[Lennie]

Hi all,
I didn’t mean to offend anyone, at the time I found the comment amusing. I thought I posted a response last night but being homeless (living in a RV until we get the boat moved and all our belongings in storage) our internet is sketchy.
It was more a comment on how we would see a street person with a grocery cart wearing old dirty but sensible clothing for living outside wandering the water front. Then usually a couple pushing a dock cart dressed in much better outdoor wear, worn and well loved but clean would walk by. Obviously live aboard’s or a couple on a longer cruise.
We spent 2 months living out of a backpack sailing and rock climbing in Greece. By the end of the trip our gear was getting a little worn and our well loved clothing was getting a little thread bare. So I imagine once we start cruising we will fit in looking a step up from the homeless.
Len

[FamilyVan]

Lennie, I don't think you offended any body. I think most of us wear our crocs and hairy faces with distinct pride. It's like a badge saying you found out how to win the rat race.
I look like a bum because I chose to, not because I have to.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[SV THIRD DAY]

Absolutely....
I haven't owned a pair of "real shoes" since we left in 2008!
When I work the boat show booth, I do dress it up a little bit from my normal Crocs to my Dress Crocs with leather tops!

[Lennie]

I'm lobbying hard to get my wife to quit and head south and see how far we can go. Making progress as she found our new dream boat and living aboard was her idea to take a step toward cruising full time. Would love to get back to the Med and climb and sail until my body won't do it anymore.

[Wrong]

A cruiser AND liveaboard for upwards of 24 years now, I can attest to the fact cruisers and liveaboards look more alike than different over time. If you haven't heard this before, it pretty well applies to both - except liveaboards are more likely than not diverge from the rule than cruisers. What's the difference between cruisers and the homeless? The homeless wear shoes.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by soverel

I dont worry much about what people think of me.

I personally dont think much of Jack Welch. And I have never heard a derogatory joke about liveaboards. But cant count the number of jokes ive heard about Bill Gates.

And as for the homeless, they dont usually last to long as liveaboards. Most give up before they drown.



Sent from my HUAWEI-M931 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Thanks for the lesson! I had to "google" Jack Welch,- 'never heard of him.

I think another lesson that many seem to need is to understand the difference between homeless and houseless!

Of course the biggest difference between cruisers or liveaboards and the homeless is that the cruisers & liveaboards have homes!

[Lepke]

"you can tell who the liveaboard's are, they look a step up from the homeless"

Maybe, but it beats any house, neighborhood or city I ever seen.

[Hudson Force]

I grew up in my parent's house an it suited us fine. I've nothing against houses or neighborhoods ashore. I have not spent my 43 years living on a boat because I'm trying to escape houses. I just happen to like the life on my boat.

Most people that are successful liveaboards and cruisers are thrilled with life on the water, not disappointed with life on the land or trying to escape something undesirable.

[Greenhand]

OP, were you referring to the part of the San Diego waterfront between the Coast Guard Station and the cruise terminal? If so, that is almost entirely transient, so not only were they liveaboards, they were mostly cruisers, setting off to goodness knows where. Scares the bejeebees out of me to imagine setting off in many of them, and I once saw a sailboat complete with flower pots there, but it is technically transient anchorage and moorage, especially the med moorings against the seawall.

[captain58sailin]

I am most comfortable at sea, and as soon as I complete my refit, it is going to be hard to keep me in port. I guess, I am most comfortable with a nomadic life, I sure don't understand most land based rules. I just recently learned that I can't fish off of the dock in the harbor. I have never heard of such foolishness!

[Yeti]

Originally Posted by Greenhand

OP, were you referring to the part of the San Diego waterfront between the Coast Guard Station and the cruise terminal? If so, that is almost entirely transient, so not only were they liveaboards, they were mostly cruisers, setting off to goodness knows where. Scares the bejeebees out of me to imagine setting off in many of them, and I once saw a sailboat complete with flower pots there, but it is technically transient anchorage and moorage, especially the med moorings against the seawall.

This area is just a "regular" mooring field in SD. There's a waitlist and occasionally there is a "transient" space available for a specific amount of time. The real deal transient/cruiser's anchorage is west of the Coast Guard Station between there and Harbor Island. My boat has been out in this mooring field for over 2 years now but I am happily living with the GF out in La Mesa.

I will say that a lot of those boats out there do look kind of rough and that there are also some pretty rough looking folks living out there as well. But there are some regular folks out there too. They just don't "stick out" like the rough folks.

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by Yeti

This area is just a "regular" mooring field in SD. There's a waitlist and occasionally there is a "transient" space available for a specific amount of time. The real deal transient/cruiser's anchorage is west of the Coast Guard Station between there and Harbor Island. My boat has been out in this mooring field for over 2 years now but I am happily living with the GF out in La Mesa.

I will say that a lot of those boats out there do look kind of rough and that there are also some pretty rough looking folks living out there as well. But there are some regular folks out there too. They just don't "stick out" like the rough folks.

Yes, the mooring field is permanent, but I thought that the med moorings and the anchorage that you can see better from shore were transient.