Liveaboards or cruisers?

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by BajaBound2024

Before we leave for Mexico in 2024, my husband needs to work remotely from the boat 5 days a week. We can only move on the weekends. He has a management job so he's on a lot of calls. He thinks it might be easier to do it in a marina.

As others have said
STARLINK

We don't need no stinkin marina

[wgerstmyer]

There are many “comforts” to living at a marina. I have done so at DiMillos right in downtown Portland Maine several winters and it’s a blast to be downtown for $500/month.
And true, live aboard situations are getting tougher to find, as you’ve been hearing in this thread.
But you really are transient, and the good news is that being a transient and having a better time as one rather than being a “slip rat” is getting more and more doable all the time. Anchoring, moorings, dinghy docks, Space X, solar panels, good batteries, water makers …. These recent amenities have allowed us to live and work almost anywhere so the joys of sailing can be blended with the joys of an off the grid footprint.
Yes, I appreciate there are extra steps involved and it is not as “comfortable” as simply stepping off your boat onto the dock, but the adventure awaits and if you wanted to stay at the edge of the pool you wouldn’t have opted for a sailboat.
Did I mention the comfort of doing your own maintenance?

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by Davidadventure

Hi all,

I’m a complete noob to sailing but my wife sailed in her youth and is great at it (I had some ‘in the deep end’ training on a Whitsundays voyage 15 years ago). I would like to purchase a small residence in a Mediterranean island and buy a Prout Snowgoose. I’ve lined up the training available but for me it seems life on the seas is the way forward. I’m not some yuppie looking for a bit of fun but I would love the freedom. I can do my job with a laptop but this forum seems ideal for any advice I might need. I’ve spoken to the owner of a Prout I like in London. These posts make me believe that I can ‘live the dream’ but am I dreaming? Apologies if this is inappropriate. I currently own prime real estate in London but I fear that the economy’s going to hell and would like to sail away. My IFA thinks I’m mad but that’s in their interests I suppose.

I would be cautious about basing a lifestyle change around a Whitsundays trip.

Assuming this was on a charter catamaran, you will find these quite a different experience to a longer-term boat.

Charter boats are typically underpowered and the Whitsundays are a very benign sailing area.

I see you’re gaining further experience so you should be better placed after that.

[Papasail]

“Finding a slip” is an endemic problem, and unfortunately has become part of the liveaboard/ cruiser lifestyle.

Two consistent factors in finding a slip: the more people, the more difficulty; the more people, the higher the cost. Bonus round is that the more pleasant a place is, the more people are attracted to the area.

Case in point, I wanted to retire to Florida by virtue of loving vacations there in my youth…. but I did my due diligence, and saw that America has moved there en masse. Once I figured that out, Florida was off the menu…. now, in follow up, I am discovering that I was clairvoyant: the problems with living in Florida have gone catastrophically exponential.

So…. to put it mildly, create a new way of looking at things: “less people, is better people”.

I live in Maine, and am in love.
the mooring fee is $85 (per year).
Try that ~anywhere~ else.

As to California, the further north you go ~toward Washington~ the cheaper and easier it will be to find a slip, though often liveaboard slips can have a year’s waiting list…. a.k.a., an endemic problem.

Get as close to amenities, and as far away from (people), as you can.
Therein, lies the rub.

[Corvidae]

$85 a year is great, if you live on an ice breaker.

There are lots of cheap marina's up North, all with a similar problem, winter. Pretty much the same down to around Virginia to North Carolina. Once you're South of there, they have running water year round. Which is needed, because a water maker is really not a good option until you reach very South Florida or the Bahama's.

[Papasail]

Guess you missed the point…. during the winter, I’m not in Maine, I’m in the Bahamas…

Climate change is turning summers into heat events, and June is when hurricane season kicks off and tradewinds shift north. All this makes winter prime time for cruising. And climate science shows that “the south” is headed my way,,, and faster than expected.

I lived in Arkansas (read that: landlocked) for 60 years… and not one tornado during winter, rarely in the fall…. this year, over 100 tornados during the fall, and 54 during the winter. Being peaceful in this conversation, EVERYTHING is changing for everyone…. we will all have to be more hypervigilant about the weather than ever before. Maine, during the fall, is absolutely heavenly. Stunningly beautiful actually…. and then off to the bahamas. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Youtube carries a great series about climate change from PBS, called “Terra”. They asked 6 of the world’s climate change specialists where the safest places were to live in the U.S…. and Maine dominates the charts.