On 5/8/2010 12:40 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
A couple days ago when I was in Stuart moving my boat, I talked to two
couples who were into long term live-aboard and kinda envied em. Then
I drove back to Tallahassee. When I drove down my very shady winding
street with fresh water ponds and huge oak trees with lots of Spanish
Moss, the contrast hit me between this and the open hot sun exposed to
the wind and salt water of being a live aboard cruiser. I grabbed a
tall glass of ice water and went out onto my screen porch and sat in
the swing watching the fireflies that night listening to the owls
talkin to each other and decided I'll never be a live-aboard cruiser.
I s'pose all of my cruising will be short hops cuz coming home is just
so dang nice. Ligustrum and Magnolia is blooming and their scent is
so thick you can almost taste it in the air. Soon it'll be the
gardenias blooming and then Crepe Myrtle and Kudzu, gawd it's nice. I
guess my ancient age of 54 has caused me to slow down and
smell .....all the plants here and decide I like living on land.

I've lived aboard and cruised for a total of six years. I'm now back on
land. There is no need for the apologetic tone to your post. It's not
for everybody any more than running about in a Winnebago is.

The fact is that even poor living on land is more luxurious than rich
living on the sea as far as creature comforts. There is a magic to dawn
in a new anchorage, but there is also the fact of always being damp,
never really still, always in an area hostile to human life (the sea)
and other negative factors.

We hope to be back afloat before our lives are over, but we can't say
when. Right now life with a garden and the prospect of fresh food grown
ourselves is pretty darned attractive.