Who are we anyway?
We've been causing trouble together since June, 1996. We are both ex-corporate types who never really fit in well, but we were at one time very dedicated to the corporate cause. After our division was shut down and we were offered jobs in Chicago we decided to check out of the industrial mainstream and do some living. We love to travel and we have been all over the world the fast way, now we are going to see everything at 6mph.
Our plan to see the world at a slower pace has been incubating for about 8 years and we're finally done just talking about it!
Everyone always asks us: How did you do it? There's no real secret once we decided to live on a boat. We saved at least 50% of every paycheck for almost a decade, didn't have kids, and avoided buying anything that we couldn't take with us. We even shared a car to keep the costs down. Our lives are and were dedicated to keeping money in the bank. People often tell us "how lucky" we are, but it isn't easy. And we continue to not spend much on our living expenses once we are on the boat.
Sadly it isn't a work free relaxing time on the boat either. Things are always breaking and there are no parts places around to buy new ones. The simplier you can live the less things you'll have to spend time trying to figure out how to fix. We also do some web development work like PHP, MySQL, Javascript, Ajax, HTML/CSS, E-commerce type stuff, but it is short term contract work so we are not tied down. Likewise our guidebooks to Central America only sell about 12 a month, making it more of a hobby than anything. Any yes, the books are a sh*t load of work, but we enjoy it.
If you're here on our site looking for a monthly cost analysis, forget it. It costs whatever you can afford. Our needs are different from yours, our boat is different and our cats are different. Decide for yourself what your budget is and then find your own ways to stick to it. Stop obsessing over the "what does it cost to cruise" question and discover what it costs you to live and be comfortable.
I should mention that many cruises are ended early because controlling expenses doesn't stop when you leave the dock. The opposite happens--they often increase. Things break fast and the first reaction is to order new ones requiring shipping, duty, taxes and then usually staying somewhere waiting and hoping it arrives. Figuring out what you can fix yourself, and what is too expensive to maintain is part of the process of controlling your costs. I suppose the same is true if you never even leave land or buy a boat.
Back to us. In our past lives Sherrell was a business operations manager, which meant she made stuff go. And Eric was an electrical engineer who made the stuff. Both of us are glad to be doing something different and living on our own terms, even if this means living like dirt poor rats if we must. The best part is we always have a waterfront view. Despite what all the glossy magazines tell you: it isn't easy. However we can say it is worth it.
And who knows what new crazy adventure we might dream up? Recently we have been traveling with the cats using the worlds largest cat carrier (an old RV we bought). Getting to see friends and family again after 7+ years was fun and hiking the forests has always been a passion of ours.
