Living aboard vs. cruising

Location: Vero Beach, FL

I love cruising. I'm not so sure about living aboard. The two concepts are separate in my mind. Yes, cruising means living aboard; but not vice-versa.

To me, cruising means traveling to different places. We stay a little while in each place and then move on. There's the adventure of the passage from one place to another. The sea is beautiful and ever changing. Conditions can be challenging. It is interesting and exciting and keeps us on our toes. When we're cruising, our boat is perfect. There's always something new to explore wherever we stop. It's great.

But when we spend a long time in one place, we're "living aboard" with all the attached inconveniences. We can't afford to stay in a slip for more than the occasional one or two nights, so we have limited electricity, we must haul our fresh water to the boat, and land transportation is often a problem. That's why I don't like to stay in one place too long. When we've arrived at someplace new, these are minor issues because there's exploring to be done. But after a few weeks, the galley is just a tiny kitchen. The top-loading refrigerator is a real pain in the butt because whatever I want is buried underneath something else,. The head is just a miniscule bathroom. If I'm going to stay in one place, I miss the conveniences of living on land. Suddenly becoming a dirt dweller again looks pretty good.

As I write this we've been In Vero Beach, FL too long. A nice little condo somewhere sounds very attractive. We still have some repairs to do before we can leave. I hope they get done soon. I wanna go sailing! GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!!