You might have noticed I’ve been a bit behind on the blog lately. I literally just posted about prepping for the Bahamas in Vero Beach which happened back in December/January. We’ve since been to the Bahamas and back and are currently in North Carolina on our way north for the summer. I plan to post about the Bahamas and am working on a video of clips from there but first wanted to post about our anniversary.
Every year in May, we celebrate our living aboard anniversary. This year marks 12 years since we made that life-changing decision to think outside-the-box and live an alternative lifestyle. I’m not sure we realized it then that it would change everything. I think we just wanted so badly to be on the water and the only way we could make it happen is if we made it our permanent home. Lots of amazing things happened as a result, like we spent more time outdoors, met lifelong friends, went on bucket-list trips, and even had opportunities to present at Trawlerfest and contribute an article to Passagemaker Magazine. We also learned to live minimally which in turn gave us extra cash to get out of debt and invest. It helped us focus more on experiences rather than things. I could go on and on about the positive impact it’s made in our lives, but I think it’s obvious looking back through all the photos and blog posts of the last 12 years. No, it hasn’t been all sunsets and cocktails. At times, it’s been hard, challenging and soul crushing. But all the positives outweigh those times. Below are a few Blue Turtle stats as well as a bunch of photos from over the years.
Here are some of our living aboard and cruising stats:
- Years living aboard: 12
- Boats owned and lived on: 2
- Marinas we’ve lived aboard full-time: 3
- Blog Posts: 372
- Images uploaded to the blog: 6,882
- Years presenting at Trawlerfest: 4
- Miles cruised since April 2021* (when we started cruising full time): 6,256
*Note: We didn’t keep track on mileage the 9 years on our trawler) - States visited by boat: 7
Past living aboard anniversary posts
- Celebrating 11 years living aboard full-time
- Blue Turtle crew celebrates 10 years living aboard
- 9 Years living aboard! Blue Turtle then & now
- Celebrating 8 years living aboard
- Celebrating 7 years living aboard our trawler
- Blue Turtle crew celebrates 6 years living aboard
- Celebrating 5 years living aboard – reflections and observations
- Four years living aboard!
- Third year living aboard recap
- Celebrating 2 years of living aboard
- Celebrating 1 year living aboard!
Congratulations on your 12 years.
We were sure glad we left Ft Myers Beach mooring field the month before the hurricane. We bought a slip in Port of the Islands Marina in Naples and had no problems at all.
December to June we live on the boat, we now have a Leopard 38 catamaran, in Islamorada Fl at Lorelei Marina & restaurant. If you get down that way we would love to see you guys.
We found a State Farm insurance office in Fl that insures older boats and catamarans with a lot more coverage then we had with Loydds of London and far less costs. Let us know if you want their number.
Thanks again for watching our catamaran in FMB. Peter & Helen