Seven years ago on Mother’s Day weekend, Randy, his father (John), my father (Steve), and I brought Blue Turtle home from Long Boat Key, FL. It was a whirlwind weekend trip filled with excitement and maybe a few thoughts of, “oh dear, what have we gotten ourselves into?” At the time, we really had no idea how it would change our life and our perspective of it. All we knew is that we loved being on the water and the only way for us to reach our dream of cruising right away (instead of waiting for retirement) was to forgo the house and live aboard.

Now, with a teenage boy and his own busy schedule, we aren’t cruising as often as we would like.  We still love living aboard and the lifestyle it provides us. Randy feels that by living aboard, he has become closer to Corey and we have all become closer as a family.  We love that most evenings we will sit on the bridge at sunset just talking or reflecting on our day, something we wouldn’t do if living in a house.  We hope that some day Corey will understand the uniqueness of growing up on the water and around boats.

After living aboard for 7 years now, Randy and I have no plans to move back to land anytime soon. Our plan for the next 3 years is to continue raising and supporting Corey through his high school years and through his wake boarding passion. When Corey graduates high school and heads off to college, we plan (and hope) to be able to start cruising full time. We’ve been able to do a lot of local Southwest Florida and Keys cruising but really want to travel further.

Highlights from this past year

Past living aboard anniversary posts

• 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!