Devon towing the U-Haul down from Oregon

On our first day in the Bay Area we moved the boat from the Aquatic Park to a transient slip at Marina Village in Alameda. We weren’t planning to live aboard long term but planned to stay on the boat while we had fun exploring the area and spending time with my sisters. We figured ‘Imi Loa was big enough to cruise on but probably too small to liveaboard while trying to live a normal life with regular jobs, etc.

After a few weeks we took Amtrak back up to Oregon to retrieve our vehicles and our stuff from storage, then we started looking for apartments. Well we should have started the apartment search first because it quickly became clear that our cozy little boat was nicer than most of the available/affordable apartments (the competition for apartments we pretty fierce too, it seemed that a bribe was required to get the better places). We were still enjoying living aboard and the liveaboard fee was so much less than rent that we decided not to get an apartment. So most of the stuff we hauled down from Oregon went to the Salvation Army.

Of course deciding to live aboard full time meant more projects but I will save that for another post.

5 responses to “Deciding to Live Aboard”

  1. Cynthia--the sister who used to live in Richmond Avatar
    Cynthia–the sister who used to live in Richmond

    Welcome to the Bay Area! So glad you finally arrived! Umm. Did I lose some time? It feels like you’ve already been here for years.

  2. Rowan Avatar

    Too much LDS in the 60s? Just trying to bring everything up to date!

  3. Tom hansen Avatar
    Tom hansen

    I am interested in a independence 31 for my next boat.
    I live in the Bay Area, do you have any idea whare your independence is now.
    They are few and far between so I am looking under every rock.
    Thanks for your time,
    Tom

    1. Rowan Avatar

      Hi Tom, the gentleman that bought our Independence lives in Sausalito, but the vessel documentation site now lists a new owner in Berkeley. Not sure if that’s much help but good luck on your search! Rowan

      1. Tom Avatar
        Tom

        Hi Rowan, thanks so much for your reply.
        Much of the fun I have found out in messing with boats is the search, it always leads down an interesting path of cool places and often wonderful people.
        Best of luck to you.
        Tom

Leave a reply to Cynthia–the sister who used to live in Richmond Cancel reply

Welcome!

We are Devon & Rowan and this site is about our life aboard our sailboat, how we got here, and where we hope to go in the future…

We started our boating life in the Portland Oregon area with an Ericson Independence 31 before moving to the SF Bay area. In 2013 we purchased and moved aboard Casita, our Hans Christian 33. In October 2024 we finally cast off the dock lines and headed south. We are currently cruising Mexico with plans to do a Pacific crossing.

We aren’t retired and we aren’t wealthy so we will cruise until we run low on funds or low on fun and then look at our options. Please join us for this next phase of our adventures together.

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