C.A.R.I.B. II

The fact that we're living on a boat--and have been for the past 4 months--still catches us by surprise.  Early in the year living on a boat was simply one of our possible retirement options, but we thought we were at least a year away from making any decisions.  But Pat stopped working full-time in January and Lon followed suit in April, and at that point we decided we could start looking seriously for a boat that would allow us to live aboard and be suitable for future "Great Loop" cruising.  Little did we know that it would only take a week to find such a boat and have it under contract!    

Our new home is a 42-foot trunk cabin trawler, built in the year 2000 by the Ricker Brothers of Bradenton, FL.  It has a very open, airy salon, two staterooms (bedrooms), two heads (bathrooms), and a "one butt" galley (kitchen).   The boat also has lots of lovely outdoor space, including a large, covered flybridge.

The original C.A.R.I.B. was the houseboat that we owned from 2002-2005 and kept on the Mississippi River just south of St. Paul, MN.  C.A.R.I.B. stood for "Chill and Relax It's Boat-time" and was meant to reflect our hopes for our time on the boat as well as the relaxation that we'd always enjoyed on trips to the Caribbean islands.  It just seemed natural to apply the same name to the trawler, but with a "II" to denote its status as the second of our CARIBs.

             

So far, so good.  We've transitioned from 1700 sf of condo to 400 sf of boat without feeling claustrophobic or having second thoughts.  Now it's on to planning for our Great Loop cruise, which we hope to start next spring.