Come sail away, come sail away with me! Doesn't life on the high seas sound like a dream? Why keep it a dream and not make it a reality? One family did just that! They bought a sail boat and have been living full time exploring and having a grand adventure.
The Idaho family hit the Caribbean in their catamaran after selling their house, cars, and much of their belongings. Speaking with Realtor.com®, they explained why they decided to abandon suburbia for adventure. It basically boiled down to feeling like life was passing them by. Brandon and Amber Morse also wanted to spend more time with their children as well.
"I was working as a nurse at the time, so there was an incredible amount of stress that I was carrying around. Plus, we were also just generally fed up with the 9-to-5 grind—it felt like it was stealing the single most important thing we have in this life, our time, especially from our kids," says Amber. "We felt like we were kissing them to bed each night only to send them out the door in the morning not really seeing them until the next bedtime kiss."
They started off by quitting their jobs and living in an RV to travel the country. From there, they decided to sell the house and purchase a boat to sail the world.
"Nicer cars, a nicer house—none of it felt fulfilling," says Amber. "I kept dreaming of being able to travel with our kids and experience adventures that really stretched us beyond our comfort zone. We knew that we'd need the equity from our house in order to afford a type of sailboat that could fit six people comfortably."
Life On A Sail Boat
The family still brings a passive income from an apartment they rent out. They also chose to buy a used boat and invest in sustainable living to cut down on costs. Their sail boat is a Lagoon 450 with four bed rooms, a living room, and a kitchen.
"Boats are like houses in the sense that you can find a boat that matches your budget—from trailer park style to super yacht," says Brandon. "For us, since we knew we were using our equity in our home to purchase a depreciating asset, we wanted to go for a used boat, since most of the depreciation happens in the first five years."
Despite the size of their family, they still get privacy.
An Adventure
"For our family of six, this felt like a size that we could manage for sailing but also for living spaces for the family," says Brandon. "Since the older kids all have their own cabins, they get to have their privacy and they can treat it like their room, so they brought the things that felt most special with them," says Amber. "Brandon and I also have our own cabin, and thankfully, we all have locking doors."
Cutting down on costs is important. The family installed a solar generator to get free power and also avoid docking in marinas.
"We don't go into marinas, and we rarely have to run our generator," says Amber. "We do everything with free solar power—from cooking, to making water with our saltwater desalination water maker, to running our water heater."
It's not all play and no work either. The sail boat's operating systems can be complex. The family is also ruled by the weather, having to outrun their fair share of tropical storms and hurricanes.
"Even though the ocean was so foreign to us, it's provided us with some of the most magical moments I could ever fathom as a family," says Amber. "When there's no land in sight and you have a pod of dolphins playfully swimming at your bow—how can that be topped? The ocean has truly changed us, and living on a boat has changed us.
