how day charters can pay your liveaboard life (Boatlife stories)
Welcome to Boatlife stories. In this interview series, we talk to liveaboard around the globe about how they made their Boat life dream a reality. In particular, we will look deeper into how they moved on board and are now financing their life on board. We will publish a new story every 2 weeks, so subscribe to our newsletter to avoid missing it.
Today we are talking to Marisa and Ej, about how a few months of day chartering can finance the rest of the year of Boatlife.
Please introduce yourselves:
Marisa: Marisa and EJ here onboard sailing vessel La Cruz! We are both 28 years old, and have been living and working aboard full-time for the past three years. Our first boat was a 38ft Norman Cross Trimaran that we tore apart and fixed back up to live on in 2019. Fast forward a couple of years later, we sold our first boat and are currently liveaboard on our dream floating catamaran, a Voyage 440.
How can you afford to live on a sailboat?
Marisa: We spend our summer seasons stocking up our bank accounts in Wrightsville Beach, NC by running a seasonal sailing charter business called Cruising with La Cruz. We offer 2,3,4, and 6-hour sailing excursions around the waterways of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. We started the business in 2020, which in retrospect, was not the best year to start. However, this is our third year and things have exploded and we are busier than ever. We love what we do because it is so much more than just a sailing charter. We are inviting people into our home to share a piece of our liveaboard lifestyle with them, even if only for a few hours. Most of our clients keep up with our personal account on Instagram to follow our winter journey and adventures in the Caribbean Sea.
discover 15 liveaboard income streams:
Any secondary liveaboard income streams you have?
EJ: This winter we will head down to Florida to renovate our new rental property. Rentals have been our goal for a long time to gain passive income and help coast us through our winter-time travels.
This interview was done in July, before hurricane Ian heavily hit Florida. We have been very sorry to hear that Marisa and EJs property has been heavily affected by the floods, and we wish them the best in recovering from this misfortune.
Do you have a dedicated office space on board?
Marisa: The Voyage 440 Owners Version comes with a dedicated office area in the starboard hull. We keep important manuals/documents and some electronics in that area but mainly work at the little breakfast bar in the main salon up top. Running a business comes with a lot of screen time.
How do you have internet on board?
EJ: For our WiFi we use Nomad Internet which we couldn't recommend enough. It works in the USA and any US territories (Puerto Rico and USVI). The internet uses cellular towers and it is truly unlimited data, thank goodness!
Plans for your liveaboard future?
Marisa: We feel beyond fortunate to live this life and love it so much. We plan to have children and raise them onboard in the coming years. It will be yet another challenge for us, but many others are doing the same thing. The cruising community is the most amazing group of people we have come across and we are so thankful to be a part of it! :)
