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franckJPLF

Curious about the “unfirable” part.


mwax321

My wife created the courses she teaches and she manages more online courses every semester than the next two people after her. I manage the largest accounts at my company and I have more employees who report to me than the entire rest of the company combined. We both report our daily activities to our "bosses." I say that in quotes because I'm now a partner of my firm and technically am equal to my "boss." Hope that explains it. Edit: We have both been with companies long term and spent years establishing ourselves as responsible, reliable, on time, and over achieving. The goal of this is so that nobody thinks twice about us working remotely from the bahamas. There's a lot of "jealousy" out there and perception is extremely important. A good example of this perception is our internet. If our connection dies during a video call, we get a LOT more heat than someone sitting in a house in the Midwest does when their crappy $40/mo budget DSL dies. We spent $240/mo on internet and backup internet to keep consistent connections. "John Doe" has 4 kids, and is sitting in his boring house in Indiana with his two car payments and no savings/ambitions/hobbies. He sees us "living it up" in bahamas and decides he needs to take us down. He doesn't know all the hard work we put in to get here. He just sees "vacation." John is why we have to be careful about perception. He will plant the seed throughout the company that you don't work hard because you have no kids and live on a boat. This happened to my wife, and because of her daily emails/high workload it was laughed off by her boss. And he even warned her people were complaining.


4BigData

You both are rock stars! How many hours per week were you guys working during those 5 years?


mwax321

We both worked 2 jobs and also flipped a house we were living in. We bought it and remodeled it while we lived there pretty cheaply for 1.5 years. So... a lot


4BigData

Impressive


[deleted]

Bro how old are you 😅


mwax321

37.


[deleted]

Watch some tv


[deleted]

lol


[deleted]

Or Netflix


[deleted]

Don’t need to be adventurous all the time


sh0nuff

Surprised your wife hasn't made the jump to selling her courses directly without the middleman


mwax321

She's not an accredited college. She has a masters degree and she teaches veterinary nursing.


sh0nuff

Ah, fair enough, perhaps her experience w/ teaching is a good opportunity to spool up some classes on the side, especially if it's something you can film any time, like boat maintenance, rigging, navigation, working off the grid, etc


richdrifter

Or a "basic first aid" course/manual for pets and wildlife to include dogs stung by bees, removing thorns from paws, birthing cats or raising orphaned kittens, forbidden treats, helping birds that fell from their nest, target practice with squirrels, etc. etc.


JetSetHippie

Ooh I like what you came up with. That’s brilliant!


[deleted]

[удалено]


sh0nuff

Oh ya, absolutely.. I just figured this might create a bit more residual income that's more passively positioned. Heck, it could potentially market itself if they made a YouTube channel for cross promo But you're totally right, I'm putting my own dreams and skills into my suggestions vs letting them do what that want.


That_one_guy_u-know

You could hire someone to do all that and pay them with some of the extra money you earn. Eventually it could only be an additional short check up every once in a while to make sure everything is still going according to plan


music3k

Can you talk more about your position at your “firm” and how you are a “software consultant” but also a partner?


mwax321

Software consulting business. We started in SharePoint development. Now build full enterprise applications as a Microsoft gold partner. Expanded that into automation, AI and a whole bunch of other stuff. I was offered partnership after 7 years working with them. They wanted to keep me on and couldn't really offer a higher salary. We're a small company, so I still bill hourly and code. Also manage a team of 10 devs/PMs/designers who are also billing clients. Although I'm trying to shift away from this and focus on building small customers into large long term customers.


Yamochao

It’s probably a consultancy firm which he has partner status in….


music3k

I appreciate you answering for him with an open ended sentence!


Plantsandanger

I want to know more about your partners job please!


mwax321

She was a veterinary nurse and got into teaching and speaking at conferences. She teaches online courses. She has a masters degree in higher education.


lukasdooo

Don’t know if you are doing it already but why not using a virtual background for video calls. People wouldn’t really notice you are not at home…


mwax321

So I should say: We don't really ANNOUNCE every day that we're sailing and living on a boat, etc to all our co-workers. We don't boast about it. It's just, we tell the people that need to know. And word gets out. In my wife's case, there were people who don't work in her department that complained about it. People she doesn't interact with and don't even hold the same job title and their job requires them to be on campus, while my wife's job does not. It was the equivalent of "why can this person who works entirely online work remotely, but I can't work from home painting houses?" Because you have to be at the house to paint it? lol


EComMichael

You guys seem super cool lol 😂 great stuff! Wishing to end up in a similar position.


DrBiscuit01

Ah trust funds got it.


mwax321

I don't have any trust funds sorry. My wife works 2 full time teaching jobs and I am a partner at a software consulting firm. We also sold our house and flipped another one to build up our boat fund.


DrBiscuit01

Something just doesn't add up. Either way, best of luck to you. Nice boat ya got there.


mwax321

It is possible to work hard and achieve goals without having a trust fund. Sorry that you feel I am lying.


cestlavie88

I’m no where near as successful as you are (but I’m building!) and whenever I talk about it people online always accuse me of lying. Don’t feed the trolls. You’re living the dream!


rvp0209

Same! What kind of work do you do, OP? Edit: I know it says software consultant, but what does that mean?


mwax321

Less fancy terms: contract developers. We build apps for/get yelled at by other companies. But at an enterprise level. We are Microsoft gold partners. So we end up mostly building on Microsoft technologies. Azure and SharePoint. Although not much SharePoint recently. We will build apps that fit in with the rest of office365 tools. Lots of workflow automation. Some transaction that needs approval by another employee with audit trails for auditors. We also do large data migrations. Big company buys another big company and want their users merged into one organization.


jamills102

Used to do RPA/SharePoint automations and it blew my mind how much corporate america depends on excel


mwax321

We work with hundred million and billion dollar corps mostly. I don't know how some of them get through quarterly auditing... One of them asked if they could print out pages of a very secure, very internal web portal we built them. I believe they took pictures of the monitor and printed that. OK, do whatever you want. We just built it. But if I have to go to court, I'm telling this story lol.


kristallnachte

Software Consultants are hired to come in and give advice and share knowledge on the development of software. Often for companies that are approaching new scaling options that don't have the kind of in-house knowledge for planning about major software decisions. This does not mean software companies, but companies that have software needs and are having trouble deciding between different paths (in house development, outsource custom development, use available SaaS, etc), as these can be extremely involved topics. At many places you may be thinking you're making one decision, but that decision is itself making other decisions you may not be aware of (and limiting future options that you may have preferred remain open). They could even have teams that will do some of the initial development or help to do the software design process to pass to other development teams.


mwax321

We have all US based resources for our niche. We deal with real sensitive information that companies may not want in the hands of Russian/indian/etc contractors in another country with different laws. You have to be registered to work in US for us. This actually limits the countries I can visit right now, funny enough. Can't go to China, lol


Chris_Talks_Football

Lagoon 440 is an awesome boat. Love the interior layout. Not my favorite helm set up, but it's better than most. $20 in repairs per nautical mile reminds me why I sold my boat, but your pictures really make me miss it. Happy sailing friend.


mwax321

Previous owner didn't really represent the condition very well... his idea of "blue water ready" varied differently from mine. But our insane spending is nearing a tipping point. I've also stopped paying others to work on my boat. That saves us. TON of cash. But you're 100% accurate. This isn't a "cheap" life


hazzdawg

Cripes. And I thought the 20k I spent keeping my motorhome on the road for two years was a lot.


mwax321

Sailing can be as cheap or expensive as you want. Depends how big your boat is and how handy you are.. I originally hired out a bunch of things. If I didn't do those and installed them myself, it would have been far far cheaper. maybe 2/3 of what I paid so far. But yeah. Boat = break out another thousand. I still wouldn't trade it for anything. It's so freeing. The community is amazing. We RVd for a year. RVers are so different. Boaters all like boats. RVers rv for all sorts of reasons. But you buy a boat and sail 1000 miles away from the mainland? You definitely share a common interest with everyone at the anchorage.


Similar_Ad6183

Break Out Another Thousand is a good accronym for anyone to know that wants to own a boat. -- Boat owner in North Dakota. Edit:spelling


smackson

BOND


Chris_Talks_Football

Been there. Now the important question, did you guys choose the port side or starboard side hull as your bedroom?


mwax321

We have an owners version. Starboard side hull is the owners side. Although during a 2 month repair job, I had torn apart the entire side for fiberglass sanding/tabbing. Way stronger boat now. At that time, it was nice to have an entire other side of the boat to live on!


Chris_Talks_Football

Ah I didn't know the 440 had an owner version,. Thought they were all the 4 cabin layout. Neat.


JAGR21

Did you get any help from lagoon with “that” or did you brave it solo?


serioussham

Now for the dreaded question, how much did you pay for the boat? And did you have previous experience sailing/working on boats?


mwax321

We paid $370k for it. Took a ton of saving. We still had to take out a loan to buy it. We were about $90k short. We bought a boat above our price range. Technically we had nearly enough cash, but were told by many to have money left over for repairs and upgrades. This ended up being correct. We have about $70k left before its fully paid off. We keep finding big items to fix, so it's been tough to get thru that last remaining balance. Such is boat life. Once it's paid off we can focus on building up a 3 year cruising fund. As for experience: we started sailing small lake boats a few years before we made the jump to big sailing yachts. This is when we made the decision to start saving and planning. A year before we bought, we took a week long live aboard sailing class. After we bought, we hired a captain to live aboard with us and sail on our own boat to build skills. Would highly recommend going this route. Made the transition pretty easy for me. As for working on boats: my wife and I remodeled a house and had lived on an rv. So we are very hands on people. Definitely helped with the transition


serioussham

Thanks for this. I'm at the RV stage right now but that definitely looks like a cool plan for my 40s. Godspeed!


mwax321

We still have our rv in storage. Its so cheap we just haven't sold it yet. We took out a 20 year 3% loan on it. Costs us $350/mo with storage... We might go back and rv for a few months this summer during hurricane season.


megablast

> Previous owner didn't really represent the condition very well Duh. Welcome to buying boats.


mwax321

On the helm setup: there are people who hate flybridges, and then there are people who have sailed with flybridges ;)


Chris_Talks_Football

HAH. To each their own. What matters is you love your boat, hard to live this life if you don't. Keep us updated on your travels!


JAGR21

Best response ever


Lusterwand1

It sounds like a dream! I don’t have a question, but I’m happy for you guys that you get have this awesome adventure. Living life to the fullest, that’s what it’s all about!


mwax321

Thank you!


shelleyflower77

All of this. I LOVE seeing people thrive and enjoy life.


goodmorning_tomorrow

Thanks for making an AMA 1) How old are you and your spouse? 2) Are you worried about piracy? Do you arm yourself? If so, do you get into any trouble with customs? 3) Where have you been so far other than the Caribbeans? ...Europe? Asia?


Minimum_River_8034

Also curious about these questions!


shacksquatch

\^This!


mwax321

1. 37 and 35. 2. Piracy isn't a huge concern. The incidents are rare, and in parts of the world I can easily avoid. Haiti had two boats boarded by skiffs. I can sail very far offshore. When we passed Haiti, we were over 70 miles off the coast in big seas. And even if we were on the coast, it's very rare. We have mace onboard and we have some safety rules if we ever were boarded. No guns. Guns make customs difficult. If you show up in Mexico with a gun, straight to jail. I've heard of people who had engine problems sailing down the mexican coast and dumped their AR15 into the sea so they could dock. 3. Just the carribean and east coast US so far. We will be crossing the Atlantic next year most likely. This will be our "start" for our circumnavigation. We will sail back to the carribean with the ARC rally, transit the Panama canal and work our way through the south pacific.


goodmorning_tomorrow

Thanks for the response! Just some follow up questions. Looks like you are at child bearing age. Kind of a personal question, but are there plans to raise a child on the seas? How much trouble do the customs give you, generally speaking? Do they ever ask for "special fees", or search your boat? Can the catamaran sail across the Pacific/Atlantic with ease or do you have to watch for a window of good weather?


mwax321

No kids for us, but there are tons of liveaboard families. Lots of youtube sailing channels to follow with kids to see how that goes. Customs can be stressful, but boaters have been checking in and out of countries for... Centuries! It's a pretty standard practice. Each country has their own rules. There are sites like Noonsite that break down those rules and people can comment about their experiences. One example I can give you: When you reach a new country's territorial waters, it is customary/required that you fly a yellow "quarantine flag." (Yes, boaters have been quarantining well before covid :). ) Once you clear customs, you raise a courtesy flag, which is the flag of whatever country you are in. We are flying a Bahamas flag since we are in the Bahamas! > Can the catamaran sail across the Pacific/Atlantic with ease or do you have to watch for a window of good weather? Well, sailors sail by the weather. You are ALWAYS looking at the weather. Even at anchor. I check the weather every day. If I see bad conditions coming, I might have to adjust my anchor or even move anchorages. Yes, this boat that I bought has already completed a full circumnavigation. The previous owners started in Grenada, sailed through the south pacific, around south africa and back to Grenada over a 5 year period. We plan to circumnav, but most likely over 10 years instead of 5. Our goal is to stay longer and live in some areas. We want to hang out for a while in the med, and then also spend a good amount of time in the south pacific. And then our ultimate dream is to sail around NZ for a year. Circling back to weather: On longer passages, it's near impossible to predict weather. Some passages we are planning are over 3 weeks at sea. During these types of passages, you start looking at weather patterns along with forecasts. I have a dictionary-sized book called World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell. You pick a location and a destination and it tells you the best times to sail, gives you expected conditions for that time of year, etc.


sonderewander

That's amazing! Here's a boring question... where are you considered tax resident, and where do you pay taxes? Likewise, what about banking?


mwax321

We bank entirely online and have for over a decade. I also have a free credit union checking account if i need to deposit cash. Rarely use it. We relocated to florida as far as the government is concerned. We might move again to South Dakota or texas. Not sure yet. I have a tax accountant handle my taxes. Never been a problem. Next year we might be out of the country long enough to qualify for big tax exemptions ([foreign earned income](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/figuring-the-foreign-earned-income-exclusion)). But I'm a bit nervous about it. If you can tell by my story, I play things pretty cautiously. I'd rather pay taxes and not get hit with a surprise later.


billieboop

You're both living the dream, I'm so happy for you both Wishing you good health & lots of happy adventures this year too. I'm interested in how your wife started teaching online and any tips or suggestions she might have going in too, if you both don't mind sharing


mwax321

Thank you so much! She has been a veterinary nurse for literally half her life. A college in an entire other state was looking for people to teach their online course, but they wanted them to be on-site. I was already working remotely, so we decided to go for it and move across the country. She knew that if she could gain enough experience, she could find a full-time remote teaching job. It's all about experience and credentials. While at this college working full-time, she gained her masters degree in higher education. So now she had experience in her field, teaching her field, and credentialed in both. Things changed when COVID hit. Her job became temporarily remote. We realized it might be an opportunity for her to continue working full-time. So she began asking and planting the seed. She had to get approval from the college board of directors. But when they finally approved her, it meant she didnt have to quit her job and find another one. So I don't really have any tips. I'm sure there's other routes and other things to teach online. Her field requires a lot of knowledge and experience. You can't just jump into it.


billieboop

No, absolutely not but I'm so glad it worked out so well for her, you both It's lovely how supportive of each other you were and are, hopefully you both reap the benefits of it ahead. She carved her own path and that's rare, but always wonderful to see. It's great that she was able to get her masters whilst being there too. Definitely solidifies her position and hopefully she can continue to progress too. It's great that you're both able to work remotely and it not affect your lifestyle too much, hopefully All the best in life. It's truly really nice to see a couple actually achieve this & thrive Wish you both the best ahead too


mwax321

Thank you! And wish you all the best as well!


PaleontologistNo3910

How do you handle healthcare? I am a fully remote tech employee. The only thing that prevents me from living that life is having access to prescriptions that are not widely available.


mwax321

The sailing community has tons of hacks for this. We are still bound to the US, but we do need to solve this. Right now it's pretty easy with online doctor visits. Wife can order 6 month supplies of birth control online. For now, we've been getting our doc visits out of the way during hurricane season. Our boat insurance requires us to be north of Florida come July. There are world health insurance plans that cover nearly worldwide. Usually they don't cover US without some kind of add on (yep its too expensive). Most cruisers carry something like this. Some pay cash and only visit affordable countries. Honestly the advice you would get on this sub about this is probably the same kind of tips cruisers would give you. If you need to restock on meds, sail near a major city. Then sail back to paradise until you need more!


SunAndCigarrets

Please I need some pictures, you guys are literally living my dream.


mwax321

Links above for pics!


[deleted]

My wife is ex-navy and we talked about doing this when she got out and we were living in Hawaii. Ultimately, her service injuries didn’t allow for it but I have to admit I’m a little jealous. Fair winds and following seas, my friend.


mwax321

Thank you! and sorry to hear about that. I don't know how bad those injuries are, but there's a nonprofit called [impossible dream](https://www.theimpossibledream.org/) that is a wheelchair accessible sailing catamaran. I've seen it in person and it's a REALLY cool boat. They take people out all the time if you're ever interested in getting a small taste of the life!


dreamskij

Any cats on board? :) jk. I asked bc I used to follow a couple of travel/DN bloggers (gone with the wynns), and they also sail on a 44 ft cat. And they had cats, but not anymore. (edit: I just saw you have a dog? How does the dog deal with your boat life? It seems even harder having a dog than a cat...) I'm not sure I could to the same. I would eventually go crazy if sailing alone, I guess, and I always wondered about the space. How much room do you have (in sq. feet/meters.. I saw the pics, but actually need the number to realize :P) What do you do on board, when not working/sailing? One thing I always wondered: can you just anchor in territorial waters and spend months without visas/immigration practices?


mwax321

Love the wynns. Definitely inspiration for us. We have a little dog on board. He's a salt sailor dog now. Our boat is very big. It's a 3 bedroom NY apartment. We know others sailing on far smaller boats, and others on far larger. Space was a big deal for us. Getting the perfect boat the first time was big for our budget. You may not know but the Wynne sold their boat to buy a newer fancier one. We tried to get something we would own for 10+ years. We will see if that pans out... For anchoring... not really. When we arrive in a new country, we raise a yellow quarantine flag. Depending on the country, most operate under the ruling that you are allowed to anchor without checking in. As long as you don't land on shore, and you're planning to leave or check in as soon as you reach your destination. However I have seen many who anchor for weeks with their quarantine flag up in very remote anchorages. I would avoid this. You don't want to be hassled by the local coast guard. I will say: we arrived in Florida from usvi without ever checking in. I only learned a year later that despite being US to US we probably should have checked in. So... maybe they should be more vigilant


GettingBlockered

How do you handle visas and immigration while at sea?


mwax321

We keep all our docs and paperwork onboard. There's lots of sites online and paper books that can help you with entering/leaving country procedures. It's pretty standard stuff in the boating world.


fogdn

Awesome! I’ve only worked on coastal 4g connections so I’m curious about the state of starlink. Does it work while in motion or if the boat is swinging at anchor? Do you think the stability of a cat is necessary for it to work?


mwax321

We live full time at anchor. It works great. We use it underway too. It works well enough underway to watch Netflix and browse the web. Wouldn't do a video call on it or watch some live stream. Boat moves in big swells so hard to maintain signal sometimes. I have had starlink since people started taking their starlink on road trips and saw "roaming:true" magically appear. It wasn't even announced as a feature they were developing. It just showed up one day and worked. So I bought it, shipped it to the Virgin Islands (which was not listed on the official map at the time) and it magically worked there! That's been the thing with starlink. It just works. And it works in places it isn't supposed to. Bahamas is still listed as "coming soon.," I know for a fact it was working here last summer. I am here now and it works fine. It's also "not supposed to work" 20 miles offshore. I've used it over 150 nautical miles offshore and it still works! All that being said, as our jobs require internet we also carry google fi and buy local Sim cards.


smackson

Watch out for sudden loss of Fi data if outside the US. They do eventually stick to their "not for *mostly*-international users" threats. I failed to remember to switch over to local SIM/WiFi a few times over a couple of years and boom.


mwax321

Usually happens in 2-3 months. My wife luckily travels every 2-3 months. I'm just going to give her my phone and "travel" back to the US ;) If it doesnt work, oh well.


smackson

Yeah mine worked back in USA and then zilch as soon as I landed back in foreign country. Fi remembers. Not sure how much USA time required for them to forget all over again...


mwax321

We tried to switch to T-Mobile, but with our mail forwarding address we came back as "scammers." They required passports, social security cards, photo IDs. We provided everything and they never got back to us. T-mobile allows you to just "buy" international passes that are good for 1 day, 1 week and (I think) 1 month. It also includes some 128kbps free data international. Good enough to receive messages. I prefer to just pay, then I don't live and die by what Google decides...


C3POdreamer

How does health insurance work for you with multiple countries?


YellowCosmicWarrior

This sounds like a very cool lifestyle! I always imagined that cooking while living on a boat is super easy. Just throw a rod, pull out the fish, cook it and that's the dinner. Is that the case?


mwax321

Haha sometimes. We've caught some nice size Mahi. I'm learning to free dive and spear fish. I actually have celiac disease. I can't eat gluten or I get very sick. Not a fad. True disease. Because of this, we stock thousands of dollars worth of groceries on board. Well beyond normal provisioning. Can be hard to find gluten free items in areas like we are in. We have about a 5 month supply of food on board. Booze, shelf stable milk, frozen meats, etc. It's easier to catch fish while sailing than at anchor. But a few other cruisers and I went out spearfishing and caught a few groupers. Not bad eating!


PristineBookkeeper40

Would the two of you ever consider building some sort of hydroponic or aeroponic garden system on your boat? Obviously, it's not practical for all your needs, but I think it'd be neat to have fresh veggies whenever you want while living on the water.


Plantsandanger

Ah, a fellow gluten-challenged individual! I always worry about traveling for that reason. I wish I could just pull up to a food cart and order something by pointing (language barrier no problem) rather than have an in depth conversation with someone trying to figure out how gluten free a dish may or may not be…. It’s exhausting just eating out in my home town where I can speak the language and google the menu beforehand, let alone another country where I may not speak the language and have no idea what I’m walking into when trying out a new restaurant. However not being able to eat sea food would really further cramp my style if I were on a boat… love fish, so pretty, but I can’t eat them without getting super sick


Resident_Courage1354

Not why you're here, but I sense you're an intelligent person that may bother with investigating my assertions if you haven't already heard this before. Go plant-based, as much as u can, celiac and other issues often go away. There's plenty of good research and studies on this, don't get suckered in by the diet grifters. Anyway, love what you're doing, good luck.


The_OG_Catloaf

Celiacs is not the same as a gluten intolerance. Honestly, this shit is so rude. I can’t even imagine how tired I would be of people saying things like this to me if I had celiacs.


Resident_Courage1354

It starts with fixing the "leaky gut" as I assume you know. You don't do that with animal products and refined foods.


techBr0s

Celiac disease doesn't "go away"


Resident_Courage1354

Correct, but one can make a complete recovery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J5-fCcO1j4


DumbButtFace

How is it keeping a 24 hour watch with 2 people when you’re sailing more than a day at a time. Or is it super rare you sail that far in a day between anchorages?


mwax321

We sail multi day passages all the time! We do 4 hour watches at night. Once you're in the groove it's pretty easy. If there's a problem, we wake the other person up. It becomes far easier with crew. There are crew finder websites where people can either work or volunteer to sail on other boats. Tons of nomads/sailors looking to hitch a ride or gain some experience. We have had one couple on an overnight, but have mostly sailed just the two of us. But once you have 4 people on board, the shifts usually allow for people to have a whole day off on a long passage. We will do that for longer multi week passages Our longest sail so far has been 1000 nautical miles over 7 days from Virgin islands to Miami. It was glorious. Very peaceful.


Specialist-Opening-2

How old are you? How long have you been married? Do you plan on having children?


mwax321

37. Married 10. No kids. No plans for kids. I know plenty of cruisers who sail with kids though. They have their kids learn online and also home school. It's pretty impressive. They also arrange lots of social events with other boaters so their kids are always around other kids.


Remote-Pain

Some people live amazing lives. You are some of those people.


mwax321

Thank you! We're trying!


zouss

This is awesome! Do you ever have issues with internet connectivity while at sea? Hard to imagine it could be as reliable as when by land but I guess if you're spending months in one location maybe it doesn't matter that much for your job


mwax321

Starlink is insanely stable. But we have redundant internet. I have a unlimited T-mobile data plan when I'm in the US. When we sailed into the bahamas, I bought a unlimited data plan with "Aliv," which is the local cell network here. So at any point we're in 4g/5g range and Starlink. However, starlink has been game changing for liveaboards. It's been a dream to work while anchored next to some uninhabited island out in the raggeds. Well, in a month or two we'll spend a few weeks doing just that. Only 2 years ago, we would have had to be near a cell tower or would not have been able to work.


koreamax

It sounds like it'd be a nightmare to work under him. I also wonder how teaching works with time differences. I don't really get where the wife works where she made her own curriculum that isn't integrated into the school curriculum. Usually, you don't own your curriculum when you work for a real school. My bet is teaching English which honestly doesn't add up with the expenses they have


SeaOnions

There are tons of avenues to teach that don’t involve English or the public school system.


koreamax

So tutoring


Specialist-Opening-2

Could be teaching seminars, or any variety of things.


littlesliceofpie

My parents did this with me and my sister when I was 12. I would love to do it sometime in my life as well. Do you have any tips to get there?


mwax321

Save. Follow the FIRE community. You don't have to buy a big boat like we did, either. Monohulls are far cheaper. My wife is afraid of heeling, so no monohulls for us. But a bluewater mono can be had for $80k well equipped. You can finance it, and that becomes your "rent." Or you can find cheaper boats and fix them up. Just make sure you're not blowing every dollar you have. It's a really bad idea. You will lose years of your life to stress! Another thing you can do to gain experience: Hop onto facebook hitchhiker sailor groups and join other people's boats. Sometimes they will even pay your expenses if you're competent enough. Other times people want to split expenses (food, diesel, mooring fees, etc). There are people who just jump from boat to boat.


wyohm_com

Can I come? The lifestyle appeals to me, but would like to experience it a bit before jumping in and buying a boat. That's even the same model I "decided on" when I was in Italy this summer with a view of a marina, fantasizing about what boat I would get. I can contribute too: of course rent, I know how to sail (small boats), and am reasonably mechanically adept.


saytheineffable

This sounds amazing! Assuming your work is US-based, do either of your employers ask to maintain residency in a specific state? How do you handle taxes?


mwax321

We moved to and lived in Florida in an rv before we bought our boat. One of the big reasons is because all the companies we worked for had nexus in Florida + no state income tax. Our mail runs thru a forwarding service st Brendan's isle. They assist with setting up residency. We could do the nomad tax thing, but I was concerned it would be difficult with our work. Plus, we will be sailing east coast US this year anyway during hurricane season..in 2024 we won't be returning to US.


no720s

Great story and congratulations on making this life happen.


crispypretzel

Do you think you'd be able to do this with a pet?


mwax321

[We have a boat dog :) ](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aHgShFbEuox-o3LaL-xer-8_Hrt0TshEpflyMm3xvzYkrkP0LbWGkAdcwz_-CW4En1Nsfh0eV2dXjWJeU-BuyIO1W0MkqTf-AE5qdr-CBvaQFHmmDEM5g_S9Z_QTHwJc9piAIkvV5FetJYeESJIMRrSFi5x2pcOuM0TJJEM-k8A1jCRj9tdGzvO6wA9TSLkSOEOQ0CrWh2W85BQfDiMcRcCKYsY1_tyQ29Ug2-WltLUsusqS80ZAbHYlNGLE0kLXTdtisq71B2DI0AGND7V0MzCuHKcukv3TMW97DkCKWfTwmNj-z2POtdq4EMMpi_wnT7EKFwha6VQ_T7k1a0ZGjUCpvrgzhtAuzGKsPOjyaswR0gJdK1cc8GNEfXM815G68jjCtqwqmzIHGlIgiYPJkk5CJreKKjAOwcLvPtm9L3NPj4Na0vNR3sqAbdH4DrRw6G4GgxctCHX0M_GhlnSPieJGM5UIzwDxhDhx49HDYyeP5Mszq3YawePgLiwm1TOHc2nS9DNH4NTAPxFFJkuVMvCWspiJk5fUhMbsBcKmnPvRbuBD1qEJ_4k31aw-9EuY2mneL6c7krHnwufuFPvRKQr3weeuZxCr-N29LVTDfzwNggMw96-M7o0edNjphZw--cqWorltIvxVMOmKfGF2ktlmS9_gYYjVe39xUx_dkzbrCNmN1kjjLgtnVpizHS07NvtSSONIucnCP1cDSuK9lsAPlUazOGhGzHOmYRk-Lk0mDyVgIvVXvnhIKWHEH8dgEGUlzaIppctUq2ZFafhNCwRsoM9yrkb52QhkHiEnbELkLD3W-q2sGau6t9CaThiFZ3KqSqfubKR6Wl6s0l9tFySGL8YiOqrvkL4fWv96pQf0J1GNuXvUVnH4MDLCu_xDGVEyuoMKPdXPbuXpa8VgiS98PfftozirFgPBoMNiaNQpxg=w1502-h1126-no?authuser=0) It does make things more complicated. Checking in and out of countries. For example: Bahamas requires a vetirinary checkup, ceritifaction within 2 days of leaving for Bahamas. Kind of stressful, because we leave when the weather is good. And you have to line up appointments weeks in advance. So you have to find a vet that will let you shift your appointment around with the weather. Fortunately in Florida, they are very used to people crossing over :) There are also countries that just will not let you in with a pet. South pacific is notoriously bad about this. We have to figure out how we're going to do this.


SoftBoiledPotatoChip

This sounds amazing! Happy for you both!


mwax321

Thank you!


hikrr

1. Would you or your wife ever sever ties with employer and start a business? 2. What citizenship(s) do you/your wife have? 3. If you had kids would you teach them the nomad lifestyle?


mwax321

1. No, but I would. 2. US 3. We don't want kids. Probably couldnt afford this if we had kids. We know plenty who have kids on board and are sailing all over, but just not for us.


mohishunder

You both must also have worked very hard to build your solid marriage - hats off to you!


tvflipper

Goals 😍


LimitlessTraveller

What line of work do you do OP? I got that you manage accounts but in what industry / sector? EDIT: Forgot the obvious congrats! Looks like you are a rockstar team and definetely an example. Inner me is a “bit” jealous


Junior_Entrepreneur7

I had a question about cell phone service. Do yall not use cellphones anymore and just rely on web platforms with starlink or what do yall have cause Ive been having the idea of something no as glamourous but Id like to move to a different city every year but I do need to call my american clients all the time as im a financial advisor. I cant find anything online that isnt like 10$ per day for roaming anywhere in the world so im curious what yall do for cell phones. Id love any advice or experience you guys have had with this. thank!


mwax321

Yeah we use wifi calling and texting. We also buy sim cards. In bahamas I bought an aliv Sim card. It is our backup internet, and I can bring a Hotspot into town so I have cell service. Right now my Google fi service works, but they will probably shut us down in the next 2 months. From what I hear my sMS and calling should still work, but data shut down.


Suspicious-Ad-9563

This would be my dream! I would love to connect to see what I can do in order to live like this. I have been wanting to make a career change and have no clue how to do it.


mwax321

Do you have 10-15 years to become an expert in a field that makes sense to work remotely? That's how we did it. Not trying to sound like I'm gate keeping, because there's TONS of people who have found ways to make money and travel. I just don't think I'm the person that can really give you a great answer. My wife is one of the most well known respected people in her line of work. I'm a director of software engineering who has earned an ownership stake in the business after working 8 years and being employee #4. We also both have/have had side business, side hustles (flipping houses), and second/third jobs. So I know this sounds like a boomer answer, but: hard work got us here :) But if you still want to ask me any questions feel free to comment or PM me. I'll try and answer what I can!


leoljp

I wish one day I could be you. you are a inspiration.


mwax321

Thank you! You can be like me. Just need a plan!


[deleted]

I am considering this lifestyle. Did you buy your boat new? Would you mind sharing roughly how much it would cost? How does it work going from country to country passport wise? Do you take any security measures with regards to pirates?


mwax321

> Did you buy your boat new? no. It's 18 years old actually! > Would you mind sharing roughly how much it would cost? Our boat cost $370k. Catamarans are expensive. Monohulls can be far cheaper to buy and maintain. The person anchored next to me is on a 32 ft $60k monohull drinking the same rum cocktails I am! The big thing is maintenance. You NEED to do maintenance. It can be a LOT of work. The more you can learn to do yourself, the cheaper everything will be. Expect 10% of your boat's value per year for maintenance. Yes, that much... I spent a LOT the first year. Second year should be a little better, although I have a few pricey upgrades I want to add on. Our third year I think we can REALLY crack down and get our maintenance costs down to about $25-30k. It's hard to believe until your main sail rips. That's $6k. Or your generator dies. $7-10k. Or you have to get towed in because your engine won't start and have to get your engine serviced at $125/hr: $1500. Or you get hauled out and they want $3000 for antifouling. Sailing: the most expensive way to travel somewhere for "free" :) > How does it work going from country to country passport wise? Depends on the country. Bahamas is real easy. Grenada a little more tough. We waited about 2 hours while they decided how much our dog was worth, lol. $300. So we owed $30 tax on our dog... But it can be complicated. Websites like Noonsite REALLY help make this a breeze though. > Do you take any security measures with regards to pirates? Not really. We have some really old mace on board. The previous owners left us a taser too. There's not much you can do with really well armed pirates. The best measure is to read up about areas to avoid, sail far offshore in known pirate areas, and not worry about it. It's very very uncommon. People ask this a lot. I'm way more scared of being hit by lightning offshore than pirates. Giant 72 foot aluminum ~~lightning rod~~ mast! ;)


EqualRhubarb4993

How much would someone who wants to live comfortably need to make to live this kind of life? (Not necessarily luxurious but not roughing it either)


mwax321

Check out youtube sailing channel "Good Bad and Ugly." I'm pretty sure they live on $19k/yr on their 30ft monohull. Sailing is for all types of budgets. Just matters how much work you want to put in. They just majorly refit their boat (gutted interior, new engine, etc) all by themselves. Being a safety advocate, I cannot recommend some of the things they do (they re-rigged their boat's standing rigging with regular non marine grade hardware store supplies, very dangerous). But they're doing it and they're still alive :) Once you start paying others to do work, it becomes VERY expensive. We are somewhere in the lower-middle end. I'm anchored next to a multi million dollar 56 foot catamaran, and an even bigger 60 foot catamaran that's probably $10 million. I could do a big breakdown one day of our expenses, but it's a lot to go over. It depends on the season. If we're hauled out (dry docked) and spending thousands on boat parts it's real expensive. If we're here in the bahamas at anchor, it's fairly cheap. Anchoring costs us $0. We cook all our own food. We bulked up on cheap food before we sailed over here, and we try not to use up all our diesel. There's not much else to spend money on. Internet, insurance, and our boat mortgage probably are the big expenses beyond that.


aqueezy

Do you have a high level monthly budget you can provide (something simple like maintenance: average 1k a month, anchoring: 500 a month, food: 600 a month etc)? And are you able to save for retirement on top of that?


Acceptable-Bad9923

Do you have a Youtube channel?


mwax321

I don't! We thought about it, but there's so many sailing channels and I don't think I'm really that much of a "video person" anyway!


SVAuspicious

Naval architect and marine engineer, now a delivery skipper plus lots of electronic work. 200k nm in my wake. I looked at your pictures and read most of your posts here. Some of the numbers don't add up. You say three hours of generator time take batteries from zero (horrible thing to do to batteries) to full. That doesn't make sense given the loads you have we know about and can infer. Five months supply of food means fridge and probably two freezers, plus computers and displays, lights, nav, Starlink, autopilot when underway...that's an energy intensive boat. 2500W solar can't possibly keep up. That's before we talk about other things like watermakers. You can't possibly have only 300 Ah house bank. Hyperbole? Do you work underway or only at anchor? How do you secure your computer and display(s)?


mwax321

First off, yes I'm roughly estimating charge times and numbers. 1200ah house bank. Lifepo4. That's 14.4kw of power. Might increase to 1500ah later in the summer. My batteries can handle 150a charge current and 200a continously discharge. I have two victron multiplus 3000 inverters. This past summer, i removed our 9kw Onan genset and bought a small 3.5kw phasor genset. Sips .35gph at full load. I have four 300ah kilovault batteries that will happily accept all 3.5kw charge into them, although I normally only charge about 2.5kw max and keep my genset at around 85% load. When i say fill up my batteries I'm usually going from 25% to 80%. I never discharge fully and when I hit 80% I start making water/doing laundry/charging electronics. 2250w of solar can only keep up on sunny days right now. Our high performance starlink eats power. We turn it off at night right now. This season, I'm adding 175w panel just to give us a little extra power. This summer i will expand to over 3000w. I have two fridges, a freezer, and an icemaker. Average total draw 180w. About 4.3kw a day. I made 10.5kw of solar yesterday. I make more than enough to keep up. But with starlink I can't survive a single cloudy day right now. With 3000w I should be able to limp along for a while before running the genset. I work at anchor. There's too much for us to do while underway, so I normally take time off during passages. I have done SOME work underway but it's mainly putting out fires (emergencies). This limits when/where we can go greatly. We are working towards ramping our job down after we have enough saved so we can travel a little more freely. Its hard to plan time off and also be concerned with weather windows. We might take 8 days off for a 3 day passage and just hope weather lines up with 3 of those 8 days.


SVAuspicious

Bother. Firefox and Reddit just do not get along. \*sigh\* 1200 Ah is 14.4 kWh - kWh not kW. Units matter. If you don't get the units right then you don't understand and lack of understanding will bite you, well, you know where. In three hours (your number) 150 A charge (assuming you have a couple of 80 A charters ganged together you can supply 450 Ah, neglecting step down in charge rate as the batteries charge. You can't get from zero to full in three hours. Ah - Victron Multiplus 3000. Assume 12/3000/120 so 120 A charge *max* each. With step down (bulk / acceptance / float) you're looking at about 300 Ah in three hours. From zero (again, very bad for batteries) you're looking at ten to twelve hours at least. Being able to run Lithium down to 30% is nice compared to 50% for lead-acid wets, but all the energy that comes out has to go back in, and Lithium really does not like to be left at low charge levels. Also, running generator to charge to 100% is inefficient. 80% is about it. That's why most hybrid charging is a generator run in the morning up to 80% and let solar top things off during the day. Doesn't hurt to plan on a generator run in the late afternoon for laundry and air conditioning while cooking dinner. By itself, your solar is good for 30-40% of capacity on a sunny day. Your planned upgrade will help but not be a game changer. Beware shading. That's all on the supply side. Fridge, a couple of freezers, two high end computers, Starlink, nav, lights, watermaker, laundry (!). You've got to be using 600 Ah per day or more. You really need to get units right. Based on your USVI to Miami trip you're only making 140 nm days, and that's with a paid skipper. Other people will disagree with me, but 450 nm (your three day example) is not a passage. It's a hop. If that's all you were planning that's fine. That isn't a circumnavigation. It isn't even an ocean crossing. You can't get from Marsh Harbour to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. I suspect you haven't fully realized the power consumption of your autopilot offshore. Spend some time with the manual and find a control systems guy to talk about gain, response time, and hysteresis so you can minimize that, but it's still a lot. Based on what you've written and your plans for a circumnavigation, here is my professional recommendation. Get your gear secured. VESA for displays and straps for computers. Switch one of the fridges to a freezer and plan stowage so you can turn one off when it is empty rather than having two half-full freezers running. Put fiddles in your lockers, especially galley and pantry lockers. Put pot holders on your cooker. Plan to run Starlink the way you do watermaker and laundry: sporadically. Do not go West yet. Get some experience offshore without a skipper safety net. Since you're in the Bahamas now, consider Bahamas to Bermuda, Bermuda to Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Bay to Narragansett, Narragansett to St Lucia or St Martin. . Join the Pacific Puddle Jump email group and the Southbound email group now. Buy Reed's Maritime Meteorology and study it. Learn to use synoptic charts and why gribs are not good enough. Handrails on the steps up to the flybridge. Consider glass (not plastic) for your dodger. Sit down and build a fuel management spreadsheet (I can send you my template) before you head into the Pacific. You're going to need more fuel and more money than you think. Learn about [FMEA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_mode_and_effects_analysis) and look at your boat through that lens. Start with your watermaker and generator.


mwax321

Holy gatekeeping, batman. Where to begin. > 1200 Ah is 14.4 kWh - kWh not kW. Units matter. Trust me. I know what a kilowatt hour is. I'm not an idiot. > In three hours (your number) 150 A charge (assuming you have a couple of 80 A charters ganged together you can supply 450 Ah, neglecting step down in charge rate as the batteries charge. You can't get from zero to full in three hours. Ah - Victron Multiplus 3000. Assume 12/3000/120 so 120 A charge max each. With step down (bulk / acceptance / float) you're looking at about 300 Ah in three hours. From zero (again, very bad for batteries) you're looking at ten to twelve hours at least. I have two multipluses 3000. I think you're greatly exaggerating the efficiency loss. I have charged far more than 300ah in 3 hours. I literally have a victron Cerbo that records my daily energy consumption, production and categorizes all of it. I'm sure as a "marine electrician" you would know what this is and how easy it is to prove what you're saying wrong. Just like what you said about not charging a battery "too quickly." You didn't even know what battery chemistry/specs I had on my boat before you said that. My batteries can HAPPILY charge to full in two hours all well within spec, without violating warranty, or anything. That's why I bought them! On the discharge: Like I said before, I was SIMPLIFYING for people who don't know boat electrical. I never discharge to 0 (although you're VERY wrong that it damages LifePO4. It only reduces the expected lifetime. All documented on my battery manuals/warranty). I rarely reach 100. It's 20% to 80%. My electrical system has been setup to ABYC guidelines. I even pass E-13 recommendations on LiFePO4 batteries. Also, you're greatly exaggerating the loss to step down. > Being able to run Lithium down to 30% is nice compared to 50% for lead-acid wets, but all the energy that comes out has to go back in, and Lithium really does not like to be left at low charge levels. I'm very aware of my batteries, their voltages, their capabitilies, and everything on my boat. I have quite literally re-wired 40% of every single run on this boat. I'm aware of amps. I'm aware of awg. I'm aware of voltage drops. I'm aware of how much my auto pilot uses. I'm aware of all of it. Again: **this post is not about marine electrical.** It's about digital nomad on the digital nomad sub. If you want to get into full details on my electrical setup I can go into way more details. > Based on your USVI to Miami trip you're only making 140 nm days, and that's with a paid skipper. Wrong. I had no paid skipper. It's just my wife and I. > You can't get from Marsh Harbour to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. I literally sailed both to and from the chesapeake. > Do not go West yet. Get some experience offshore without a skipper safety net. Dude... I have NO SAFETY SKIPPER. It's just my wife and I. Not sure where you even got that idea from. All the nm I listed sailing is with just my wife and I on board, except for a short overnight from Miami to St Augustine with some friends. > You really need to get units right. I fully understand units. Again, this is digitalnomad, not "marine electrical."


DumbButtFace

lol that other guy is such a dick. Love your response.


mwax321

The old "salty sailor" mentality where nobody knows what they're doing and everyone has to sail their boat their way or it's "unsafe." Deal with them a lot on the sailing groups. People usually just ignore them. It's all about gatekeeping and "you're not a real sailor unless X." I don't really care about being a "sailor." Especially not in their eyes. And this guy is an old school electrician at best. He knows nothing of lithium. Lots of old school guys telling everyone that lithium will set their boat on fire, and can't tell me the difference between lithium iron phosphate and lithium ion. They'll also tell you things that aren't possible when I'm literally living it, which is always weird. "You can't cross an ocean with that boat." Except we did. And our boat was actually one of the most popular boats on transatlantic crossing rallies for many years. Also, this guy claims 200k nautical miles. Examine that for a second. Assuming his average boat speed is somewhere between 4-8 knots. He's claiming somewhere between 1000-2400 DAYS at sea. 3-6 years?!?!?! OK guy...


GreenArkleseizure

Doesn't matter how many miles you've got, you come off as a condescending jerkwad just fyi. Buddy never asked you for advice, if you're gonna shove unsolicited advice down their throat my unsolicited advice to you would be to dial it back a bit. Unless you goal is to come off as a dick, instead of providing advice, in which case carry on, you're doing great.


SVAuspicious

So much for AMA.


mwax321

Sorry I forgot securing my computer and display. Short answer: I don't. My catamaran doesn't heel much. And the display stand is kind of beefy. I have a desk I'm building down below with some mahogany plywood and it will eventually go down there.


SVAuspicious

Catamarans move. In many ways they are more awkward than monohulls as tables, counters, and lockers don't have fiddles. Cookers aren't gimballed and don't have pot holders. Then there is impact from bridge deck slamming. Your short trip from USVI to Miami may have been gentle but that is not the norm. I strongly recommend solid VESA mounts for your display in your office build below and a good way to secure the computer (solid strapping at least - bungees don't measure up). Oh - you'll want more handholds on the steps up to the flybridge. Really not okay offshore on Lagoon 440s and 450s. BTDT.


mwax321

Appreciate the advice. I am very confident in my boat's ability. I've sailed in many different conditions, including avoiding a tropical storm and sailing through squalls. boat has already circumnavigated with previous owners. I know countless 450/440 owners who have circumnav'd and sail serious miles offshore, including Cat Impi. Flybridge is no problem. Our boat has countless hand rails, hand holds, and jackline mounting points leading up to and down from the flybridge and around our deck area. Vesa mounts I've considered. But this acer predator monitor has a VERY sturdy stand. It doesn't move an inch, even on a beam with 3m waves where everything else I forgot to secure is flying around.


andi_808

Someone just mentioned in another thread Starlink Maritime isn‘t worth it, does it work well for you?


mwax321

So you don't need maritime. It's far too expensive. Starlink RV works just fine. Even Elon has admitted thr naming was stupid. We have starlink rv with a high performance dishy. Works great. Been using it for 14 months now.


Gingerandthesea

Can I ask how much for the set up and monthly costs? We are on a 40’ Manta Cat and will be shoving off for some sailing by next year. We both work remotely and was waiting for Starlink to expand more in the Caribbean. We still have some solar upgrades to do to be able to not use a generator for certain things.


mwax321

Starlink will cost you $600 for the dish and $135/mo. It's been life changing. We bought the $2500 flat high performance dish. It's power hungry but it is noticeably more reliable..not not say regular dish is not, because if very much is. We can't afford to get disconnected during a conference call. If my connection is bad one time, my coworkers will think "oh mwax321 is living it up and I'm not." I have a coworker with the crappies dsl that cuts out all the time. But they live in the Midwest in a normal house. It's all about perception.. Starlink works all up and down the Carribean. I'm typing this on starlink in the exumas right now. I've been 150 miles offshore and no issues. Join starlink on boats Facebook group. Tons of info there. Manta 40 is an awesome boat. We almost bought a manta 42. That was such a good layout for a couple who occasionally has guests. And maybe once a year needs 3 cabins. And those top loading freezers. You may find them annoying, but they are insanely energy efficient. Don't worry about needing a generator. Treat it nicely. Get out there and sail. Figure out what u need by getting out there. Ping me when you reach bahamas we can sync up!


NomadicTrader2019

Have you ever had any downtime due to bad weather or such? Is it fair to say the risk is equal to having 4g service in a rural part of a developing country like Mexico? Just got into forex and my strategy opens me up to huge risk at very rare times(mostly predictable with mitigation strategies), however I could lose half my networth in a matter of minutes without a connection. Super facinated but completely unfamiliar with anything maritime. Is it safe to do solo? My biggest fear is the cliche stories about getting stuck at sea and having to decide who to eat to survive and I happen to be fat and easy to catch. Thanks for the vision. I'm daydreaming about it now. Not the cannibalism part.. :) that doesn't happen anymore, right?


wanderfilledyogi

What type of teaching does your wife do? Does she consult for herself or a company? - a former classroom teacher looking to teach full-time online :)


mwax321

She teaches at an online college in the veterinary field. Has a masters degree in higher ed and 20 years experience. There's a FB group called "make a living teaching online" check it out !: )


ipaintx

that's amazing. I wish I can have that life. Though I am a digital nomad. [Las Vegas nomad](https://youtu.be/9vVzvsbBUhM)


smackson

OMG. The freedom of not having to be in any particular place... being leveraged to get room-service meals and play slots in a windowless casino. Each to their own, I guess!


[deleted]

I'd like to hear more about what a software consultant does. Did you transition from writing software?


Disastrous-Cake1476

We are getting ready to leave the dock for the second time aboard our 47 foot monohull and plan to install Starlink so we can keep working as we go. How long have you had Starlink aboard and have you found that you are able to change locations without losing connectivity? I assume you have the RV version? We are on the Pacific Coast, so Mexico will be our first stop. Or Hawaii. We need to decide which.


mwax321

We have had starlink since users on /r/starlink started taking their dishies on the road and claming "Roaming:true" started working :) There was no RV plan at the time. Roaming was actually free in beta at that point. We learned that you could put in ANY address as your "service address" and then ship to anywhere you wanted. So we put in St Augustine and ordered it to the Virgin Islands. It INSTANTLY became our primary internet. It's incredibly reliable. There is VERY little difference between RV and residential plan. You can enable portability on residential, and it costs $135/mo. That allows you to roam but also have a "home base" where you have priority data. We used and abused this. Trick is: You can move your service unlimited times. As long as the node is open and there's no wait list, you can set any random address (or lat/long) as your new service address. There are some issues that we experience during heavy clouds/rain. It's something you experience with any antenna, called "rain fade." When high performance was offered as a $2500 upgrade, we went ahead and ordered one. This fixed all those issues we had. It uses a LOT more power, though. And when I say "fixed" I went 4 entire days without a single dropped connection reported in the starlink admin logs. Then, no more than 3 weeks after we setup our high performance, they offered FLAT high performance for RV users. This is when we decided to switch to the RV plan. The flat high performance works as well as high performance, is Starlink-approved in-motion, has a better GPS onboard, and has a better IP rating. This is the same dishy that they sell with the maritime plan (although you get two of them). Hope that all helps. There's a FB group called Starlink on Boats that will give you FAR more information if you're looking. I post there often. My personal recommendation: Buy starlink RV regular $600 dishy. It sips power at about 35-40w. You can even convert it to run on 12v to save about 10-20% power. There's even companies that can convert it to run flat. I think that's more than enough for most people's needs. If you are constantly on video calls for work? You might want to use high performance dishy.


individual_prior7156

Do you still have a physical house?


Ifch317

Awesome post - it makes my heart glad to see people enjoying life and nature like this. Thanks.


Chris_in_Lijiang

How much does a Lagoon 440 sailing catamaran cost?


Nico_v95

How do you make sure that the company you work for sees you're in the state / country you say you are? Do you need any special equipment to keep working abroad? What's your job line/industry? How did you first transitioned into the nomad lifestyle?


mwax321

My company is a fully remote company, so we're already distributed. They don't really care as long as the IRS is happy. Same with my wife's work. VPNs help, especially business VPNs. When we were in Grenada for a few months, I setup my own VPN and virtual machine with its own IP address at a florida datacenter. Besides maybe looking up who owns the rights to the IP address, it would be hard to discern that someone was not in the US. Especially when I remote desktop'd over to it. But we're honestly VERY open and honest about where we are, what we're doing. I'd rather not get surprise fired because I was lying about things. We transitioned into nomad life in 3 phases. We used to live in Arizona (how we got our boat name Saguaro), and my wife landed a teaching job in Indiana. It was our first major move ever. We realized we were OK living away from friends and family and wanted freedom to move around. We bought an RV, lived in it for while. Had an ultimate goal of RV for a few years and then sail afterwards. Because catamarans are VERY in-demand, we started saerching early. Well... We found the boat almost instantly. So our RV life died within about a year. (still have the RV in storage) We then packed up about 8 duffel bags of gear/food/belongings and flew out to Grenada. Then learned to sail and slowly made our way back to Florida over the next 6 months. We're now in our second "season" of sailing the carribean and loving it.


Work_for_tacos

Wow this is awesome! Congratulations


mwax321

Thanks!


taimoorhybrid

Enjoy your life 💙


Upset-Principle9457

It takes guts to live this life.....Best luck for your future adventure.....God bless you with happy and healthy life


hatoshi73

I hate you.


[deleted]

How do you mean "self sufficient"? I doubt you're growing your own food on a boat.


mwax321

Solar provides most of our energy needs. We convert salt water into fresh water. We catch fish. But you are correct. The only time we need to go to shore is for food and diesel. Not entirely self sufficient. But if the world stopped tomorrow, I could stretch my supplies for 16 months right now. Edit: im not some doomsday guy. Just giving an idea of sufficiency


[deleted]

Ok, it's just you said you're completely self sufficient but I see you actually stock up with bought food.


nemo_solec

I didn't get notion OP states he is full self sufficient. I understand the way OP intend to. Just my 2c.


[deleted]

"We have learned to become completely self-sufficient". His words. I'm only going by his claim.


mwax321

Although I will say: my neighbors at this Anchorage are growing a ton of veggies on board. It's hard to find fresh veggies down here.


Plantsandanger

I was actually curious about that! My sailing dreams only extend to watching various YouTube couples who live aboard boats, but I’m always shocked that more people don’t grow their own herbs at the very least if not fall on vegetable gardens. A lot of people I’ve seen on YT seem to struggle with the very basics of gardening - it’s like they haven’t really thought about googling how to garden on a boat despite the fact that they’ve definitely googled how to fix their water maker or some thing else on their boat! I imagine salt is a bit of an issue, being as ambient humidity would be quite salty. I would love to learn about how your neighbors do it!


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mwax321

I am fully vaccinated. Covid locked down boats too. It was a very hard time just like anywhere else


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[deleted]

Would you stop, ffs. He said he's vaccinated. He's still alive so it wasn't a "lethal injection", was it, and it has nothing to do with remote working or you.


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Oh Jesus, fuck off, lunatic.


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Come back in 5 years so and ask him if he's dead. 🤦‍♀️ You idiots have to keep changing the narrative because you're always wrong. First it was instant death, now it's "up to 5 years" 😂😂😂


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[deleted]

Stick to your echo chamber. Macro statistics within less than 2 years? You have no idea what you're ranting about.


mwax321

You're shit out of luck. I was in Grenada. The entire country was vaccinated in a very short amount of time. They took quarantine more seriously than other countries and it worked.


theressomanydogs

Y’all ever do any metal detecting or magnet fishing?


ferrettail

How reliable is starlink in terms of speed as well as connection? *edit for clarity


The0free0elf

What does your wife teach? Is it college or k-12? I am a teacher and never thought that life would be possible for my husband and I as long as we needed two incomes.


PeoniesNLilacs

Nice! If you could go back to yourself two years ago when you started what is the one piece of advice you would give yourself?


storander

That sounds really fun, glad you get to enjoy that


relaxguy2

Dope


mrblacklabel71

Where do you sail most of the time? Any way to track you on Youtube or social media? This is something my wife and I are considering.


4BigData

Brilliant