Living On The Hook
Now Playing: Living On The Hook - Marina Del Rey
Living On The Hook
Santa Monica Loews Hotel
Digital Hollywood Conference Sept 28

Caroline (Friend in Arizona) asks:

"Is living on the hook arduous?"

And:

"Is it cheaper that way?"

Anchoring out is mentally and physically taxing. But, it's also the most serene if you chose anchorages away from any easy landing to a town. Remote anchorages are free from constant boat wakes, noise and worrying about poorly anchored boats next to you.

You are also on your own should you get in a situation with weather. Help is not readily available. By sundown all passing traffic and daytime fishermen have gone back to their marinas. You are left with darkness, the stars, the moon and the lights of multi-million dollar homes high on the cliff that may or may not even know you are there.

On the plus side you see Pelicans dive on fish and gulp their meals down right next to your boat. You can see Dolphins feeding in the moonlight and hear them blow as they surface. There's no light pollution. So, the stars stand out magnificently.

As winter weather intensifies I'm going to have to secure myself to moorings and pay to take a berth in marinas. Most of my money has been going to renew a boat that hasn't been worked for a number of years. In the LA area, there are just no slips available even if I could afford it. There is six month to three-year waiting lists for permanent slips for boats my size. Even then, liveaboard status isn't granted right away. So, you have to lie and sneak aboard, give a phony address where you supposedly live, or an old address and lay low, so no one figures you are living aboard. It's a lot harder to do than years ago when there was less interest in living aboard and boat slips were more available. Marina managers looked the other way. County laws regulate how many of the slips can have liveaboards on them. Usually, about ten per cent of the berths are allowed.

I recently had a liveaboard slip for ten years with my ex-wife that I could have kept for $625. a month. However, my ex- wife bought a boat two slips down from where we had lived and I really didn't want to stay around.

In wintertime through spring the moorings on Catalina Island lower their rates from roughly $21 to $24 a day ($600-700 per month) to around $200 a month. After October15th, Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island allows you to pay for two days and you get the other five days free.

Tourist traffic is down and they can keep their stores and restaurants afloat by locking in wintertime temporary boater residents with the lower rates who may patronize their businesses.

Further south in Long Beach, Alamitos and Dana Point slips with electricity and water, laundry rooms are available for around $15 a night. You can stay usually for 15 days out of each month.

In December and January when passages to and from the island become treacherous due to heavy weather, I may leave the boat somewhere secure, rent a car to come into LA to work or take the bus or train into LA and stay in a motel while I work.

I could sell Shearwater, a 34 footer and get a smaller boat, a 29 to 31' boat. Then I'd not have a boat payment and could afford any slip that became available. There are more slips in that length as well. I may even have enough cash left over to leave the country for a while. Once I left, who knows if
I'd come back if I could find a cheap, secure berth south of the border.

My Catch 22 is that I work several days a month in Hollywood, which brings me a couple grand a month. I really need an extra thousand a month, but then who doesn't? Any Monday through Friday job that I would get would perhaps give me more to live on, but I would have to have a permanent place for the boat and a car and insurance and so the extra income I might get would be a wash.

I'll float around until I find a community and opportunities that work for me and I'll settle down again. I'd rather do it physically rather than through applying on-line for a corporate job again.

With the dearth of available slips I may be like the old folk song, "Ballad of The MTA"...He's the man who never returned" and I'll never be able to get back to a shore side berth.

Knowing Jehovah Jirah, The Lord Provides, I accept this temporary experience, even relish it. The boat had stayed so long in it's slip the past several years.

So far, so good. Living on the edge has its perils. I'm having fun experiencing each locale in Southern California. One place can become boring so quickly.

I need to invest in some oil lamps to keep the boat warm while offshore and get a down comforter to sleep under. I'm still a tuff ol' guy and will be just fine under the worst conditions, as long as I keep my wits about me and focus daily on enjoying the experience.

Stay Warm.

Noel