Bluewater Living Series
Understanding the realities of bluewater cruising before you commit to life aboard.
The Bluewater Living series captures the decisions, trade-offs, and realities behind moving from land to life aboard. Each volume focuses on a different stage of the journey—from early exploration through acquisition and preparation—while keeping the focus on what tends to matter most in practice.
Bluewater Living — Volume I
A Primer for Aspiring Bluewater Cruisers
The Bluewater Living eBook helps you understand what life aboard actually feels like—before you make a major commitment. Most people begin by focusing on boats, gear, and destinations. What tends to matter more—especially in the first year—is how well the lifestyle fits: daily routines, limited space, workload, relationships, and the pace of movement.
It follows the progression most cruisers go through—from early exploration through transition, acquisition, and initial passage-making—while focusing on what is often underestimated: confined living, stress and isolation, roles aboard, and long-term stability.
- Understand what day-to-day life aboard really feels like
- Identify the pressures that affect crews over time—space, roles, workload, and expectations
- Frame financial and logistical requirements before committing to a vessel
- See how vessel choice connects to lifestyle, not just specifications
- Recognize potential friction points early, when they are still easy to address
Inside the Book
- The Idea of Cruising
- Why people are drawn to it
- What is often misunderstood
- What Life Aboard Actually Feels Like
- Daily routines and constraints
- Space, motion, and fatigue
- Crew Dynamics
- Roles and expectations
- Sources of conflict
- Financial and Practical Realities
- Costs and trade-offs
- Transition considerations
- Early Decision Points
- Go / No-Go considerations
- What to resolve before moving forward
Bluewater Living — Volume II
A Practical Plan for Leaving Land Behind
Bluewater Living Volume II is the practical working guide for the transition from dreaming about the life to actually building it. It does not stop at choosing a vessel. It follows the larger reality of acquisition, ownership, onboard systems, crew life, preparation, safety, and passage readiness.
What makes it useful is its range. It moves from financial planning, insurance, and vessel selection into the day-to-day realities that shape success later—power, water, waste management, communications, maintenance, comfort aboard, training, medical readiness, navigation, weather, and safe arrival planning. It helps connect the purchase decision to the life that follows, which is where many crews discover too late what they did not fully account for.
- Connect vessel selection to the realities of ownership and daily life aboard
- Understand the financial, legal, insurance, and risk decisions that shape acquisition
- See how onboard systems, maintenance, and crew life affect long-term satisfaction
- Prepare for passage planning, safety, medical readiness, and operational responsibility
- Build a more complete picture of what it really takes to move from land to sea well
Inside the Book
- From Decision to Acquisition
- Timing and readiness
- Defining requirements
- Vessel Selection
- Matching boat to mission
- Trade-offs and compromises
- Financial, Legal, and Insurance Considerations
- Budget and cost structure
- Insurance and risk
- Systems and Ownership Reality
- Power, water, waste
- Maintenance and reliability
- Preparing for Departure
- Training and readiness
- Safety, medical, and passage preparation
Together, these volumes form the foundation for the decisions explored throughout NAVOPLAN—linking lifestyle fit, vessel selection, and offshore readiness into a single, continuous progression.