There's been a lot in the news the past year or so regarding how marinas are being gobbled up by developers then sold off one slip at a time as 'dockominiums.' It's a trend I don't much like for several reasons. But there's one major unintended consequence that I hadn't given a lot of thought.

The two years I spent living aboard a small sailboat were some of the best and most enjoyable years of my life. But now the dockominium trend has started running liveaboards off the docks. It saddens me to think that the opportunity I had to live aboard is now fast disappearing.

It really hit home when I received the following letter from my friend Phil:

L.J.-

It is unfortunate that the Dockominium rage has effectively destroyed the 'Livaboard' community in southern waters, as almost every new marina conversion regulation has stipulated no livaboards are allowed. Why, one may ask? The realtors and owners feel the livaboards 'detract' from the 'upscale image' these new owners are trying to create. They believe most livaboards are folks not 'following the American Dream', making money, buying stuff, moving up, etc. However, I beg to differ. Many, many livaboards I know/knew were professionals with advanced degrees and not hanging laundry on the ratlines or playing acid rock electric guitar till all hours of the night. Livaboards are some of the most environmentally conscious folks on the planet, especially sailors. We love our waters, our front and back 'yards,' our sunsets. We don't buy 'stuff' for the home, we have no place to put it, so we don't load the landfills with unnecessary packaging waste that most stuff comes in. We don't use a lot of water, we learn cruising, how to conserve and wash dishes with the least amount of water we can, as a game, as a deterrent, who wants to go out in the pouring rain, or freezing cold to fill the water tanks of the boat? We don't load our lawns with fertilizer that leaches in and runs off as non-point source discharge to pollute the waters. We scrub our decks with environmentally friendly GREENSTUFF. We don't have 20 or 30 light bulbs on in our house, sucking up the energy from the relay stations in town. We have two or three bulbs burning and they are low wattage, low voltage lights.

Livaboards are constantly asked questions by the 'dock walkers', those dreaming of buying boats or sailing off to exotic locales, about their livaboard life. We educate them, tell them some salty stories and are a safety resource on marinas. When the storms are blowing at 40 and 50 knots, livaboards are the ones who save the neglected boat that has broken its docklines and is being smashed against the concrete pilings. We are the ones called on to help raise a sinking vessel, we have the scuba gear at our disposal aboard our boats. We are the ones acting as deterrents to thieves as we stroll the docks as pseudo security guards on a daily basis. We are seen as a bit eccentric, novel, but we are what makes America, America. We are true salts of the earth. We enhance(d) the marinas.

But, alas, like the setting sun, we were forced out by the 'great American Dream': folks getting rich quick at the expense of others. ‘Tis a seafaring tragedy.  

See you on the water, but not on the docks.

Capt. 'Barnacle Phil' Frandino, M.A.T., M.P.A.

U.S.C.G. Licensed CaptainFormer livaboard, Mariner at Mariner's Cay Marina, Folly Beach, S.C.)