Welcome!

Living on a sailboat

We invite you to join us on A day in the life of Living on a sailboat and our unique sailing lifestyle! If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live on a sailboat, you’re in the right place. Our social media accounts, including Gary’s Instagram (@gary.felton) and Jack’s Instagram (@jackthesailingdog), along with our Facebook accounts, have been buzzing with questions from family and friends.

Over the past 12 years, we’ve been asked countless times,” What’s a day in the life like of living on a sailboat?” , “What’s it like living on a sailboat?” and “What do you do with yourself all day living on a sailboat?”

Well, today we’re here to give you a glimpse into just one day of our extraordinary life of living on a sailboat. It’s important to note that no two days are alike in this adventurous lifestyle we’ve chosen.

So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and get ready to embark on a journey with us as we share the joys, challenges, and unique experiences of a day in the life of Living on a sailboat. From breathtaking sunsets to exciting adventures on the open water, we can’t wait to show you what a day in our sailing life looks like. Let’s dive in!

A day in the life

Living on a sailboat is a unique lifestyle. We embrace minimalism and strive to leave a small carbon footprint. Our boat is equipped with solar panels that provide us with electricity, and which we use for the water maker and refrigerator but no microwave or freezer.

Solarleaf solar panels on Angelsea livinwithdogs.com — These are two of our six panels. These two are from https://www.lightleafsolar.com/ The best ones Yet!

Our day starts around 6:30 am. We begin by taking our dogs out onto the deck for their morning routine on the bow. While they’re busy, Deb starts the alcohol stove and prepares coffee on our French press. We love how it keeps our coffee hot while we enjoy it in the cockpit.

This coffee pot has seen us through hurricanes and long overnight passages besides the day to day morning coffee.

French Press coffee maker used for Livin with Dogs blog — This coffee maker a French press is insulated and has helped us through sailing days and nights.

Activities for today!

Today, we decided to clean the bottom of our inflatable dinghy. The growth from the water has been slowing us down, so it’s time for some maintenance. While I prepare a quick breakfast, Gary hoses off the bow and gathers cleaning supplies, towels, and snorkeling gear.

Taking car of the Dogs Living on a sailboat

After setting up the dogs with an open hatch and fans to keep them cool, we load the dinghy and head to a nearby island. It’s usually popular with power boaters, but today it’s sparsely populated. Pulling the dinghy onto the beach next, unload, and start removing the growth by scraping and scrubbing. The best part is taking breaks by cooling off in the clear water.

Getting ready to clean bottom of dingy from Angelsea and livinwithdogs.com — It takes about two hours of scraping and scouring the sea grim off of the dingy. Just a day in the life of a sailboat family

Luckily, a kind young lady brings us cold water from her family down the beach. Really appreciate her gesture since I forgot to bring any with us. With the dinghy clean, we reverse flip it, put the motor back on, and reload. Say Thankyou again and wave goodbye to the family on the beach and return to our boat, Angelsea.

Once back on board, we bring the dogs up on deck and receive lots of kisses from them. Grab two cold beers from the refrigerator and enjoy them in the cockpit. It’s then time for a short nap because, well, we’re old and we can.

In Total we each spend an average about 6 to 8 hours on our Social media.

After our nap, Gary works on his photo gallery of Caribbean Wall Art or Yellowstone National Park websites, blog, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. No TicTok as of this time. This leads us to sundowners in the cockpit, where we discuss what’s for supper and play with our dogs. Tug or war is their favorite and our too. Generally we let them swim from the boat to get added exercise but the tide is going out now and that prohibits their time in the water today.

Interruptions do occur

Billy from livinwithdogs.com with bullystick Living on a sailboat — Billy 1 year old Yorkie who cannot understand why we can’t play but he does have his Bullystick

Our usual supper consists of meat and a veggie cooked either on our stove or our Cobb grill. Next feed the dogs, hose off the bow once more, and clean up the dishes.

Back down in the cabin we continue working on social media, do some research, and check the weather for the overnight and the next day. We also take some time to brush and groom the dogs, followed by playing and chewing on bully sticks.

The dogs take one more trip to the bow of the boat and we start preparations for bed. Deb starts by searching for all the balls, stuff toys, bully stick’s and squeaky hedge hogs from our bed. With that completed we then head for the bed usually around 10 pm.

Only to begin again the next day!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. This is the time and place to let us know. Just leave a comment below. Also if you would like to see a topic about Dogs, photography, or lifestyle we have not covered. Drop your suggestion in the comments below.

1 Exciting Day of Living on a sailboat