lifesaport is a small collective of live-aboards and boating enthusiasts.  Our hope is to encourage those standing on the dock to get on board.   

A Brief History

I've always been fascinated with the water. There's something about the horizon over the ocean that brings my mind peace.  As a kid I believed that I could see the curvature of the Earth when we'd visit the beach.  Staring at the horizon long enough it was easy to understand how some used to believe that the world was flat through false perception.  In that single thought I could get lost in time, forward and back, imagining what it was like and what it will be like.  The horizon being time itself.   I'd imagine that time was the line of the horizon, from left to right, but also a divide of up and down.  And I could leave time by going under the water or up into the sky.  In all those days on the beach as a kid nothing would grab me more than watching a boat slip into the infinity.  What an adventure that would be.

Trips to the beach with the family and Jacques Cousteau's underwater documentaries, to a menagerie of fish tanks.  I was always reaching for more horizon no matter how large of a piece I'd thought I had collected.  In 1999, I locked into the notion that living on a boat would bring me that much closer to the whole thing.  Subconsciously driven on by 80's and early 90's movies, I'm sure....Captain Ron, Joe vs the volcano, Miami Vice, Cape Fear, etc.  I landed in a 1973 40' Pacemaker aft cabin.  It stunk of gas fumes and polluted bilge water.  A massively blistered hull and nothing but wet coring under the deck.  Excitement of actually getting on the water blocked all those things out.  Still loving every minute of it, I only made it a summer aboard before I let my father talk me into buying a house. At the time it was a sound financial choice but not really the best thing for my soul.   Later on as the housing market started its ill fated balloon. The continuing house repairs, getting robbed and a crazy long commute, I decided it be best to cash out.  My sights set on going back to being a live-aboard.  I "temporarily" moved to Carolina Beach, NC looking for an apartment as a base of operations until I could find a boat.  I ended up becoming a full on beach bum.  Not long after I married Colleen. We continued on with the beach life and living on a boat became a fading memory.  Fast forward a decade and our life situation returned me back to the possibility.  There wasn't much hesitation.  

However, there were a lot of questions and so many unknowns to guess at. After we bumbled our way through getting on board it occurred to us that maybe we could help others realize this dream by sharing our experiences.  

This is our gift back to everyone that helped us.  With help from family and friends.

Up the rebels & cast off,

Mike, Colleen, & Crew