We have lived in our floating home in Alameda for 24 years. We stumbled on a listing of a floating home for sale in Alameda and thought that we would see the home and then go on to see the “real homes” on our list. We didn’t end up buying the floating home that we saw that first day but we stopped our search on other homes and focused on buying a floating home in the Barnhill Marina. Our immediate impression was that we loved the idea of living in a close knit community where everyone knows each other. Before we bought our home we were invited to a birthday party, Fourth of July party, and an AFHA meeting. 

 

We also liked the idea of living on the water close to nature. We have frequent visitors, ducks, cormorants, night herons, egrets, and on occasion bat rays, seals, and pelicans. Our first furniture that we moved in were sea kayaks. We are able to paddle in the Oakland Estuary from the docks on our house. When we first moved in we would paddle to the farmers market in Jack London Square every Sunday.

 

When we leave the house we try to build in extra time because it’s likely that we will bump into someone and we can talk for 15 - 20 minutes catching up. It’s great to keep in touch with everyone but if you’re in a rush, then it can lead to being late.

 

We recently retired leaving more time for our passion, bike touring. We have enjoyed cycling in Africa, cycling the Pacific Coast, riding the Great Divide, riding the southern tier across the country, and this year we will cycle from Vietnam to Singapore.