Credit_Supplied
- Sara Rice, 42, and her family sold up to live on a boat
- They’ve sailed to far-off destinations like Indonesia and Mexico
- After a decade, they’re not ready to drop anchor yet
Here Sara tells her own story in her own words.
As the sun set over the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica, I smiled at my two kids Taj, 21, and Bella, 19, and my husband Lee, 45. This is the life, I thought.
At sea for more than a decade, we’d seen countless sunsets, but I never tired of the orange and pink hues streaking the sky.
Growing up in Tweed Heads, NSW, I’d always loved the water. I spent hours surfing and, even as a teen, I imagined what it’d be like to live on a boat and explore the world.
When I met Lee in 2003 through mutual friends, I discovered he shared the same adventurous streak.
We’d never sailed before but were determined to learn.
‘We don’t need a big house,’ he said one night while we talked about our future. ‘Let’s travel. Let’s get a yacht!’
I couldn’t have agreed more.
But life had other plans at first. When our son Taj was born in 2005 and Bella two years later, our sailing dream was put on hold while we focused on raising the kids and running our yoga business in Tweed
Heads. Still, the idea never went away.
But when my mum, Susan, died suddenly from cancer aged 50 – when Taj was just a few months old – losing her was devastating.
‘Life is short,’ I told Lee. ‘We can’t keep putting off our dreams.’
He agreed, but work and parenting kept us busy.
‘Let’s travel. Let’s get a yacht!’
A couple of years later another loss shook our family, when Lee’s dad passed away aged 58.
‘They never really got the chance to live the life they wanted,’ I said to him. ‘We have to make ours happen.’
This time we meant it.
After weeks of research, in 2014 – when Taj was nine and Bella eight – we found a 44-foot yacht for sale on Magnetic Island near Townsville. It wasn’t glamorous, but at $15,000 it was within our reach.
To see if we could really handle life on the water, we decided to sail it home as a test run.
For six months the four of us lived, ate and slept on the boat as we made our way down the coast.
Would it be the adventure we’d imagined, or had we made a terrible mistake? By the time we pulled into port at Tweed Heads, we had our answer.
‘We love the boat!’ the kids cheered.
Lee and I felt the same. The freedom and the simplicity of life on the water felt incredible.
READ MORE: I’m allergic to the sun
‘The kids learned about different cultures, navigation, marine life and problem-solving’
The boat was named Catalpa. After a year preparing, in 2016, we sold almost everything we owned, pulled the kids out of school and set sail.
From then on, the ocean became our home.
We homeschooled Taj and Bella and, with limited internet onboard, most lessons came from books.
But the biggest education wasn’t in the textbooks. They learned about different cultures, navigation, marine life and problem-solving.
Living on a boat also meant everyone had responsibilities. I cooked and supervised schooling, Lee captained the boat and handled navigation, while the kids helped with cleaning and general jobs.
For six years we explored Southeast Asia, visiting places such as Thailand, Malaysia and Timor-Leste. Many days were spent snorkelling, scuba diving or surfing remote beaches.
We’d fish for our meals and stock up with supplies whenever we made land.
Life was exactly what we’d dreamed of.
By 2022, with the kids growing up, our floating home was starting to feel cramped. Through sailing contacts, we found a 53-foot yacht in Mexico.
We flew over to see our new home. After months of repairs and upgrades, Catalpa II was ready.
READ MORE: We’re raising our kids on a remote island
We carried on with our adventure, sailing down the coast of Mexico, then El Salvador.
Sharing our journey online, we posted videos about life on the water. It’s helped fund our travels, but in our videos, we make sure to share the good and bad! Life at sea isn’t all whale watching from the deck or surfing isolated beaches.
It’s hard work in all weathers and sometimes, if we can’t find a replacement boat part, we’re unable to sail. We’ve weathered storms with 90km winds in Indonesia when cyclones were near by. In minutes it went from a flat ocean to 2m-high waves.
One scary moment came in November 2025. While in Costa Rica, Lee and Bella had been cleaning the bottom of the boat when they felt something wriggling inside their ears.
‘Mum, something’s moving in there!’ Bella cried.
When I looked, I couldn’t believe it. ‘Crabs!’ I gasped.
‘No way!’ Bella shouted.
Tiny sea crabs had crawled into their ears while they were working.
Thinking quickly, I poured olive oil into each ear to try to flush the little creatures out.
Thankfully, it worked!
These days Taj, enjoys travelling independently on land for a few weeks at a time. He saves money through his work as an artist and recently he explored Rio de Janeiro before rejoining the boat.
Bella also works remotely and helps me create content for our social media channels.
‘Tiny sea crabs had crawled into their ears while they were working’
Our next adventure is one of the biggest yet.
In late April, we plan to cross the Pacific Ocean to French Polynesia – a journey that could take up to a month at sea.
It will be the longest sail we’ve ever attempted.
READ MORE: Surf shock – I was speared in the face by a garfish
People often ask if we’ll ever drop anchor for good and return to life on land.
But right now, we can’t imagine stopping!
I know living this lifestyle wouldn’t float everybody’s boat, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
To follow our journey visit @sailingcatalpa on Instagram or Sailing Catalpa on YouTube.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
