FLORIDA COWBOY: LIVING OFF LAND

FLORIDA COWBOY: LIVING OFF LAND

Just Buy A Boat

Words & photos by Ambar Ramirez & Carmen Macri

There’s the charm of van life, the endless highways and nomadic existence. Then there’s the rugged isolation of off-grid camps, far from civilization. But our personal favorite? Living off the land—not to be confused with living off of it. And for Bryan Sullivan, a 34-year-old adventurer, there’s no better way to embrace life.

Sullivan was living with his then-girlfriend, working full time to pay rent, electricity, wifi and a handful of other unnecessary bills to live a life half-satisfied. It wasn’t until Sullivan found himself living alone in a fully furnished four-bedroom home that he thought “What am I doing? I don’t need any of this” sold all his furniture on Facebook Marketplace, renovated his van and decided to hit the road. Sullivan was caravaning across the United States for months on end before he decided the space was a little too cramped for his style. That’s when he took the ultimate leap that most don’t take until they’re retired – he bought his first boat.

“My father had a sailboat when we were kids and I just remember how much I loved being on the water. I thought it was a really cool lifestyle that not many people experience or do,” Sullivan shared. “So I figured, why not? What’s the worst that could happen? And I talked to it with my parents and a bunch of my friends, and everybody tried to talk me out of it. ‘Oh, it’s a terrible idea,’ ‘Boats are dangerous,’ ‘What if the maintenance costs a bunch?’ And I was like, well, then I’ll figure it out as I go.”

Sullivan is for lack of better terms exactly what you imagine a man who has lived on a boat for the past seven years to look like. With brunette curly locks that reach his shoulders and sun-kissed skin, we knew that when he walked down the dock at Beach Marine that he was the owner of the 1989 Hunter 30 sailboat named Destiny before he even said hello.

As we toured his “home,” we were amazed by how spacious it was below deck. With a full kitchen, bathroom, and ample storage that made our one-bedroom apartment seem tiny in comparison, we were seriously tempted to end our leases early and buy a boat.

“My favorite thing is how simple and minimalistic it is,” Sullivan said. “I have just enough room for everything I need. I don’t have any clutter or knickknacks or random crap everywhere. Just like plates and the necessities. I don’t need anything anymore.”

There is something special about saying goodbye to the materialistic things everyone has come to know and love and trade it in for a life on the water. To be able to go to sleep and wake up in a new destination whenever you please. There is nothing and no one tying him down – besides the anchor. Sullivan’s passion for the water runs deep—so much so that he holds a fulltime job on a tugboat. When he’s not out on the water, whether on his own boat or the tugboat, you can catch him working at O-ku in Jacksonville Beach, always staying close to the salty blue expanse.

“I spend 99% of my life on the water,” Sullivan shared. “I’m a very social person. I love going out, but at times it’s very nice to get away from everybody. To just have silence in nature.”

Though Sullivan makes it look easy, living on a boat doesn’t come without its hardships – and living in hurricane central is one of the many things Sullivan has to put into consideration when docking Destiny. As any homeowner knows, there’s a lot that goes into keeping up with HOA standards. But instead of, say, mowing your lawn in the sweltering heat, Sullivan has to be fully submerged scrubbing barnacles off the bottom of the keel. Much like the upkeep required by an HOA, boat owners must maintain a pristine deck. Otherwise, “Karens” might call the coast guard, demanding that your boat be moved out of their view.

“If you go anchor out somewhere like the St. Johns River in front of San Marco, the Karens will call,” Sullivan explained. “I’ve had people get harassed like my buddy who has a boat that’s just as nice as mine. The Coast Guard and FWC will come up to him and be like, ‘Hey, we’re getting complaints that you’re anchored here. Are you shitting in the river?’ Because that’s a big thing.”

For the most part, Sullivan saves a significant amount of money by handling his own maintenance. With the help of YouTube videos and a ‘learn-as-yougo’ attitude, no task is too challenging for the self-taught sailor.

SPEND 99% OF MY LIFE ON THE WATER.”

Yes, he taught himself how to sail using YouTube videos and trial and error— after he had already bought the boat.

“I grew up very hands-on. I always wanted to learn how things worked. I always wanted to take things apart and tinker with them,” Sullivan shared. “So I’m very good with engines and electronics and woodwork and manly stuff. So whenever something breaks, I will never call anybody to fix anything, I’ll figure out how to do it myself and then go from there.”

With neighbors who are mainly retired folk, Sullivan shared that he wishes more people his age followed the same path he went down.

“Everybody’s very set on this idea that in order for me to have the successful American dream, I have to own a house and have kids and get married and have two cars in the garage. Like, if I don’t have all that stuff, I’m not successful,” Sullivan explained. “All my friends that I grew up with that are all my age now, I see them on Facebook, Instagram, with their kids in their houses and they’re like, ‘Guess who’s starting third grade?’ And they just never see them happy. They look happy, obviously, but they never look fulfilled and free.”

Besides the maintenance and neighbors who keep to themselves, Sullivan has had many quality experiences that outweigh the downsides that aren’t really that bad to begin with. While sitting below deck, Sullivan reminisced on his time during COVID.

“The best time for me, which has kind of stayed with me, was during COVID because everything was locked down and the Marina right there by the stadium, City park, was closed down, and there was nobody watching it,” Sullivan shared. “And so normally when you go there, you can stay there for three days for free and then they come and say ‘Hey, you got to go somewhere else.’ [But] since there was nobody watching it, a lot of boaters just came in there and we were living there for months just hanging out.”

There’s a difference between having wealth and living richly. One is marked by an abundance of money and luxury items, while the other is defined by rich experiences, meaningful relationships and embracing life to the fullest. Sullivan explains how the American Dream has almost brainwashed the people around him to feel a deep need for these materialistic items and a need to settle down without seeing the world. That’s why he feels he will never settle down; there is far too much for him to see.

“More people should try and live alternative lifestyles. The van life craze has taken off…why not boat life? I feel like once people step out of their norm and comfort zone they find more happiness with living more simply,” Sullivan shared. “With all the knowledge available online nowadays it’s really not that intimidating. You just have to be willing to truly try something new and give it your all and not be scared of all the ‘what ifs’ in life.”