Aeolius
Adventurer
When I was in high school, I remember reading an article in the newspaper (dead-tree edition), regarding abandoned houses for sale on the Outer Banks of NC. They needed a great deal of repair and had no utilities. “That would be cool”, I thought.
When I was in college, I traveled to Belize. While preparing for our trip into the rainforest, someone discovered that nearby riverfront property sold for $150/acre. “That would be cool”, I thought.
Fast Forward to the recent sale of government surplus, in the form of Diamond Shoals Light Station off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC. “That would be cool”, I thought. Then I printed out the related information pertaining to the sale. $15,000 started to sound almost reasonable. Then I found the Coast Guard estimate of $2,300,00 for repairs, the warnings of lead paint and asbestos, and the photos taken at the recent inspection. So I did nothing.
On the last day of the sale, I changed my mind. I called the appropriate channels and asked if they could accept a bid made by electronic draft. They could not. That was that. Even if they had accepted my bid, my offer of $15,015.15 would have been lower than the winning bid of $17,200.
Now I am kicking myself for not offering $20,020.20. Diamond Shoals seems to have been the last NC lighthouse/light station placed up for bids. If there is another abandoned one, I am unable to locate it.
So now I find myself watching the sale of lighthouses, at http://realestatesales.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/ . I find myself looking at ex Navy barges and the like. These two have been available, on and off, for years: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/110-...ther_Boats&hash=item35bf3e210c#ht_1052wt_1182 , http://www.maritimesales.com/SGA10.htm . There is a ferrocement barge from the 40s and a european-style trawler/tug/houseboat that also caught my eye. Mind you, all cost a bit more than $15K, but it’s fun to dream.
Which brings us to seasteading ( http://www.seasteading.org , http://blueseed.co ). For me, it isn’t so much the political aspects of seasteading that attract me; anchor in international waters, set up your own government, and enjoy all the drugs, prostitution, and lack of work visas. For me, it’s the lure of being “away from the things of man”.
Mind you, that is tempered with an “off-the-shelf technology meets off-the-grid living” lifestyle. Envision an offshore community (Sweethaven?) situated over a remote seamount far out at sea. A community deriving power from the sun, wind, and waves, drinking fresh water pulled from the humid air or cleansed from RO/DI filters, and feasting on the bounty of the sea farmed in AquaPods. I would have hydroponic gardens, a flock of chickens (meat, eggs) and herd of goats (meat, milk), and harvest biofuel from algae.
Part of the allure is that it seems contrary to my current lifestyle. I live on several acres in a larger home. Living on a seastead would be an exercise in “Tiny House” meets “Zero Footprint” meets Margaritaville. My youngest child is 8, so I suppose I have 10 years to figure this out. Imagine what my home and acreage would be worth, by then.
Imagine living on a man-made island. When bad weather looms, you simply lower your island off of the supports that lift it above the sea and unfurl the sail which pulls the island to safer waters.
I leave you with this puzzlement. Assume we have power from wind, waves, and the sun. Assume we have fresh water from RO/DI filters, rainwater reclamation, and solar ovens. Assume we have vegetables from hydroponics gardens, fruit from containerized dwarf trees, chickens (meat, eggs), goats (milk, meat), and of course fish (line caught and farmed in Aquapod net pens). Assume access to television and the internet can be provided by satellite. Assume security would be provided by radar, sonar, ROVs, sensor arrays, and constant monitoring of local marine band radio and the like.
Transportation will be available in the form of a seaplane and a single boat. I will assume regular trips to the mainland will be necessary to replenish supplies, dispose of waste, and trade. Local transportation will be in the form of electrically-charged jet skis, sailboats/surfboards/kayaks/paddle-boats, underwater propulsion devices for SCUBA, and the like.
You will be living, in essence on a platform far at sea. If this was a multi-family community, I'd include a multi-purpose room(s) for communal meals, exercise, game and movie nights, home schooling, and religious needs will be available. Residences will be blocked into groups of rooms which share bathroom facilities. There will be a central kitchen/brewery, computer facilities (including 3D printers, sewing machines, and the like), medical facilities, a machine shop, and a science lab.
To be fair, I have tempered my aspirations to include the purchase of a private island in the Bahamas or Belize. Might as well dream in style, eh?
What else would you need, if secluded from the mainland and the amenities of home? How many square feet would you require? What forms of recreation would you desire? What am I overlooking?
When I was in college, I traveled to Belize. While preparing for our trip into the rainforest, someone discovered that nearby riverfront property sold for $150/acre. “That would be cool”, I thought.
Fast Forward to the recent sale of government surplus, in the form of Diamond Shoals Light Station off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC. “That would be cool”, I thought. Then I printed out the related information pertaining to the sale. $15,000 started to sound almost reasonable. Then I found the Coast Guard estimate of $2,300,00 for repairs, the warnings of lead paint and asbestos, and the photos taken at the recent inspection. So I did nothing.
On the last day of the sale, I changed my mind. I called the appropriate channels and asked if they could accept a bid made by electronic draft. They could not. That was that. Even if they had accepted my bid, my offer of $15,015.15 would have been lower than the winning bid of $17,200.
Now I am kicking myself for not offering $20,020.20. Diamond Shoals seems to have been the last NC lighthouse/light station placed up for bids. If there is another abandoned one, I am unable to locate it.
So now I find myself watching the sale of lighthouses, at http://realestatesales.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/ . I find myself looking at ex Navy barges and the like. These two have been available, on and off, for years: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/110-...ther_Boats&hash=item35bf3e210c#ht_1052wt_1182 , http://www.maritimesales.com/SGA10.htm . There is a ferrocement barge from the 40s and a european-style trawler/tug/houseboat that also caught my eye. Mind you, all cost a bit more than $15K, but it’s fun to dream.
Which brings us to seasteading ( http://www.seasteading.org , http://blueseed.co ). For me, it isn’t so much the political aspects of seasteading that attract me; anchor in international waters, set up your own government, and enjoy all the drugs, prostitution, and lack of work visas. For me, it’s the lure of being “away from the things of man”.
Mind you, that is tempered with an “off-the-shelf technology meets off-the-grid living” lifestyle. Envision an offshore community (Sweethaven?) situated over a remote seamount far out at sea. A community deriving power from the sun, wind, and waves, drinking fresh water pulled from the humid air or cleansed from RO/DI filters, and feasting on the bounty of the sea farmed in AquaPods. I would have hydroponic gardens, a flock of chickens (meat, eggs) and herd of goats (meat, milk), and harvest biofuel from algae.
Part of the allure is that it seems contrary to my current lifestyle. I live on several acres in a larger home. Living on a seastead would be an exercise in “Tiny House” meets “Zero Footprint” meets Margaritaville. My youngest child is 8, so I suppose I have 10 years to figure this out. Imagine what my home and acreage would be worth, by then.
Imagine living on a man-made island. When bad weather looms, you simply lower your island off of the supports that lift it above the sea and unfurl the sail which pulls the island to safer waters.
I leave you with this puzzlement. Assume we have power from wind, waves, and the sun. Assume we have fresh water from RO/DI filters, rainwater reclamation, and solar ovens. Assume we have vegetables from hydroponics gardens, fruit from containerized dwarf trees, chickens (meat, eggs), goats (milk, meat), and of course fish (line caught and farmed in Aquapod net pens). Assume access to television and the internet can be provided by satellite. Assume security would be provided by radar, sonar, ROVs, sensor arrays, and constant monitoring of local marine band radio and the like.
Transportation will be available in the form of a seaplane and a single boat. I will assume regular trips to the mainland will be necessary to replenish supplies, dispose of waste, and trade. Local transportation will be in the form of electrically-charged jet skis, sailboats/surfboards/kayaks/paddle-boats, underwater propulsion devices for SCUBA, and the like.
You will be living, in essence on a platform far at sea. If this was a multi-family community, I'd include a multi-purpose room(s) for communal meals, exercise, game and movie nights, home schooling, and religious needs will be available. Residences will be blocked into groups of rooms which share bathroom facilities. There will be a central kitchen/brewery, computer facilities (including 3D printers, sewing machines, and the like), medical facilities, a machine shop, and a science lab.
To be fair, I have tempered my aspirations to include the purchase of a private island in the Bahamas or Belize. Might as well dream in style, eh?
What else would you need, if secluded from the mainland and the amenities of home? How many square feet would you require? What forms of recreation would you desire? What am I overlooking?
