Reset A− A+ Remember the Silver Pearl houseboat on Airbnb that Alex showed off last week? Genevieve and her husband own that boat, but also live off-grid in their very own floating home called the “Island Gypsy.”

Before they invested in a vacation property, they moved into the Island Gypsy — she felt like were “cheating” being hooked up to shore power, so they figured out how to create an off-grid home and have been living that way for a few years!

She sent us a beautiful description of their life on the water, which you can read after the photo tour of their houseboat. Enjoy!

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Couple Living Off-Grid on the Water w/ 360* Views!

You can’t get a “waterfront” porch better than this one!

What a view! Sunsets galore!

Inside, it feels like a homey beach cottage.

The leg lamp!! ?

Climb up on the roof for even better views!

From Genevieve:

Five years before we launched Jumana-the Silver Pearl Chris and I started our tiny house HOUSEboat journey aboard the Island Gypsy (she is at anchor not far from the SilverPearl) and has been our home for these past years.

The island Gypsy truly is a floating-home, she has no motors. We purchased her in N Fort Myers and had her towed to a marina in Goodland where she was at a slip we rented for the first 4+ years. Daily, passing boaters and people on the dock would take pictures and videos and comment about how they would love to try living like this. I would jokingly say we were on the Hollywood tour of homes. But as long as we were connected to shore power and water I felt like a bit of a scam. So years of research, trial and error, learning to live within limitations and just plain stubbornness we developed enough to be able to go off-grid and in-turn offer the opportunity for others to experience our typical day-to-day aboard the Island Gypsy on the SilverPearl.

Our home is comfortable, larger than many 1 bedroom condos, we have all the amenities we (or anyone) needs. No waterfront, multi-million dollar home can surpass our 360* degree view. We don’t have squirrels running in our yard but we have dolphins swimming around and tarpon breaching. Pelicans crashing headfirst to get their breakfast and gulls pestering them to share. The baby osprey have been booted from the nest by their parents; they are not impressed and a green gull uses one of our anchor lines to fish from after the sea turtle is done munching on the greens draping across the line.

On my way from shore I’ve had string-rays cross my path and manatee follow beside the small skiff on my way home. Every morning the sunrise is glorious and when it sets just as amazing. Then out come the stars and the moon. I use to take the moon for granted, not anymore. It’s how the oceans breath, twice a day the tide comes and goes. The moon pushes and pulls billions of gallons of water. And the storms, oh my: the wind, the rain, the power of nature. And most days the sun keeping our spirit and batteries fully charged.

Are there challenges? Absolutely! Some have proven quite humorous and others quite scary. But in the grand scheme of how to live, I really couldn’t imagine another way being as fulfilling a way of life as this is.

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Natalie C. McKee

Natalie C. McKee is a contributor for Tiny House Talk and the Tiny House Newsletter. She's a wife, and mama of three little kids. She and her family are homesteaders with sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and quail on their happy little acre.

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