14 Dec RB_Connected_061_lucie
Adelaide, 10, plays with a small toy in the galley of their boat while her mom, Melanie, turns the iron on to press her waitress uniform before heading to work. For the past 14 months the family of four have used small gas powered boats to get to shore for work, guitar lessons, and the grocery store from their wooden floating home. Since they are not tied into the electrical grid, they use a gas generator and four 85-watt solar panels to supply all the power they need for lighting, refrigeration, and charging their walkie-talkies, cell phones and laptops. An adjustment but an upgrade from their previous lifestyle on land, Adelaide, 10, tells her mom, “Everyone else talks about their gardens having tulips, and I would say, my garden has beach dunes and beach bushes….my backyard is the ocean.”