A recent Contra Costa Times article details something many of us are curious about; living on the picturesque Emeryville Marina. The article details “dock living” around the East Bay including our own Emery Cove. Within the 430 slips are 42 “liveaboards” who own or rent in this “dockominium” marina. Folks who live, cook, sleep and even raise their families aboard their boats.
Not only is it beautiful, in an area with skyrocketing rents it’s pretty practical with boat payments, utilities, liveaboard & berthing fees totaling $1,900 per month (except they’ll own their “home” within a couple years). “But this house — we can take it around the world. What a learning experience for our daughter” noted two of those profiled.
Livin’ on the dock of the Bay: Finding a home on the water
“Everyone’s trying to get back to their original water memories,” says Krista Lettko, office manager at the Emery Cove Yacht Harbor, where she lives aboard the Ondine, her 40-foot Nova Sportfisher powerboat. She is 26, grew up sailing with her family and has lived on boats off and on since college, even though “a lot of things are so unglamorous. I’ll spend Friday nights in my engine room, or figuring out where the leak is coming from in the bilge.”
But, oh, the sunsets.
She and boyfriend Astor Kuiperi, a kite-surfing instructor from Aruba, where Lettko used to live, enjoy them from their back deck. They pamper a small herb garden and arrange a bouquet of sunflowers on the patio table. Often, the couple will pop into their backyard — the water — and paddle over for a glass of wine with Lettko’s sister Kelsey, who lives on her own powerboat, two docks away in the same marina.
Envious of her lifestyle, friends scramble to stay with Lettko on the 500-square-foot boat, which she bought for $50,000. It has a master stateroom with a comfy queen bed, a guest berth with bunk beds, a spacious cabin gleaming with teak, a small but well-appointed kitchen and a temperamental toilet — aka “head” — which she is proud of repairing on her own.
Read More on ContraCostaTimes.com →
You can follow Krista Lettko’s adventures on her personal blog, MermaidTalesSF.com →
Images: Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group
