We ditched our jobs to explore the world on a sailboat with our kids

A family has spent the last nine years living and traveling on a 53ft sailboat – and spear their own fresh fish.

Sara Rice, 41, and her husband, Lee, 45, had always dreamed of traveling on a boat full time.

After each losing a parent they decided “life is too short to wait for retirement” and set about finding a boat to make their dream a reality.

They bought a $15k, 45ft boat 11 years ago and spent six months traveling the east coast of Australia with their two children – Taj, 20, and Bella, 18 – as a trial run.

After loving it they pulled the kids out of school and spent the next five years exploring South East Asia.

Three years ago they upgraded their boat to a $40,000 53ft sailboat – and have now set sail again around Mexico and Costa Rica.

The family spear their own fish to eat but have a smaller dingy to get to land for supplies.

Sara, a content creator, from Gold Coast, Australia, said: “Being able to go surfing and waking up every morning is amazing.

“We catch our own food and spear fish.

“We have that sense of freedom.

“Our kids see that as a reality – they can live simply.

“You don’t need all the external things – buying a house and car loans.

“If I think of going back to land life it stresses me out a bit.

“People’s lives are so busy – they can’t fit you in.”

Sara and Lee grew up surfing and living by the beach and always wanted to live on a boat.

She said: “We both lost a parent.

“It made us realize life is too short. We wanted to see the world with our kids and not wait until we retired.”

In 2014 they were finally able to buy a 45ft boat and travelled down the east coast of Australia to see if they could live on it as a family.

They loved it and packed up their life in May 2016 – putting their belongings into a few boxes and selling their cars.

They sailed around Australia, before heading to Indonesia and then spent the next five years in South East Asia.

Sara said: “It was incredible.”

The kids were homeschooled – and got to experience completely different cultures.

Sara said: “We’ve always talked about it with them [their dream to sail] – it was a normal thing for them.

“How we raised out kids was such a dream.

“They have such amazing life experiences already.

“It’s such a unique way to grow up.

“It’s a beautiful way to take everything in and have a different perspective.”

The family slowly explored just some of the 17,000 islands in South East Asia and would end up in completely remote places.

They spent most days diving and surfing.

Sara said: “I’m so happy we’re able to have these moments as a family.

“We’ve sailed to eight countries.

“We’re sailing around the world one island at a time.”

Sara says sailing can be “high stress” at times – if they get caught in a storm – but she feels less “overwhelmed” than when they lived on land.

She said: “The highs are really high and the lows are really low.”

The family sold their old boat for a 53ft one in 2022 – and spent the next two years fixing it up in San Diego, California, before they could get back on the water.

They wanted to the new built to have more space for their growing kids.

Sara said: “This boat is now bigger we can get more space.

“We definitely argue.

“Our answer to anything is to jump in the ocean.”

Sara hopes to inspires others to go and get their dream.

She said: “I always wanted to show people you can do this.

“We’re quite normal. We didn’t have a lot of money.

“I wanted to inspire others to chase their dream.”