Our Story

The plan has always been simple in principle, but complex in execution. Live on a boat full time. Spend summers cruising Canada and the Great Lakes. Head south for the winters to Florida, the Bahamas, and beyond.

To make that possible we had to simplify life. The house and nearly everything in it went first. The cars were sold. Land-based obligations were intentionally stripped away so we could focus on what mattered most: freedom of movement, financial flexibility, and the ability to cruise.

Removing those ties allowed us to redirect money into retirement savings and into the boat that would become our floating home. Just as important, it pushed us to build careers that could be done remotely from anywhere with a decent internet connection.

Being Canadian adds a layer of complexity. Work and tax rules mean we still need to spend meaningful time in Canada, yet the reality of Canadian winters makes living aboard difficult. That has historically meant migrating with the seasons, cruising north for the summer and south for the winter, often using the Intracoastal Waterway as the backbone of those moves.

Over the years we have spent extensive time cruising the Bahamas, including the Abacos, Berry Islands, Exumas, and Eleuthera. Each season added experience, confidence, and a deeper connection to the cruising community.

What started as a dream gradually became reality. We transitioned from weekend boaters to full-time liveaboards, and eventually to content creators documenting the journey through the Searching for C-Shels YouTube channel.

Shel spent over two decades working in the software industry as a quality strategist and consultant. Over time he became increasingly disillusioned with the traditional corporate model. Endless meetings, office politics, and projects that often felt disconnected from real value made the long-term prospect of a conventional career difficult to accept.

Rather than accept that trajectory, Shel began building a long-term plan to work independently. The idea was to combine professional consulting work with passions that already defined daily life: boats, cruising, systems, and teaching others what he was learning along the way.

A series of layoffs accelerated that timeline. What had once been a 10-year plan became something that needed to happen much sooner.

Today Shel continues consulting remotely while also developing tools and resources for the cruising community, including the C-Shel Yacht Management System, and producing educational boating content.

Cyndi has always been drawn to a more independent lifestyle. The traditional 9-to-5 career path never felt like the right fit. Early on she stepped away from a promising role with a large bank in order to pursue more personal, people-focused work.

She later built and ran a successful online pet-related business for more than a decade. That experience opened the door to remote work long before it became common.

Today Cyndi works with small and large businesses around the world while continuing to embrace the lifestyle that first inspired the move aboard: life on the water, travel, and the freedom to explore new places.