Family trades West Ashley suburbs for life aboard a boat roaming the Caribbean islands and more

Grace Beahm // The Post and Courier

The Harler family — Josie, Justin, Tracy and Michael — have been living aboard their boat for the past four years and now are planning to sail to Europe.

Not long after their twins' 12th birthday, Tracy and Michael Harler packed the family into a 43-foot ketch named Rio Luna and set sail.

Leaving the suburbs of West Ashley and their land-based lifestyle behind, the Harlers have lived on their sailboat for the past four years, home-schooling the kids as they sailed the East Coast and the Caribbean.

Much of that time was spent anchored off Honeymoon Beach, part of a small island near St. Thomas. It's one of those postcard-pretty places with clear blue water, white sand beaches, and not many people.

"Models come there all the time for photos," said Josie Harler, who, along with her twin brother Justin, just turned 16.

The lives they are living must sound like a dream come true, to some people. They're sailing to interesting places, spending loads of quality time with the family, fishing and snorkeling and swimming and never having to deal with things like getting stuck in traffic.

"When you're a young man you think about doing stuff like that, if you have any sense of adventure," Michael said. "But there are always reasons not to do it."

Not for everyone

For others, such a life might sound unappealing. Living in tight quarters -- husband, wife and two teenagers -- removed from relatives, longtime friends and modern conveniences, such as hot showers.

"We meet a lot of people who think it sounds really neat, but they would never do it," Tracy said.

After a brief return to the Charleston area this spring to regroup, visit friends and family, and work on the boat, the Harlers will be off again. This time they'll sail across the Atlantic, with plans to spend the winter in the Mediterranean, perhaps at anchor off a Greek island.

Dreams and plans

This was Tracy's dream.

A Charleston native, she raced 18-foot Y-Flyers in high school and developed a lifelong love of sailing.

"Luckily, I found a partner who shared my dream," said Tracy, who married Michael in 1990.

She was a photographer. He ran a camera repair shop. He was an Air Force vet, with two adult sons from a prior marriage. She was an Air Force brat. Both had moved frequently before settling in Charleston.

Michael, who grew up in the Southern California desert, came to sailing later in life, but he and Tracy pursued their plan for a life on the water with much hard work and careful saving.

"It starts with a plan, and you can't let delays stop you" she said. "We had a five-year plan, and it took a bit longer than that."

They bought Rio Luna -- named for Moon River, their song -- in 2001 from a man in Florida who had built the sailboat by hand.

In 2003, Michael and Tracy sailed in the Charleston-to-Bermuda race with the twins, who turned 8 years old the day the race began. A story about the race was published in The Post and Courier, and it began with this line:

"Michael Harler has the slowest sailboat in the 16-boat Charleston to Bermuda race, or C2B."

Harler told the reporter: "We're going to get some fish. We just happen to have some other boats going with us."

Rio Luna was among 11 boats that made the full trip to Bermuda that year, and it was the last to arrive, Tracy said.

Tracy does much of the sailing and navigating, and all of the docking. Everyone in the family stands watch when they're at sea. And Michael handles repairs and catches fish. Lots of fish.

He particularly likes catching grouper with a hand-line while snorkeling, a method he said has been quite successful. A blog about their travels that Tracy updates from time to time sports more than a few fish photos.

Good timing

The real estate bubble helped the Harlers realize their plans. In addition to running a home-based camera repair business called Focal Point, Michael was a real estate agent and invested in some properties himself.

"To get the money, we bought real estate, various places here and there," he said.

In one deal, he sold a 3-acre lot in Summerville, purchased a decade earlier for less than $18,000, for $120,000.

Tracy, in addition to working as a photographer, took a job with West Marine, where employee discounts on nautical gear came in handy.

"We left debt-free," said Michael.

Rent from their West Ashley house helps support their life aboard Rio Luna and, at 62, Michael's now collecting Social Security benefits. He also works where he can, recently helping a guy known as "Manfred the sailmaker" with a business making sails and awnings in the Caribbean.

Swimming to work

Tracy, 50, worked at all three businesses near Honeymoon Beach on Water Island -- two bars and a pizza restaurant.

"It was such a great place," said Michael. "Tracy got a job at the bar, and she could swim to work."

And she often did, towing a dry-bag behind her.

Justin and Josie also work, at the sort of jobs teenagers might have anywhere. Josie has done some baby-sitting, Justin has done yard work and construction and washed cars. Josie also makes origami earrings and sells them on the beach.

Water Island's a small place with perhaps 80 year-round residents, but there are plenty of other cruising families, and between them there are young people of various ages to hang out with.

Friday night at Honeymoon Beach is movie night, with the screen being a sheet tied between two palm trees.

During the day, there's school work to be done, and chores. Facebook helps Justin and Josie keep in touch with friends.

The things you miss

Of course, there are some things they miss. When the family returned to the Charleston area in late April, the first thing Josie wanted was a Slush drink from Sonic, and Justin wanted a box of Junior Mints.

Friends who hadn't seen the family in years couldn't help but comment that Justin, who was 12 when they set sail, is now more than 6 feet tall. The boat does seem a bit smaller than it used to, he and Josie concede.

While in the Charleston area, the family has been staying with relatives on James Island, Barbara and Harvey McCormick, who conveniently have a deep- water dock on the Wappoo Cut.

"We're very fortunate and blessed that they are here, and allowed us to use their place as base," Tracy said.

This week the Harlers are planning to ship out again, heading for the Azores, Spain, Portugal, and through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean Sea.

"We're playing it by ear from there," Michael said. "When the money runs out or it's no more fun, then we'll come back."