Living on a Boat with Dogs: Our Journey from City Life to the Sea | BITE
Discover how we left city life behind to live on a boat with our dogs. Follow our journey from camper adventures to life at sea, sharing challenges, discoveries, and everyday moments of nomadic living.
The morning in Milan used to be a mix of sounds: the tram screeching on the tracks, shutters rolling up, and the hurried chatter of people already watching their clocks.
For years, that was our soundtrack. Not a wrong life, mind you—just one that, eventually, didn’t feel like ours anymore.
We are Sami and Massimo. This is the story of how we traded concrete for water, bringing along two large Akitas and plenty of questions about what life could be.
The Impulse That Changed Everything
There was no business plan, no long meditation. One ordinary morning in the fall of 2024, we woke up and, almost on a whim, started looking for a camper. A few hours later, we had bought one.
That camper was our first real act of freedom. It taught us the essentials: how to live in small spaces, manage resources, and share every inch with two dogs half the size of the cabin. It wasn’t always comfortable, and it wasn’t easy—but it was real.
When the Plan Literally Broke
They say things break to make way for the new. For us, it was literal: the camper broke down.
Standing there on the roadside with our dreams stalled, we realized something important: we didn’t want to go back. We needed more than just a bigger vehicle; we wanted a deeper challenge.
That’s how we moved from wheels to waves.
Today: 10 Meters, Four Residents, a Remote Office
Today, our home is a 10-meter boat. The morning soundtrack now is the wind whistling through the rigging and the splash of water against the hull.
We still work in insurance, but now we do it while watching the horizon shift. Every day is a learning curve: sea rhythms, technical maintenance, and acrobatic life with our Akitas—who, against all odds, seem to have found their sea legs.
We’re Not Gurus, We’re Explorers
We want to be clear: this isn’t about selling a formula for happiness or freedom. We are learners, explorers navigating new territory. Often tired, sometimes confused, but finally moving.
This blog exists to capture those moments, give meaning to the journey as we live it, and share the beauty—and effort—of choosing a direction instead of a destination.
If You’re Here…
Maybe it’s curiosity. Maybe, like us, you sometimes feel that static life is a bit too tight.
Whatever the reason, welcome aboard.
The rest of the journey will unfold as we go.
After all, what we’ve learned is: the better is in the end!
Internal links
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- Category: Logbook
- Sailing with dogs isn't the problem it looks like
Two large northern dogs on a ten-metre boat: heat, toilet needs, salt, safety, passports. Almost everything people take for granted works the other way round in practice — except one thing.
- The first leg is not a warm-up
Bari–Santa Maria di Leuca: why the first day of sailing already means a full night at sea, and why we're stopping two nights at Leuca before we even need to.
- The route on the map isn't the route
How the Bari to Lisbon itinerary came together: the thinking that happened before the chart came out, the changes of mind along the way, and why that line will keep moving.
- Welcome aboard Spritz: what it’s like to live on a 32 feet sailboat
Step aboard Spritz, our 1975 sailboat: ten metres that serve as our home, office and travel companion. Here’s what it’s really like to live, work and sail aboard her.
- Spritz is changing seas. And perhaps this is where the real journey begins.
Spritz is setting sail for Portugal, marking the beginning of a new chapter for BITE Project. A real sailing relocation across the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic, open to anyone who wants to experience life aboard, learn by doing, or simply discover whether living on a sailboat is the life they’ve been dreaming about.
- Arrested by the Hellenic Coast Guard
After a night aground, exhausted and unsure whether we had damaged the boat, we thought the worst was over but then… the Coast Guard arrived.