Saturday was open house(boat) day at the Gangplank Marina on the Southwest Waterfront—-a glimpse into the homes of those who choose to live a gently rocking life. Gangplank is, the day’s literature informs, “the largest live-aboard marina on the East Coast.” Its houseboats generally fall into one of two categories: semi-normal houses that just happen to be on the water, and semi-normal boats that just happen to have full living amenities.

Boat-dwellers at Gangplank pay the marina something on the order of $650 a month in slip fees. Boat prices vary; the first one shown here was purchased for $160,000.

And then there’s the Management Systems International office complex. Back in the 1980s, the hospitable MSI representative told me, the company got tired of moving whenever there was another major redevelopment downtown, so they headed for the water. Now they have a row of floating office buildings lining one of the piers.

Come join me on a virtual tour. Click on the photo below to begin.