Water's so nice, why leave? In Sheboygan, some couples don't

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Every day, John and Cindy Vito wake up on a gently bobbing watercraft listening to seagulls squawk and fish jump.

The couple, who live on land in Westmont, Ill., and Winter Park., Colo., at different times of year, spends their summers in the Sheboygan marina on their 41-foot sailboat.

They are part of a small group of people who live at the marina this time of year, taking part in Sheboygan's summer bounty of activities and events for the season, Sheboygan Press Media reported (http://shebpr.es/12gNm3Q).

"We saw all the marinas up and down the lake," said John Vito, 58, a retired telecommunications executive and, like his wife, a lifelong sailor. "You tend to look for certain things when you're going to be living in the marina."

In Sheboygan, the Vitos have found what they're looking for.

"We feel fortunate we can be here," said Cindy Vito, 57, a South High School alumna.

Chris Marx, the manager of the Harbor Centre Marina, said the marina is well-used by weekend boaters and other recreational users, but not many people live there all summer the way the Vitos do.

"We have people here long-term," Marx said. "Very few. In the industry, we've got a term called live-aboards, which means 12 months out of the year. Our season is three months."

Phil Freye and his wife, Diana, are another example. Freye is winding down his career as a middle school teacher near Madison, and hasn't owned a boat in about seven years.

Before that, the Freyes sailed frequently and spent plenty of time at the Harbor Centre Marina as they explored communities all the way around Lake Michigan. Eventually, they thought they'd seen enough and sold their boat.

Fast-forward to this year, and Freye got a strong hint from his wife that it was time to take to the water again.

"She said, 'You need something to do in retirement,' and she's right," said Freye, 64. "We've seen people die — they'd retire and all of sudden a year or two later, they'd never finished what they really wanted to do. Our motto is, when we're really old we don't want to say 'We wish we had...' That's a bad thing to say."

So the Freyes bought a sailboat and headed for Sheboygan.

"The marina's so well done," Freye said. "They've kept it really in good shape; it's like we never left. We came back, and a lot of the same people are there."

This isn't the Freye's first foray into harbor living. About eight years ago they lived on their boat in the Caribbean for about four months.

Both the Freyes and the Vitos use the marina as a home base, and take trips to other ports on the lake in between shopping at local businesses and eating at area restaurants.

In fact, John Vito said, he considers himself a full part of the community even though he's only here a few months.

"We're good neighbors," he said. "We respect the environment, we have a pretty small carbon footprint here. We contribute to the community ... We frequent a lot of the merchants."

Cindy Vito, whose parents, John and Cathy Moll and brother, Jim Moll, still live in Sheboygan, said the YMCA on Broughton Drive is a regular stop, as are the local festivals and disc golf courses.

"This is our summer neighborhood," she said.

Freye said that over the years, he and his wife have kept in touch with some of their old G dock friends, and he likes to keep an eye on the marina when his neighbors are away.

"It's a small community so everybody gets along, we kind of look out for each other,' he said. "It's more of a weekend community. There are a few of us who live there. A lot of people, I don't know where they go. There's not many of us there all the time."

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by Sheboygan Press Media