We "Moved" to St. Brendan's Isle

One of the first questions we are asked is, "How do you get your mail?" We use a mail forwarding service, St. Brendan's Isle. We have an actual street address: 411 Walnut St. #nnnnn, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043. SBI scans the envelopes and we decide whether to have them 'hold', 'shred' or 'open'. If we select 'open', they will scan the contents and send via PDF. Every 30-60 days, we have all the 'held' mail packaged and sent to wherever we want (normally a marina that will be on our way). You will also need a 'physical address' for most banks, credit card companies and financial institutions. We use a relative's address for our physical address.

Another advantage of using SBI is establishing Florida residency. SBI has step-by-step instructions on their website. Another great link for establishing residency is on The Boat Galley website.

I will add the following to the above two links based on our experience:

It was worth the trip to Green Cove Springs, FL to file our Declaration of Domiciles (you need one form for each of you), register to vote, register our boats (boat and dinghy) and get a Real ID compliant driver's license.

First:Get your SBI account and address a month or two in advance. Make sure you both have at least two pieces of mail when you take your trip to FL! Everything is pretty much in my name so I had plenty. Sharon managed to get a few pieces of mail with her name on it. Wait to open your mail until after you get your driver's license. I don't know if this is a requirement but it worked for us.

Clay County Courthouse

Go to the Clay County courthouse, 825 N Orange Ave, Room 101. We got there at 8:25 and filed our Declarations of Domicile at 8:30 when their doors opened. Print out the form ahead of time but don't bother getting it notarized -- they will do that for you. Total cost $30. Total time: 5 minutes.

Register to vote at the Clay County Supervisor of Elections, 500 N Orange Ave. You can do this online after you get your driver's license but we did this in person immediately after our courthouse visit. The woman who helped us was very helpful and pleasant. She immediately identified us as, "4-Eleven Walnutters". Total time: 5 minutes.

Visit your new 'home' and get your mail at St. Brendan's Isle. Directions are on their website and they open at 9:00. If you open your mail, save your envelopes to get your driver's license!

Our new 'home', St. Brendan's Isle

Register your boat(s) and get your driver's license at DMV, 477 Houston St (next building south of the courthouse). You will need an appointment (online) to get your driver's license! You will need to make this appointment well in advance of your arrival at DMV. Go to the counter and let them know you need to register your boat. Do this before your DL appointment. You will receive a number. We were seen immediately. The best time to go to ANY DMV is the middle of the month. NOTE: We were NOT able to use the Bulkhead Rd address as our physical address to register our boats. We had to use the physical address we use for financial institutions. You will receive boat and dinghy stickers and FL registration cards. Cost: $105 (cost will vary based on boat length).

Next get your number for your DL appointment. Again, we were seen right away. Cost: $102.25 (I received a military discount!). Total time for boat and DL: 1 hour and we were headed back to Maryland in our rental vehicle via Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach and Surf City!

The address on our driver's license is our documented vessel's "Official Number": DOnnnnnn, Green Cove Springs, FL.

We have used a free 'virtual' phone number from Google Voice for years. This has been our 'home' phone for a long time. You can set it up to ring as many phones as you want. For example, someone calls our Google Voice number and both our cell phones ring. It has voicemail, SMS, call blocking, etc.

So we didn't actually move to Florida. We own no property anywhere. We 'live' wherever our boat is and currently that is in Maryland for the summer. After hurricane season, we will cast off for good and start heading south.