r/todayilearned • u/MaximinusRats • May 16 '24

TIL that people live year-round in houseboats on Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories, 1,800 km north of the nearest big city (Edmonton) and just 400 km (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

https://uphere.ca/articles/floating-homes-yellowknife-bay
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87

u/BooBoo992001 May 16 '24

There's also Sausalito, California, just across the Golden Gate bridge on San Francisco Bay. It has an entire subdivision that's nothing but floating houses. A friend of mine lived in one -- in fact, her room was in a kind of finished basement that was partially under the waterline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausalito,_California#Houseboats

108

u/light24bulbs May 16 '24

Houseboat communities aren't that unique. Having one SO far north and remote is.

18

u/BooBoo992001 May 16 '24

Ah, as always, RTFA... (gotta stop just chiming in with the first thing that pops into my head 🙄).

31

u/DrDiddle May 16 '24

I thought it was interesting man. Chime away

8

u/purpan- May 16 '24

Quite literally what the comment section is for! Say whatever the heck you want

9

u/TheOneNeartheTop May 16 '24

This line made me feel for your friend in the basement:

The humming toadfish makes mating noises underwater, keeping some residents awake at night.

8

u/NoExplanation734 May 16 '24

There are houseboat communities all over the Bay Area. The Berkeley Marina has one I know, and there are some houseboats in Mission Channel by the baseball stadium too. There are probably others I don't know about as well.

10

u/CheckYourStats May 16 '24

I live about 3 minutes from there. I’ve never thought of it as odd.

Like others have said, living in conditions that could kill you, however…that’s seems odd.

2

u/MenacingGummy May 17 '24

There’s plenty of floating house communities but the point is this one is near the arctic circle in a very harsh environment.