Weekly
Blog Posts

Fixing holding tanks, running aground, biting flies, jellyfish filled waters, and oppressive heat are just some of the things in this week’s blog post.  There are also some very nice moments covered.

We have finally made it to the Chesapeake Bay! But first we had to traverse a lock and visited Norfolk, VA.

We visited the lovely town of Beaufort, NC for a few days, then got back onto the ICW heading northbound all the way into Virginia, with a stop in Belhaven and Coinjock on the way.

After a longer than expected stay in Charleston, we finally left the marina and resumed our trek to the north. After doing donuts in the Stono River and completing an overnight passage, Utopia and her occupants have reached North Carolina.

A summary of the projects we took on during our stop in Charleston, SC, plus some kudos for a contractor and the marina, plus a tiny peek at our summer cruising plans.

Sondra has completed her tenth state along the Appalachian Trail. This post provides an overview of the 11 day trek from Springer Mountain to the GA/NC Stateline, and on to Deep Gap in North Carolina.

Lemonade returns to the Appalachian Trail for a few days while Utopia undergoes some big projects in Charleston.

Options available for handing a patient, a boat and a cat at remote locations when one of us cannot operate the boat.

Utopia will be sitting still for about a month as we tackle various projects, both on and off the boat. 

This week we head north and have lunch with the prior owners of Utopia!

Overview of our westward Gulf Stream crossing and returning to Brunswick, Georgia

Fishers Bay, Great Guana Cay Green turtle Club Resort and Marina, Green Turtle Cay Tom Johnson Sound, Great Sale Cay Saturday, April 5 through Friday, April 11, 2025 68 nautical miles (78 statute miles) This week was all about positioning the boat in a location to leave the Bahamas (since our 90 days is almost up) and dodging some weather.    Fishers Bay, Great Guana Cay   We spent Saturday exploring Great Guana Cay and eating lunch at Nippers.  Nippers was a pretty cool spot

Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Hope Town, Elbow Cay Man-O-War, Man-O-War Cay Fishers Bay, Great Guana Cay Friday, March 28 through Friday, April 4, 2025 21 nautical miles (24 statute miles) This week was rather nice with only a few mishaps as we worked our way north through the hub of Abaco. Marsh Harbour Recap As Jimmy mentioned last week, our time in Marsh Harbour was primarily spent running errands. If someone needed boat work done, this would be a good spot to search for part

Meeks Patch to Marsh Harbour in Abaco

Friday, March 14 through Thursday, March 20 Rock Sound, Eleuthera to Meeks Patch, Eleuthera 70 nautical miles (80 statute miles) Governors Harbour Friday, March 14 25 nautical miles (29 statute miles)        The trip north from Rock Sound to the settlement of Governs Harbour had little to no wind followed by some tricky anchoring in a busy harbor. Once we found a spot to squeeze into amongst all of the boats, out of the main delivery boat route, and not on top of any underwat

Saturday, March 8 through Thursday, March 13 Half Moon Cay, Little San Salvador to Rock Sound, Eleuthera 89 nautical miles (102 statute miles)   Our northbound trek through the Bahamas continues and we’ve now reached Eleuthera.     Half Moon Bay, Little San Salvador Island to Poison Point, Eleuthera Island Saturday, March 8 40.5 nautical miles (46.5 statute miles)    It was a long day with light winds crossing from Little San Salvador Island to Eleuthera Island. After leaving

Friday, February 28 to Friday, March 7 Calibash Bay, Long Island to Half Moon Cay, Little San Salvador 110 nautical miles (126 statute miles)   Now that we are more than halfway through our 90-day visa, we have begun our northward trek. Our southernmost anchorage was at Thompson Bay, Long Island (N23d 21’13”, W75d 08’ 15”) arriving one month into our Bahamas stay in mid to late-February. Our plan is to head back to the United States, somewhere along the Atlantic Coast. Caliba

Saturday, February 22 to Thursday, February 27, 2025 Long Island (Thompson Bay) to George Town and back to Long Island (Calibash Bay) 62 nautical miles (71 statute miles)   On Saturday we stayed on the boat and did chores since the wind was remarkably high and we didn’t want to get swamped with an extra wet dinghy rides. Sunday morning we had an open schedule, and we planned to walk to the Atlantic side of island. Just before dropping the dinghy into the water from the davits

George Town, Exuma Islands, Bahamas to Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas Saturday, February 15 to Friday, February 21, 2025   Junkanoo Before leaving George Town on Monday (17-Feb), we attended a small festival in town. The Cruisers Junkanoo Fundraiser is a relatively new event in George Town that helps support the local junkanoo groups.    https://www.grandbahamamuseum.org/exhibits/culture/junkanoo In this fundraiser, locals teach a group of cruisers some of the dance and

Saturday, February 8 to Friday, February 14 When we arrived at George Town, we had no plans or ideas as to how long our stay here would be. This has been a nice change in pace after hurrying to get fairly far south in our first year in the Bahamas. It appears that we will end up with a full two weeks here, as we are currently waiting for a nice weather window to head over to Long Island. Our activities for this week are fairly similar to those reported by Jimmy last week. Lik