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Weekly
Blog Posts
Each week either Jimmy or Sondra summarize our recent adventures or mishaps. When we do not have a whole lot to share we will cover other boaty topics or recent land travels.
To find something from the past you can either sort by topic or year using the buttons below.


Emergency Contingency Plans while Cruising, Post 25-19
Options available for handing a patient, a boat and a cat at remote locations when one of us cannot operate the boat.
sondrawinter
May 11, 20254 min read


Pausing in Charleston, Post 25-18
Utopia will be sitting still for about a month as we tackle various projects, both on and off the boat.
Jimmy Lee
May 4, 20253 min read


Beautiful Sailing, Beautiful Beaufort, Post 25-17
This week we head north and have lunch with the prior owners of Utopia!
sondrawinter
Apr 27, 20255 min read


Back in the USA! Post #25-16
Overview of our westward Gulf Stream crossing and returning to Brunswick, Georgia
sondrawinter
Apr 20, 20255 min read


Approaching Departure, Post 25-15
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
Jimmy Lee
Apr 13, 20255 min read


Cruising the Hub of Abaco, Post #25-14
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
sondrawinter
Apr 6, 20255 min read




Cuts, Clinics & Crashing Waves in Eleuthera, Post 25-12
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
sondrawinter
Mar 23, 20255 min read


Storms, Birthdays and Caves in Eleuthera, Post 25-11
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
sondrawinter
Mar 16, 20255 min read


Heading North through the Bahamas, Post #25-10
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
sondrawinter
Mar 9, 20255 min read


Pinballing Through the Bahamas, Post #25-9
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
Jimmy Lee
Mar 2, 20254 min read


Officially in the Tropics! Post #25-8
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
sondrawinter
Feb 23, 20255 min read


George Town: Trash, Hiking, Outboards & Weather, Post #25-7
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
sondrawinter
Feb 16, 20255 min read


George Town (aka Chicken Harbor), Post #25-6
Friday, January 30,2025 to Friday, February 7, 2025 Big Majors Spot to George Town, Bahama, Exumas 63 nautical miles (72 statute miles) Big Major Spot, Staniel Cay and Thunderball Grotto Pig's checking out our Dinghy We stayed a few days anchored with +50 other boats in the very protected Big Majors Spot anchorage. It’s in close proximity to Staniel Cay (1.5-mile dinghy ride) and the actual “Spot” is known for its “Pig Beach.” We don’t get too excited for the pigs, but we
Jimmy Lee
Feb 9, 20257 min read


Hopping down the Exuma Cays, Post #25-5
Wednesday, January 22 to Thursday, January 30, 2025 Nassau, New Providence Island to anchorage at Big Majors Spot near Staniel Cay 78 nautical miles (90 statue miles) Our route from Nassau to Big Majors Spot Nassau While in the Nassau area, we explored the eastern side of the town, and Athol Island , where we had anchored. One day was entirely spent onboard Utopia due to heavy winds, which resulted in a very rocky, wobbly, lumpy anchorage the following two days. During ou
sondrawinter
Feb 2, 20254 min read


To the Bahamas! Post #25-4
Wednesday, January 8, 2025 to Wednesday, January 22, 2025 216 nautical miles (249 statute miles) The Former Cruising Mecca: Fort Lauderdale, FL Wednesday, January 8 to Wednesday, January 15, 2025 After completing the second day of multiple bridge openings, we arrived in Fort Lauderdale and edged our way into a very crowded anchorage in Lake Sylvia. Several boats needed to be fended off with boat hooks when winds and currents caused everyone to swing around in different patt
sondrawinter
Jan 26, 20256 min read


Chasing Gremlins, Post #25-3
As of this posting we have officially left the USA and have entered the Bahamas and are presently in Great Harbour Marina in the Berry Islands. Our next week's post will go over the crossing and a recap of Ft. Lauderdale and our first week in the Bahamas but for now lets go over some issues we have had on Utopia . Last week’s post was about our trip from Brunswick down to Ft. Lauderdale, and this week’s post is about what broke during the trip and what we did to fix it.
Jimmy Lee
Jan 19, 20256 min read


Farewell to Brunswick, GA, Post #25-2
Friday, December 27, 2024 to Wednesday, January 8, 2025 Brunswick, GA to Fort Lauderdale, FL Departure Preparation Review of Brunswick, GA Leg 1 - Brunswick to Cumberland Leg 2 - Cumberland to Lake Worth Leg 3 - Lake Worth to Boca Raton Leg 4 - Boca Raton to Ft. Lauderdale Sidney Lanier Bridge, Brunswick River, Georgia Preparation for Departure A lot of groceries from Aldi Following the holidays and a flurry of doctors’ appointments it was time to focus on the last of the foo
sondrawinter
Jan 12, 20259 min read


System Series #7 Entertainment, Post #25-1
(i.e., music and video) and internet update Present Update (Saturday, January 4) Well we have left Brunswick Landing Marina and after a two day overnight sail into the Atlantic Ocean we are now anchored in West Palm Beach enjoying sunny South Florida. Our next post will cover that so we had a post in the "can" so to speak since we knew we would be tired. So without further adieu... System Series No. 7 When I first started this series over a year ago, I indicated that I
Jimmy Lee
Jan 5, 20255 min read


24-52 AT Gear #5: Clothing
Our final post on the gear we used on the Appalachian Trail. We are still in Brunswick, GA spending our time getting ready to stay several months in the Bahamas. It is likely that we will leave the marina on New Year’s Eve for the Miami area. Clothing choices are highly dependent on the temperatures that you believe you will come across. We selected clothing that could cover lows around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, to hot days in the 90’s. Honestly, we nearly wore the same clothes
sondrawinter
Dec 29, 20245 min read
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