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24-5 Alone in Miami
Boca Chita Key to Miami (January 28th -February 3rd) Well, here I sit in Dinner Key Marina in Miami for the next few days while Sondra...
Jimmy Lee
Feb 4, 20243 min read


24-4 Goodbye Key Largo and Hello Biscayne Bay
January 21 - 27, 2024 At the moment, Utopia is sitting in the cool little Boca Chita Harbor, located at the northern tip of the Florida...
sondrawinter
Jan 28, 20243 min read


24-3 Still in Key Largo
Buttonwood Sound to Barnes Sound (January 14-20) We had a fun week in the developed portion of Key Largo at Buttonwood Sound and are now...
Jimmy Lee
Jan 21, 20243 min read


24-2 Skinny Waters to Key Largo
January 7 - 13, 2024 This week we took the inside route to the Channel 5 Bridge to Buttonwood Sound in Key Largo! Jimmy has wanted to...
sondrawinter
Jan 14, 20246 min read


24-1 Marathon and Deferred Maintenance
Key West to Marathon, Florida “Deferred Maintenance” is a word that I have heard a lot over the past several months uttered from other...
Jimmy Lee
Jan 7, 20244 min read


23-52 A Week In Key West
Happy New Year! Today Jimmy and I reflected on the fact that it was a year ago today that we departed on Utopia from the Apalachee Bay...
sondrawinter
Dec 31, 20233 min read


23-51 Season's Greetings from Key West!
There have been a few changes to our plans this past week, mainly due to weather conditions. Looks like we will be spending Christmas...
sondrawinter
Dec 24, 20235 min read

23-50 Waiting for the Keys at Marco Island
December 11th to 16th We left Glover’s Bight at dawn on Tuesday to make the 40-mile sail from Ft. Myers to Marco Island after waking up...
Jimmy Lee
Dec 17, 20233 min read


23-49 Burnt Store to Glover Bight
Summary of our trip from Punta Gorda to Burnt Store, Useppa, St. James City and Glover Bight.
sondrawinter
Dec 10, 20236 min read


23-48 Punta Gorda with a Splash
November 16 - 30, 2023 Utopia has left Punta Gorda after being anchored there for two weeks. Punta Gorda was selected to make it easy...
sondrawinter
Dec 3, 20236 min read


23-47 Tackling Ground Tackle
Well, we will call our first real test of our ground tackle a scary success. Over a two-night period (November 14th and November 15th)...
Jimmy Lee
Nov 26, 20236 min read


23-46 Cayo Costa & Punta Gorda
The first time I came to Punta Gorda was for a work-related trip and I quickly fell in love with the town with its older homes, waterside...
sondrawinter
Nov 19, 20235 min read


23-45 Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor
We departed our southbound trip on a Friday, with bananas and a woman on board. As my friend Bradford would say, what could possibly go...
sondrawinter
Nov 12, 20237 min read

23-44 Heading South (slowly)
Our plans for the next year After a whirlwind of visiting family and doctor’s appointment we have finally started moving south. Friday,...
Jimmy Lee
Nov 5, 20234 min read


23-43 Second Shakedown Trip Complete!
Our second shakedown trip is considered a success. It consisted of five nights at anchor, with two near Gulfport and three near Caladesi...
sondrawinter
Oct 29, 20233 min read


23-42 First Post Made at Anchor
We are at anchor! At the moment it is a nice peaceful cool morning. In a few hours, our anchorage will be much busier, as we saw...
sondrawinter
Oct 22, 20235 min read


23-41 Retired!
This week, a note from each of us… Sondra’s Thoughts Friday the thirteenth was the last day of work for Jimmy and me. With that, I...
sondrawinter
Oct 15, 20234 min read


23-40 Quarterly Project Update (July - September)
Our nine months in St. Petersburg is coming to a close and it is time for a recap of projects we encountered during the last three months...
sondrawinter
Oct 8, 20233 min read


23-39 Utopia’s System Series #5: Navigation and Weather Routing
For cruisers it is pretty much ubiquitous that that paper charts are “mostly” taking a back seat to the myriad number of electronic...
Jimmy Lee
Oct 1, 20235 min read


23-38 Chores from Alabama to Florida
Just a quick update to say that not much has changed in our plans, and we now have only three weeks left in the office and in our...
sondrawinter
Sep 24, 20232 min read
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