Weekly
Blog Posts

(ICW MM 1013 to ICW MM 952) February 11 - 17, 2024 So, I have mentioned in prior blog posts that there is a great book and podcast called How Not to Sail .  Well, there are times when I feel like Jimmy and I are creating the blog post format of How Not to Sail.  This week we have a few good examples. Close encounters with bascule bridges Shortly after our cargo ship incident, we set up anchor for a couple of nights before beginning the long trip up the Intracoastal Waterway (

February 4 to 10: Miami area, Palm Beach area & side trip to Howey-in-the-Hills I really, really wanted this week’s post to be rather mundane and until Friday, it was on track to be this way. Today’s post covers some of the issues we experienced this week , as well as an overview of our upcoming plans , so it is a little longer than I would normally like a post to be. This Week's Summary Since our last post, Jimmy messed about on the boat until I returned to Miami, then we ex

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 travels to Orlando for some remnant work life commitments. I have plenty to do on the boat, but it is a little odd with just Baxter and myself.  I just realized I have not spent one night off the boat since the beginning of November.  Without further ado here is what we did this past week.   Last Sunday (Boca Chita Key)- party boats slowly dis

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 Keys, in the southern part of Biscayne Bay. Our cellar service here is pretty darned weak, so I am quickly typing up a summary on my phone. Sunday - Steamboat Creek anchorage in Barnes Sound .  Took a trip up Steamboat Creek. Concerns over how loud our water pump is getting. Met some southbound cruisers. Saturday & Sunday (01-20 & 01-21): A

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 anchored in the far northeast corner of Barnes Sound in a very secluded spot but still off of Key Largo (see Garmin tracker for exact spot).  We had a full week of swimming, snorkeling, boat chores and getting to know all the cruisers in our anchorage (shoutout to Sorella , Charisma, Greenlights, Willy Dawes, and Le Repos ). So, first swi

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 try the inside passage but was unsure if Utopia  could make it due to the very shallow depths along this ICW route.  While in Burnt Store we met some very experienced sailors (Two Can Sail) who indicated that a boat with a 6’ draft could make it in the right conditions.  They were quite encouraging, so we started to consider going that way, an

Key West to Marathon, Florida   “Deferred Maintenance” is a word that I have heard a lot over the past several months uttered from other sailors and myself. We are presently floating in Safe Harbor Marathon Marina at this time due to the fact we haven’t been in a marina in a month and Utopia  needed a little TLC that’s better accomplished at a dock.     Entrance to Boot Key Anchorage But I get ahead of myself. So this past Monday (New Years Day) we slipped from our mooring ba

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 Yacht Club towards St. Petersburg ( see the blog about the passage) . That was a big milestone for us since moving the boat from “home” down to St. Petersburg was another step towards beginning our full-time cruising journey. It is exciting to think that we managed to pull it off and are spending this New Year's in Key West.   So, speaking of

There have been a few changes to our plans this past week, mainly due to weather conditions.   Looks like we will be spending Christmas in Key West this year! A sleepy but happy Jimmy & Sondra A review of weather conditions and some local knowledge picked up at the Marco Island West Marine resulted in changes to our cruising plans early last week. If we made a chart of the decisions made last week, it would look like the track of the ball in a pinball machine.   In the end, w

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 to a cabin temperature of 56 degrees.  It was a cold but breezy morning with winds out of the Northeast at 15-20 Knots.  We made fantastic time arriving at Marco Island in a little protected bay called Smokehouse Bay around 4 pm.  It was interesting navigation going from Marco Pass into Smokehouse Bay since the channel was quite shallow and

Summary of our trip from Punta Gorda to Burnt Store, Useppa, St. James City and Glover Bight.

November 16 - 30, 2023 Utopia has left Punta Gorda after being anchored there for two weeks. Punta Gorda was selected to make it easy to connect with our sisters and some friends from Tallahassee during the Thanksgiving holiday and to accommodate a work-related trip I had the following week. I would be a good spot to tackle a bunch of errands after leaving our remote anchorage at Cayo Costa. Parts of Punta Gorda still show signs of damage from Hurricane Ian Thanksgiving It

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) there was a sizable system that came into our anchorage in Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa State Park.  Sustained winds were around 25 knots with gusts up to 35 knots over two nights, forces higher than we’ve experienced at anchor before.  The forecast did not indicate the severity system until the last minute, so we decided to stay in this very pr

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 park and trails, free loaner bikes and especially the warm and friendly locals.  There is a long multi-use sidewalk that runs along Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River where you can find view many boats at anchor.  It was always fun to imagine being anchored out there, so I was particularly happy when we set our anchor near Gilchrist Park

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 wrong (# HNTS ). Cruising from Venice to Charlotte Harbor Sailors can be a superstitious lot. Even today some will not begin a trip on a Friday. Others will state bananas and women should never be on a boat during a voyage, although those two are slowly fading out of practice. Sailors also love to sit around a bar to share their stories of

Our plans for the next year After a whirlwind of visiting family and doctor’s appointment we have finally started moving south. Friday, we turned in our marina keys at the Harborage and took a 4-hour sail south under the Sunshine Skyway and right now we are sitting in a nice bay along the Manatee River. We are going to stay here for a few days and get our bearings before moving further south. Knowing this, I thought this would be a good time to go over our cruising and non-

Our second shakedown trip is considered a success. It consisted of five nights at anchor, with two near Gulfport and three near Caladesi Island. Other than having minor VHF issues (difficulty hearing our VHF at the helm, and the inability to see the channels on the unit at the nav station),there were no major issues with the Utopia. She appears to be ready to take off for points south. We anchored the first two nights in Boca Ciega Bay, to the west of Gulfport, off of Long

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 yesterday afternoon. Jimmy and I are soaking up a morning with little on the schedule after a very busy week. Since this is our first week of “retirement” we thought we would provide a snapshot of the week. (For those who want more photos, head here ). Leave Tallahassee – Monday Morning We got up too early Monday morning, the first “workday” we d

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 suppose we have retired. Well sort of. I will be working about a half a day a week for eight weeks to help my colleague manage projects. Hopefully my replacement will be found before the eight weeks run out. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity culminating in an empty apartment and a packed Jeep, ready for the trek to St. Petersb

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 as we get closer to casting off. The number of projects for this quarter is surprisingly larger than I thought it would be when I posted the last quarterly update. but at least these items are not too major. Order Boat Cards - these are like business cards, but boaters use them to share contact information. New stern seatback cushions Reb