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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

For cruisers it is pretty much ubiquitous that that paper charts are “mostly” taking a back seat to the myriad number of electronic devices to keep you knowing where you are. In addition, these devices allow you to go places where it would be considered pretty sketchy unless you had local knowledge of the area. That doesn’t mean you should only rely on electronics. Your eyes and the ability to read a compass with charts is a skill that needs to be retained. Also, weather

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 apartment. This past week has been busy for Jimmy and me, with a lot of solo travel between the two of us. Monday night he spent in Jacksonville for an early morning doctor’s appointment. Tuesday night we were both home and loaded up the Jeep with electronics for Austin. Wednesday afternoon I drove to Orlando for a work trip, returning on Friday

There are four weeks left in our apartment lease. The apartment is becoming sparse as today Jimmy has disassembled the television and stereo equipment to deliver to his son. The couch set, console, bookshelves, and end tables have already been removed. Stuff going to Alabama is grouped on one wall, while piled in a corner are some things we are ready to get rid of. We still need to re-home our coffee table and miscellaneous furniture. Most of these will be donated to Habit

So, while on the boat we will want to communicate with friends, family and other boats and vessels within the vicinity. This means we will have a myriad of items and ways to do this. I will mostly focus on what Utopia has on the boat at this time since I think we have it pretty covered at this point. Having said this, I will discuss possible future items that we might consider. VHF and SSB Radio VHF One of the most important communication items on Utopia is our VHF radio.

First let me say, all is well with Utopia and the Tallahassee area. However, we had a few nerve-racking moments throughout the storm. Although Jimmy and I have been through several tropical storm events, each one brings on a bit of worry. It is a dance of figuring out how much preparation work needs to be done, and this storm was no exception. About Time meets Hurricanes Irma & Michael Our last boat, and house, felt the effects of the major Hurricanes Irma and Michael, alo

The selling of About Time was an interesting process for Jimmy and me. Not only did we figure out the process of selling a boat by owner, but we also got to meet some great people along the way. For Sale by Owner As mentioned in other blogs, like the 5-year plan ( https://sondrawinter.wixsite.com/in-the-lee/post/the-five-year-plan ) , Jimmy and I decided to purchase a larger boat for our full time cursing adventure, and before buying that new boat, we felt we should sell Abo