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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

Jimmy and I just returned from a quick trip to Atlanta, Georgia. The weekend’s focus was to attend a concert, then we filled in the remaining time shopping, exploring, relaxing, and eating. The original purpose of the trip was to see Queens of the Stone Age at the Fox Theater in the midtown area of Atlanta. Since the concert was on a Friday evening, we decided to take the day off of work to give ourselves plenty of time to arrive in Atlanta. Our hotel was across the street

Over the past year I have had a few people ask how we get our internet while cruising. It’s definitely an evolving topic with the advancement of several technologies over the past few years. So, what I will go over is what we had when we got the boat, what I added after we got the boat and then what my plans are in the future. I am somewhat of a home theater nut, and I do like to stream movies and such so I will go over that in a future post. What it Had When we bought Uto

We are 10 weeks away from the end of our apartment lease and have started to downsize, again. This is where things are getting real; real difficult that is. As we prepare to move onto Utopia , we are also trying to maintain our lives here in Tallahassee, meaning we need to get rid of everything, yet we still need work clothes and some furniture to sit and sleep on. The timing of what to get rid of and when is a big puzzle making Downsizing Round Two to be tricker than Round

I am all for sharing mistakes Jimmy and I make as we venture into the cruising world. Some of these may seem obvious but reflecting on these things does help us learn from these experiences, even during a trip on our dinghy. When we took our dinghy on a longer trip during a recent weekend, several things worth noting popped up including a few lessons learned. First a Summary: I need more practice at the helm of the dinghy, including starting the engine. The weight distribu

Never knowing what to call it…black water, sewage? I think black water gets the point across. Not as complicated as the water supply system, it is still a very important system to keep functioning for obvious reasons. From tankage, collection and disposal you will immediately know if your black water system is not functioning properly. So, let’s talk sewage! Tankage Keeping a big tank of sewage on the boat does not seem appealing but almost all boats of any size have one.

In April we posted a list of projects we had done during our first three months in St. Petersburg and now it is time to capture projects for our second three months. And oh, boy, this was an expensive quarter. We are hoping that the third quarter does not require so many boat bucks. New batteries fit nicely into bottom of lazarette Here is an outline of work for April, May and June that we can recall: New Bimini side curtains and zippers for the cockpit enclosure - The Eise

Throughout our 5-year plan schedule to transition from full time work to full time cruising we have had many opportunities to “bailout”. I consider these as milestone decision points, moments where we would do a gut check to see if this is in fact what we want to be doing. Each milestone seemed to have evoked different emotions. About Time and the Shell Point house Selling our beloved About Time This was our first decision point along the five-year plan. It was exciting t

To kick this series off I want to go over all the pieces and parts of Utopia's potable water system. From tankage, water procurement, pressurization, hot water and desalination I will try to be as through as possible. So lets talk water: Tankage So where do we keep the water on our boat? Utopia is a Caliber 40 LRC sailboat and the LRC stands for Long Range Cruiser. One of the things that makes it a long range cruiser is the tankage it boast for water, fuel and blackwater.

This was an article I wrote for the Florida Water Resources Journal (February 2023) and thought it would be fun to share it here. People occasionally ask how drinking water is supplied on boats. When it comes to potable water sources, a boat at sea can be compared to traveling by recreational vehicle, backpacking, or living in a remote location: It is possible, but takes a little bit of planning and time. There are a few options to ensure you have safe drinking water while

Over the next several weeks I am going to be doing a detailed overview of each of our boat systems. A lot of these systems are something everyone has in their terrestrial homes but with an interesting flair that is special for a boat. Below is a brief synopsis of what to expect. I plan on creating an entire article on each system: Drinking Water I will elaborate on our fresh water system, plumbing system, tankage, pressurized system, hot water and how we get and/or make ou