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 Key. The wind was mild, out of the north and east allowing for a calm anchorage. On one of our dinghy excursions we saw several manatees, well, we saw several manatee snouts. On another dinghy outing, we brought Baxter along. He did pretty good sitting on the bow locker looking around until as long as we went slow. Opening up the throttle resulted in his jumping down to sit under the seat. From there, we motored up the ICW to our next anchorage. The trip took about six hours, from anchor up to anchor down, requiring five bridge openings. Jimmy and I recalled fondly our first bridge opening experience with Bill and Susie aboard Manaña in this area back in 2016. Originally our plan was to head to Anclote Key, but eastern winds had us a little concerned about the possibility of a rough anchorage. So we opted to head to the Caladesi Island State Park area, hoping to get some hiking done while there. My hiking apps indicated that there may be access to a trail not far from our anchorage. However , after lots of searching by dinghy, we only found very thick mangroves. Instead of hiking, we wandered around the Clearwater Beach area. There is a nice municipal dock where we could leave the dinghy with no fees. Jimmy filled up the dinghy tank at their fuel dock, purchasing a whopping 2.5 gallons of fuel. While here, we had winds consistently from the east and Utopia was tucked up close to Moonshine Island. The always bow pointed towards the island mangroves, while the stern faced the large houses to the west. We saw, and heard, lots of birds, dolphins and schools of little bait fish. On the last day of the trip we took the outside route heading out from Cleawater Pass and back in at Pass-a-Grill, an eight-hour trip. The winds were out of the east and we were able to turn off the motor for the outside leg of the trip. Early on the trip we decided should reef, and for our first time, we reefed while holding our heading. In years past we always turned into the wind to reef. Since both of us heard that you should be able to do without going into irons, we gave it a try and were surprised how well it went. Later, as soon as Jimmy handed the helm to me so he could heat up lunch, we had a 26-knot gust. Lunch was stalled as we switched from jib to the staysail. Since both are on furlers it wasn’t that difficult. However, furling the jib in is usually too difficult for me to do without putting the line on a winch, and I hear that a furling line should never be winched in... Once back at the marina, it was time for chores again. A lot of Friday was spent running the last of our car errands which included a trip to Total Wine (thank you UUPI! Y'all were on our minds as we shopped). We also took time to clean up the car before delivering it to Austin in a few days. Saturday, Jimmy cleaned up Utopia’s deck and hull while I addressed the very neglected bilge. The bilge pump had started to run frequently when the bilge was dry, often waking us up at night, a sign that I could not ignore the beast any longer. After a few hours of boat yoga, the pump now behaves as it should. Saturday wrapped up with our attending a dock party with our boat neighbors. The little gathering gave us a nice feeling of the upcoming cruising life, meeting new people and just enjoying the flow of conversations. Even with some relax time at anchor, I still feel it was a very busy week. Perhaps the fact that I worked remotely 15 hours last week added to the busyness). We have another hectic week in front of us. It will include trips to Tallahasssee, Montgomery and Jacksonville. Hopefully the next week also includes leaving the Harborage for the last time.
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