Boom Times Sailing!: Nassau Already!

We made it to Nassau today! Not not the capital of the Bahamas but Nassau county in Long Island NY. We spent the week in Long Island, and what a week it's been! Here's a brief synopsis.

People:

-First and foremost my little sister, brother-in-law and little niece. We did come all this way to see her! Such an angel. Let it be known that she took her first steps during my visit. By the time we come back up she'll be running circles around her parents. A week side trip, east instead of south, was well worth it to spend valuable time with family.
The Ozners. I know of no family who should have their own TV show more than Uncle Lynn, Auntie Sue and daughter Stephanie! Cracks me up! Uncle Lynn actually set us up with dockage... behind a dental clinic! Not the most scenic dock we've ever had but definitely a budget saver!
We went out for dinner with everybody our second night there and then had the pleasure of hosting a dinner party on board later in the week. Cassy 's culinary masterpieces impressed everybody (as always!).

Boat Projects:

Fixed the leak from the stuffing box. That was priority number one (keep water out of the boat!).
Replaced the defective automatic bilge pump switch, which would turn the pump on, but not off and thus drain the batteries until the pump could stop... and then the boat could sink (call me paranoid but again, keep water out of the boat!)
Recessed the bolts in my homemade (read ghetto) outboard rail mount so the bracket would fit correctly (thanks Matt!)
Installed a “jug board” along the starboard side to attach extra jerry cans of diesel, gas and water (thanks Matt)
Tested the wind indicator & display; wired it up directly from the base of the mast powered by a mobile battery pack just to make sure it was functioning properly before going to the trouble of wiring it to the cockpit.

Provisioning:

We have phone and internet!! I was under impression that getting a US mobile phone plan with data tethering would be easy and cheap, man was I wrong! The frustration that we went through with all the big carriers was ridiculous (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) and I may dedicate an entire future post to this but suffice it to say for now that we have mobile phone & internet (albeit sometimes slow) on board thanks to Radio Shack and their Cricket network.
Personal Flotation Devices (PFD's) with harnesses: while we've always had the requisite life jackets on board they were always the bulky type for families. Now we have sleek professional ones that auto-inflate when you fall in the water (can also be activated manually). Additionally they have a harness built-in to prevent / minimize falling off the boat in rough weather. They cost a mini fortune but since we saved some money on the self-made outboard rail mount I guess we can fit them in the budget.

Food, drink & booze: a lot.
Fuel: Diesel, gas
Water
Pump-Out
Laundry

Things not done:
There's no way we could get everything done, especially with the unexpected leak and bilge repairs. It's all about prioritizing! Things I was hoping to get done but didn't include:

Wiring the VHF Radio to the GPS so we could get AIS (a system that allows us to see other ships in the area and them to see us – kind of like radar.) Once we get that up & running you can even see where we are on the internet. Our fathers are impatiently waiting for this to become so.
Wiring the auto-pilot to the GPS to allow the autopilot to steer a pre-set route we define on the GPS. We won't be able to go for an hour nap but at least we won't have to hand steer all day (which is very tiring).
Refilling our propane tank: the tank the oven & stove run off must be getting near empty and with no microwave on board that will only leave our little BBQ
Shave. I did not have the time (and i forgot my razor) to shave in a land bathroom. I don't want to clog our boat's sink. The Ernest Hemingway look goes on...

This was essentially our last significant land based stop, a pause from the the initial shock of adopting a water based life and a chance to accomplish a whole bunch of things that couldn't be done while on the move. As always we are very grateful for all the help and support during our visit. We are blessed.

Today we left Freeport and retraced our track along Long Island almost back to NYC. There was hardly and wind and the seas were calm (like a lake someone said on the the radio) so we had to motor sail the entire way. Unfortunately Cassandra is still finding her sea legs again after being back on land for so long and got seasick pretty early in the day. She feels better now. We are now on the hook at Sandy Hook in New Jersey where we'll spend the night before making a run offshore down the coast of tomorrow.