Hypodermoclysis, Celestial Navigation and Lists, Lists, Lists

I had hoped to write several background posts on the boat and our trip planning to date, but time is running short so that will have to wait for another day.  Right now we are at the stage of trip planning when we are BURIED in lists.  Lists of stuff related to the boat, lists of stuff to get for homeschooling, lists of reference books and medical supplies and galley supplies and snorkel gear and and and.....  The reason for all of these lists is that, other than food, fuel and a few essentials, we expect that we won't have access to well-stocked, reasonably priced stores for maybe 6 months.  The assumption is that we'll make it to at least the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic this winter, but if we don't make it to Puerto Rico, the shopping opportunities are going to be fairly thin. 

So not only are we looking for the kind of household crap that can drive you crazy (think soap dishes and vegetable pealers), but then there's all the specialized stuff that we need (or think would be wise to have), like a Hypodermoclysis system and tools for celestial navigation.  Your vocabulary lesson for the day: Hypodermoclysis is a subcutaneous hydration system that you can use instead of an IV.  THEY SAY it is quite comfortable and safe.  For those that have known us for a while, this might be needed if Danny meets another mosquito carrying Dengue Fever or if anyone on board gets so severely seasick that they can't hydrate.  And the celestial navigation stuff, well, that's just in case and for geeky sailor fun.

As you might imagine, all of the lists are kind of annoying.  But the good news is that the lists - including the boat work list - seem to finally be getting smaller rather than larger.

Here are pics of a couple of the many things that have been completed.  We've renamed the boat (including the obligatory denaming and renaming rituals where you request Poseidon to update his boat registry and pour lots of champagne overboard - not kidding here).  The new name, Blue Kai, is each of the kid's middle names (and which, not completely coincidentally, means blue ocean). 

Oh, and we did get the mast back on the boat.  (We took it off for some re-rigging and to cut a bit of it off so that we are can use the Inter-Coastal Waterway without hitting bridges.)  You know, just some minor stuff.