PHOTO ALERT - two albums added: Spanish Virgin Islands and BVI with Friends (including lots of subalbums). Check the Photo Gallery.

It has been a little over two months since we left Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. As we crossed four time zones over the Atlantic we realized we left behind more than the everyday language barriers. The Med had so many charming challenges. Grocery shopping was the fastest Berlitz class I have ever attended; using symbols, pictures, limited words and charades we delighted in the culinary feasts of each country. Driving in cars better suited for match boxes in the narrowest of streets left us breathless with fear and laughter. We said good bye to some of the most famous and beautiful monuments and art from Pisa's Leaning Tower to Rome's Sistine Chapel to Malta's magnificent Co Cathedral hiding behind its sandcastle façade.

As we crossed over to the Caribbean we embraced a new world filled with palm trees and sandy beaches on islands dotting the horizon. Gone is the language barrier, only to be replaced with the island time warp. If shops in towns along the Med closed for midday siesta, in the Caribbean they stay open, but gone is the hustle and bustle efficiency we are so used to. It's island time, mon. Nothing happens quickly and sometimes never happens at all. Fresh fruit in the British Virgin Islands are sparse and shriveled; whereas dry goods are 'a plenty but with prices designed to shock. Fashion and shopping falls into the "My Grandpa went to the BVI and bought me this t-shirt" and shark-teeth necklace categories.

But every day brings the most brilliant blue waters, sun and warmth. Days are spent snorkeling in the clearest water teaming with local reef fish. The trade winds howl down the St. Francis Drake Channel as we surf downwind at 8 knots with just the foresail up. Fishing lines tighten and zing with a fighting tunny or cero, our fresh appetizer for the day. Evenings cool slightly and, on clear horizons, the sun sets with its brilliant green flash. It rains almost every day in 10-15 minute spurts and leaves the deck clean and salt free.

Gone is the historically steeped culture of southern Europe and Northern Africa. We have put away the art, religion and history textbooks. For the next five months we will be studying in nature's classroom filling our days marveling at the sea world below us.

Not a bad trade off, if you ask me.