We're in Turks and Caicos now, which is south of the 23rd latitude (aka the tropic of cancer). This means it is HOT. I never thought I'd need air conditioning on a boat but here I am.

Turks is our stop-over to the Dominican Republic. It's basically part of the U.K. but unlike the Bahamas it is pretty upscale - lots of great restaurants & stores that have fresh produce. It's a major vacation destination - tons of condos, dive boats, parasailers, etc. We're taking advantage of the city - we ordered & rec'd boat parts, Rog went diving & we've had some great dinners out.

We are waiting on a weather window to the DR. I should have packed my Spanish dictionary so that I could be more productive while we wait (we want 10-15 knots of wind but have been getting 20-30knots for more than a week!!! This is why they are called the trade winds). Anyway, we didn't think we were going to do much in the DR (maybe just stopping at a few ports for overnights) but we've learned a lot more about it so we're going to check it out for awhile. I've got my malaria medication.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that we will never have enough time to make it all the way through the Caribbean, much less Europe. We think we'll end up leaving the boat on one of the islands (south of hurricane line...like Granada) and hiring someone to move it back to Florida. I can't believe I thought I'd have time to explore more than 7000 islands in only 6 months. Derr.

The kids are good. They are mostly concerned that the Easter bunny arrived (toting Bahamian-sold chocolate, funnily enough), and that the tooth fairy paid in US dollars. School continues, which is all I can say about that. Parker is a local celebrity yet again. Our neighbors at the dock, Don and Diana, have been feeding him "beggin treats" and babysitting him when we go out. They are crazy about him.