Underway today from Puerto Rico to the Turks & Caicos Islands — our first multi-night passage since the ARC and the second-to-last stop before DZ gets on a truck in Florida… which for me makes this the second to last passage on a voyage that started January 1st and will have covered more than 5000 NM.  It’s a little hard to wrap my head around.  At the moment, we’re sailing northwest, paralleling the coast of the Dominican Republic.  Just to the north of us is the Puerto Rico Trench — something I’d never heard of but is more than 26,000 feet deep!  

Puerto Rico was a little like a halfway house for reentry to US —supermarkets, American cars on the roads, solving US Customs — but still the Caribbean setting.  Delicious food — may need to learn how to make tostones rellenas (sp?).  Greg, our newest crew member, joined us in Fajardo so that we have three onboard for these last two passages.  He and his wife helped us with provisioning on Tuesday — local knowledge and transportation made that task waaay easier.  :-)

Greg has also improved our fishing performance (not a high bar, admittedly).  Within five minutes of setting the line out yesterday, he had a sailfish on the hook.  We released it — too beautiful to eat, and though probably more than three feet long, just a baby for its kind.  Whether that was all our fishing luck used up in five minutes, or the mark of things to come, we’ll find out today...