Leeward Islands

Hurricane Maria grows on Irma's path

Maria was forecast Sept. 17 to surge to major hurricane strength as it nears the storm-battered eastern Caribbean with 140 kilometer per hour winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, on a path similar to that of mega storm Irma earlier in the month.

Storm warnings and watches went up in many of the Caribbean islands still reeling from Irma's destructive passage.

Hurricane Maria to Become Major Storm Near Caribbean Islands

Maria is expected to become a dangerous major hurricane as it nears the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, reported BBC. 

The category one hurricane will rapidly strengthen over the next 48 hours and will hit the islands late on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center says.

It is moving roughly along the same path as Irma, the hurricane that devastated the region this month.

An intrepid retiree takes on the high seas of the Atlantic

Did you know that when sailing across the Atlantic one of the worst things that can happen is to run out of reading material? That it's possible to catch a lobster with a mop in the Caribbean? Or that the island of Martinique is a part of the European Union? I didn't, but I do now that I've met 62-year-old mechanic Panayiotis Kontoyiannis.