Caribbean

Governor Peter Shumlin said he doesn’t regret his decision to take a Caribbean vacation and not disclose the destination until he got back. The first-term Democrat’s whereabouts became the subject of speculation after staff members said they either didn’t know where he was or wouldn’t make it public. He left Thursday, spent several days on the island of Dominica, and returned Tuesday night. In his absence, a storm dumped 2 feet of snow on Vermont, forcing schools and most state government offices to close.

Keira Knightley, the glamorous star of "Pirates of the Caribbean," is engaged to marry musician James Righton, her publicist said Friday. Publicist Sara Keene said the couple were not releasing any details of the proposal, and did not have any comment on wedding plans. Righton is a keyboard player for the rock group Klaxons. He and Knightley, 27, have been dating since early last year. Previously, Knightley dated actor Rupert Friend for several years. Knightley first won notice for her role as a soccer-playing teenager in "Bend It Like Beckham.

I'm planning my annual Presidents' Day weekend trip to the Caribbean and a friend recently told me that this year I will need a passport to come home. Is that true? Your friend may be wrong or absolutely right -- and the answer depends on where you plan on going in the Caribbean. If you're flying to and from Tortola, the Dominican Republic, or Barbados, then you will need a valid passport. If your sights are set on Puerto Rico, St. John, or St. Croix, then a passport isn't required.

Maine Maritime Academy's training ship is casting off for its annual two-month training voyage that is taking students to U.S. ports, the Caribbean and Bermuda. The 500-foot State of Maine departs Castine on Tuesday morning and is scheduled to return June 30. During the cruise, the ship is scheduled to make stops in Galveston, Texas; on the Caribbean island of Curacao; on Bermuda, and in Charleston, S.C. The training cruise, an annual tradition giving students hands-on training, can be tracked by the public on the academy's website.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia -- Hurricane Dean roared into the eastern Caribbean yesterday, tearing away roofs, flooding streets, and causing at least three deaths on small islands as the powerful storm headed on a collision course with Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. By midevening, the Atlantic season's first hurricane had strengthened into a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 135 miles per hour after crossing over the warm waters of the Caribbean and forecasters warned that it could grow into a monster tempest with 150 miles per hour winds before steering into the Gulf of Mexico, with its 4,000...

Wanderlust is the elixir of June. Long days and warm weather make anything seem possible. Maybe an off-season trip to the Caribbean sounds perfect. Maybe the Montreal Jazz Fest beckons. Or the 25th annual Telluride Wine Festival in Colorado. Or even a quick jaunt to an offbeat food fest -- say, the Virginia Pork Festival barbecue. Get out your maps and plot your course for June. Lobster Festival PLACENCIA, Belize June 23-25 Celebrate June in this seaside village where the festival will include a saltwater fishing tournament, a hermit crab race,...

SAN JUAN - Ah, the Caribbean. Sun, surf. But where's the sand? It is disappearing at alarming rates as thieves feed a local construction boom. Caribbean round grains, favored in creating smooth surfaces for plastering and finishing, are being hauled away by the truckload late at night. On some islands not much bigger than Manhattan, towns and ecologically sensitive areas are now exposed to tidal surges and rough seas. In Puerto Rico, thieves once mined the dunes in the northern coastal town of Isabela, said Ernesto Diaz of the Department...

NEW YORK — JetBlue Airways Corp. said yesterday that it will begin offering service from New York and Boston to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean in February. On Feb. 17, it will begin flying daily to Providenciales, the most populous of the islands, from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. On Feb. 19, it will begin weekly Saturday flights from Boston Logan International to Providenciales. That service will end in April and run in following years only in peak tourist season — November to April.

Police in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis have identified a man suspected of involvement in the robbery of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. A police spokesman describes the man as a "person of interest" in the Feb. 9 robbery, but declines to provide details of the man's alleged involvement. Sgt. Alonzo Carty identifies the man as Vedel K. Browne and says he's a gardener in the town of Gingerland on Nevis island. The spokesman warns that anyone found aiding the man will be prosecuted.

Maine Maritime Academy's training ship is casting off for its annual two-month training voyage that is taking students to U.S. ports, the Caribbean and Bermuda. The 500-foot State of Maine departs Castine on Tuesday morning and is scheduled to return June 30. During the cruise, the ship is scheduled to make stops in Galveston, Texas; on the Caribbean island of Curacao; on Bermuda, and in Charleston, S.C. The training cruise, an annual tradition giving students hands-on training, can be tracked by the public on the academy's website.

CARTAGENA, Colombia - A summit of nearly 30 Western Hemisphere leaders has ended without a joint declaration because of divisions over Cuba and over Argentine claims to the Falkland Islands. "There is no declaration because there is no consensus," Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, said at the summit's closing news conference. Washington, backed by Canada, stood fast against widespread demands to include in the meeting's final declaration language specifying that Cuba be included in future hemispheric summits.

International lenders will give $65 million in concessionary loans to 18 Caribbean nations to help the islands defend their coasts and fragile economies from the impact of climate change. The European Investment Bank will channel its lending through the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank, which announced the initiative Monday. The program will provide low-cost funds for public and private sector projects that deal with climate change adaptation or help reduce carbon emissions.

Every once in a while a restaurant opens that feels completely fresh. Casa B, in Somerville's Union Square, is one of these. In the downstairs dining room, couples share loveseats at a counter overlooking the open kitchen, watching the chefs at work. Live plants cover one wall. The lighting is flattering, the color scheme poppy red and bright white. Beautiful waitresses greet you - "Ho-o-la-a" - spinning the word out with utmost sass. The restaurant feels like a cross between Barcelona and a tropical island.

Police in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis have identified a man suspected of involvement in the robbery of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. A police spokesman describes the man as a "person of interest" in the Feb. 9 robbery, but declines to provide details of the man's alleged involvement. Sgt. Alonzo Carty identifies the man as Vedel K. Browne and says he's a gardener in the town of Gingerland on Nevis island. The spokesman warns that anyone found aiding the man will be prosecuted.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent A vacant store front on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, once the home to Poppa B's, will soon house a new Caribbean/American restaurant. Owner Eugene Dorvil said he expects to open La Belle Mirebalaisienne in the next few weeks and plans to serve quality food at an affordable price. Although this is Dorvil's first restaurant, he said he is excited to open and contribute some great flavors to the neighborhood he lives in. The restaurant, located at 1100 Blue Hill Ave., was approved by the city's...

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent Nisbet Plantation Beach Club on Nevis, in the Caribbean West Indies, is offering a "January Thaw" deal this month, giving a free night on a six-night stay in cottage-style accommodations for two. Package rates start at $3,350 per couple include full daily breakfast, daily afternoon tea, nightly three-course dinners at the AAA Four Diamond-rated Great House, built in 1778, and airport transfers from...

Carnival Cruise Lines 888-227-6482 carnival.com The Carnival Triumph is making five, 7-day cruises from Miami throughout the eastern Caribbean through April 7. Prices range from $449 to $949, per person based on double occupancy and depending on date and type of cabin. Airfare not included.

The low-cost airline said its September traffic increased 9.8 percent when compared with September 2010 on a capacity increase, or available seat miles, of 3.4 percent. Shares of Spirit, which flies to and from South Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America, rose the most since the company went public in May.

The owner of 29 warehouse shopping clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean dropped after it reported first-quarter earnings that missed analysts' estimates. The company said net sales increased 24 percent to $478.7 million and net income was $14 million, or 47 cents per share, down from 50 cents per share a year ago. Analysts had expected earnings of 58 cents on revenue of $472.5 million.

A Caribbean-bound cruise ship has rescued two men whose small boat capsized as they rowed across the Atlantic. The Crystal Serenity picked up the pair from a life raft about 480 miles (772 kilometers) west of the Canary Islands. The men said they had been in the raft about 10 hours when they were rescued Wednesday, apparently unharmed. A large wave sank the boat of British rower Tom Fancett and Dutch rower Tom Sauer. The men were competing with 16 other boats in the 2011 Atlantic Challenge Race.