Cayman Islands Webcam
October 6, 2008
The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory located in the western Caribbean Sea, comprising the islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. It is a major financial centre in the Caribbean.
The Cayman Islands were sighted by Christopher Columbus, on 10 May 1503 on his disastrous fourth and final voyage to the New World. He named them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there. The first recorded English visitor to the islands was Sir Francis Drake, who landed there in 1586 and named them the Cayman Islands after the Neo-Taino nations term (caiman) for crocodile.
The Cayman Islands have the dubious honour of having experienced the most hurricane strikes in history. The largely unprotected at sea level island of Grand Cayman was hit by Hurricane Ivan on 12 September 2004, which destroyed many buildings and damaged 70% of them. Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the islands in 86 years.
Mount Pelée, Martinique Webcam
September 11, 2008
Mount Pelée (French: Montagne Pelée, or “Bald Mountain”) is a dormant volcano on the northern tip of the French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Carribean. It is among the deadliest stratovolcanos on Earth.
Mount Pelée is famous for its extremely destructive eruption in 1902 and the destruction that resulted, now dubbed the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. The eruption killed about 30,000 people, most deaths in the destroyed Saint-Pierre, at that time the largest city in Martinique, due to its deadly pyroclastic flows. The eruption left only two survivors in the direct path of the volcano, one alive because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell and the other, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns.
