Southwest Airlines is readying to launch a major expansion push in the Caribbean next month.

On June 4, the airline will be launching new flights across the Caribbean, with new daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman, Montego Bay, Belize and Cancun.

The Half Moon resort in Montego Bay

Also on June 4, Southwest will be launching flights from Cincinnati and Grand Cayman, with the same date also seeing the launch of a new route between Chicago Midway International Airport and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.

After JetBlue, Southwest has been the fastest-growing airline in the Caribbean, with new flights out of the aforementioned cities and hubs like Houston’s Hobby Airport.

In March, Southwest launch the first-ever nonstop flights from Denver, Colo. to Belize, after beginning daily Nassau flights out of Fort Lauderdale last year.

— Caribbean Journal Staff

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The Caribbean’s biggest operational solar plant has opened in Puerto Rico.

The Oriana Solar Park has debuted in the area of Isabela, with an estimated production of 100,000 megawatt-hours of energy in its first year of operations.

“The Oriana Solar Park is the example of the future of power generation in Puerto Rico, one that is clean, renewable and diversified, not just dependent on oil,” said Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello. “In addition to producing renewable energy, this project creates jobs, which will help revitalize the economy of the area.”

The project consists of more than 183,000 photovoltaic panels in two plots; it is expected to reduce the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emissions of 10,000 homes.

The Oriana Solar Park is the brainchild of Oriana Energy, a subsidiary of the Sonnedix Group, in association with Yarotek.

As part of the project, Oriana is also planting about 3,800 trees.

“These power plants put Puerto Rico at the forefront in the use of renewable energy sources,” said Yarotek President Samy Esayag.

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There are great resorts in the Caribbean and there are great beach resorts in the Caribbean. The distinction is no small thing. Because while some resorts can offer all the amenities and grandeur you’re looking for, they may not be true “beach” resorts, offering direct, easy access to the beach, a wide range of beachfront rooms and, even better, multiple beaches at the same resort.

But then there are beach resorts that take it to another level — they have more than one beach.

The latter is the criterion on which we’ve focused in this “ultimate” list — every one of the following beach resorts has more than one beach. Your only problem will be choosing which one to spend the day on. Check out these ultimate beach resorts.

Caneel Bay St. John is one of the most naturally beautiful islands in all of the Caribbean, and this legendary resort takes it to a different level with a whopping seven beaches to choose from, or, as the property says, “one for every day of the week.”

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The world-famous Antigua Sailing Week has kicked off its annual festivities for what has become the Caribbean’s greatest sailing event.

This year is the 50th edition of Sailing Week, which is bringing together 150 teams racing a variety of yachts and around 1,500 competitors from 32 countries, bookended by the Guadeloupe to Antigua Race and the Peters & May Round Antigua Race.

Thousands more visitors will join in the accompanying celebrations, with seven beach days and party nights and an all-star Reggae in the Park concert highlighted by superstar Damian Marley.

British boats have been coming to Antigua Sailing Week since the first regatta in 1968.

Sir Peter Harrison’s Farr 115, Sojana was the last British team to win the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy and the ketch is back, gleaming after a major refit intent on a close battle with Jean-Paul Riviere’s Finot 100, Nomad IV. Ross Applebey’s Oyster 48, Scarlet Oyster, Sir Richard Matthews’ Humphries 38, Oystercatcher XXXI and Chris Jackson’s First 40, Arthur can be counted as British boats to watch this year.

Richard Matthews will be competing at his 37th Antigua Sailing Week and as a long-time resident of the island has won class at Antigua Sailing Week on many occasions. This year, Oystercatcher XXXI and Scarlet Oyster have been on sparkling form, unbeaten in class all season. Last year both boats won their class at Antigua Sailing Week, but neither has won the Lord Nelson Trophy.

“I’m making no predictions for 2017 except that I’m certain we will all have a great time,” explained Matthews. “Our crew includes Saskia Clark, our tactician who won an Olympic Gold Medal in the 470 class in Rio and was subsequently named Rolex Female World Sailor of the Year and honoured with an MBE in the UK. Saskia comes from Mersea Island, my home town on the UK’s East Coast, so now you have a golden girl for the regatta’s golden 50th edition.”

The Caribbean islands are well represented at Antigua Sailing Week with teams from: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, St Barths, St Maarten and Trinidad.

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The Caribbean’s most innovative hospital just passed a major milestone.

Health City Cayman Islands is celebrating three years since it opened its doors. In that time, the hospital has treated more than 29,000 patients.

As the hospital celebrates its third anniversary this month, officials at the Joint Commission International-accredited facility are recommitting to its pledge of high quality, affordable healthcare for all, and preparing for a long future of outstanding medical provision.

“As we continue on this journey, we’ve seen many more milestones achieved, not least more international patients coming to Health City for treatment,” said Dr. Chandy Abraham, Health City’s CEO and Medical Director, pointing to a 55 percent year-on-year surge in international patients in the first two months of this year.

“Our positive patient experiences demonstrate our dedication to the highest possible standard of compassionate care, he added, invoking the hospital’s 1,900-plus procedures since opening in 2014, including more than 640 orthopedic surgeries, and over 280 cardiac surgeries, with overall infection and readmission rates of less than one percent.

Health City’s medical teams, who treated patients from 60 countries just in 2016, champion innovation and have scored some notable firsts in the region.

Health City became the first hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean to use robotic navigation for joint replacements and the first to install two artificial hearts or left ventricle assist devices.

Other Caribbean firsts include performing transcatheter aortic valve replacements or implantations; minimally invasive clot extraction for strokes, which dramatically improves post-stroke outcomes; and renal denervation, a minimally invasive procedure using radiofrequency ablation to treat resistant hypertension.

“I am amazingly pleased with my care,” said an emergency cardiac patient at Health City, Dr. Leon Josephs from Massachusetts. “I am a vascular surgeon and my care was as good, if not better, than anything I have seen. The model here is what the U.S. healthcare system is striving to.”

“A big reason we came here was because it was 10 times more affordable than the States,” said Álvaro Jiménez, from Guatemala, after the hospital saved his three-month old son. “They made everything much easier or more human.”

“We are very, very lucky to have a modern facility like this on a small island,” said the owner and CEO of the Tortuga Rum Company Ltd., Robert Hamaty, who received pulmonology care at Health City.

“Over the past year we’ve been rapidly increasing how many specialties we offer, and so we’ve also seen a big increase in the number of patients coming to us,” Dr. Abraham said, adding that Health City’s future goals include expanding accommodation at the East End campus, increasing its range of medical services and getting young Caymanians interested in science.

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