In a ceremony held aboard a Celebrity Cruises ship, ten of the most productive agencies in the Domnican Republic were honoured by American Airlines for their work and dedication in obtaining their goals, contributing to the development of tourism in the country and to the country in general.

The agencies awarded were: Turinter, Agencia de Viajes Olas del Caribe, Agencia de Viajes Latina, Agencia Taveras, Collie's Tours, Eddy's Tours, Viajes Alkasa, Rosedy Tours, Agencia Félix and Services Travel.

The honourees were treated to a 5 day cruise, March 1 to 5,  by the directors of American Airlines Santo Dominigo Directors. They commented on how proud they were to work with partners who daily make the effort to extend opportunities to travellers to the Dominican Republic.

Forbes magazine ranked Dominican pitcher Pedro Martinez 8th on their list the 10 Best Major League Pitchers of All Time. Quite an honour considering some famous names such as Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan and others did not make the cut.

Martinez has the 4th best win-loss percentage among active pitchers and is a 3 time Cy Young winner. Earning him 361 points were his sensational seasons between 1997 and 2002 (104-32).

The magazine based it's rankings on , among other factors, overall performance by a pitcher throughout his career and not just a specific stellar moment. All ten on the list have pitched in at least 13 seasons and were chosen best pitcher in at least two of those seasons.

The full list is: Walter Johnson, Roger Clemens, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Tom Seaver, Warren Spahn, Pedro Martinez, Christy Mathewson and Steve Carlton.

You don't want to hear it! Please just don't shoot the messenger.

At this point it's not looking too good for the tan. We don't need to break this down by day - the whole week we are looking at scattered showers (and if today is any indication, that's optimistic!).

Here it is in a nutshell - 30% chance of scattered showers everyday up to Sunday when there's a 40% chance of thunderstorms. High's will be in the low to mid 80F's with nightime lows around 69F.

But let's think positive - there will probably be lots of sunny breaks thrown in for good measure. And think of all the fun things you can do in the rain. Curl up with a good book, take a romantic walk in the rain with your loved one, play cards or board games, lay on the couch and watch silly movies, hang out in the local watering hole complaining with everyone else and other 'activities' that can't be mentioned on a family website.

So, thumb your nose at Mother Nature and have a great week in spite of the weather.

Watch for any updates if the forecast improves later in the week.

A whale and two calves were sighted Friday from the La Feria area on Santo Domingo's Malecón. This is the second visit by humpback whales in only eleven days. The unusual sight at 1pm drew dozens of locals and tourists who stood in pouring rain to admire the majesty of these beautiful creatures. Their visit even caused traffic jams in the area.

While large numbers of these whales congregate in Samana Bay and Silver Bank off the coast of Puerto Plata for mating season every year between December and March, it is highly unusual to have a sighting of them on the south coast of the island.

While unusual, the head of The Center for Conservation and Eco-development of Samana Bay, Patricia Lamelas, explained that it was normal as humpback whales like coastal waters and do not stray too far away from a coastline.