Hurricane Erin forced tourists to cut their vacations short on North Carolina’s Outer Banks even though the monster storm is expected to stay offshore after lashing part of the Caribbean with rain and wind on Monday.

Meteorologists are closely tracking the projected path and forecast of Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year.

The already sprawling storm will grow larger as it hurls the ocean toward the East Coast and Bermuda, and it could have company this week.