Destinations / Bahamas

The junction of the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans is littered with the 700 islands and 2,400 coral cays of The Bahamas that offer North American travelers easy access to sparkling beaches, gleaming megaresorts and quaint West Indian-style inns. A reef that stretches 760 miles from Andros to Long Island offers world-class diving.

LOCATION :

The archipelago stretches over 100,000 sq. miles from Florida to Hispaniola.

LANGUAGE :

English

CURRENCY :

Bahamian Dollar (US dollar widely accepted)

TIPPING :

Most restaurants include a service charge on the bill, but otherwise a 15-percent tip is customary.

ELECTRICITY :

110 V/60 cycles; an adapter is needed for 220-volt appliances.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Shopping amidst the hustle and bustle of Nassau's Straw Market
• Meeting flamingos at Inagua National Park
• Negotiating duty-free deals on Nassau's Bay Street or in Freeport on Grand Bahama
• Exploring Hemingway's haunts on Bimini
• Relaxing on Exuma's colonial quaintness and shell-strewn seashores
• Jumping to colorful Junkanoo, the island's Christmastime carnival
• Chowing on curried conch and Kalik beer

OVERVIEW
The junction of the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans is littered with the 700 islands and 2,400 coral cays of The Bahamas that offer North American travelers easy access to sparkling beaches, gleaming megaresorts and quaint West Indian-style inns. A reef that stretches 760 miles from Andros to Long Island offers world-class diving.

More than half of the Bahamian population resides on New Providence where the capital, Nassau, is located. Grand Bahama is the home to Freeport, the once-and-again trendy resort city. The remaining populated atolls are collectively referred to as the Out Islands. This group includes the Abacos chain, Andros, the Berry Islands, the Biminis, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Spanish Wells, the Exumas cays, Long Island and the Southern Islands.

The Bahamas gained independence from Britain in 1973, but much colonial residue remains. After independence, the country became inwardly focused and the tourism industry went through a long period of neglect. But since the early 1990s, The Bahamas has worked hard to rejuvenate itself for visitors. New airport terminals, improved roads and a clean-up campaign have helped make the country more appealing. The country's political stability is also attractive to foreigners.

The Bahamas is also making a concerted effort to protect its natural resources. Bird sanctuaries, wilderness areas and a long-standing ban on longline fishing are helping to make these islands an attractive destination for eco-tourists.

Scuba is a major draw to these islands and sharks are among the biggest draws. Many divers choose to dive from live-aboard boats, which allow them to sample a number of islands during one vacation.

The Bahamian calendar is filled with special events and celebrations. The largest blowout festival of the year is the carnival-like party called Junkanoo. At Christmastime, costumed dancers, musicians and drummers parade through the streets to the rhythm of cowbells, goatskin drums and whistle. During the summer, Goombay offers a variety of Bahamian musical and cultural events. Sporting events attract local and international participants. Among the more than 30 annual fishing tournaments, the six-tournament Bahamas Billfish Championship, which runs from March through June, is the most prestigious. Tagged by many as a cruise-ship port mega-destination, the Bahamas also offer real adventure and solitude. With so much to choose from there's a place here to suit almost everyone.

GEOGRAPHY

Topography: Virtually all the Bahamian islands are surrounded by coral reefs and sand shoals. The islands are either flat or gently undulating and many are contain giant freshwater-filled sinkholes called blue holes that open to underground caves, some as much as 600 feet. The islands become more arid and less vegetated travelling south through the chain, where hardy drought-resistant scrub and cacti dominate.

Climate: The sun shines an average of 320 days a year with temperatures ranging from the mid-60s to mid-90s from winter to summer, respectively. Obviously, the more southerly islands tend to be warmer and drier than those in the north. Cooling trade winds blow by day from the east. The rainy season runs from May to November. Summertime sometimes brings squalls.
HISTORY
Amerindians, locally called Lucayans, were the first known inhabitants of the Bahamas. These were the people who greeted Columbus, whose first landfall in the New World is thought by some to have been San Salvador, in the southeastern Bahamas. Hungry for gold, the Spanish never settled the scrubby, mineral-poor archipelago. Instead, they named it Baja Mar - the shallow sea - using it as a throughway for ships returning to Europe from the Caribbean by way of the easterly trade winds to the north. Shipwrecks, including the fabulously wealthy galleon Maravilla, stud the broad Bahama banks.

In 1647, English Puritans from Bermuda attempted to tame the wilderness of Eleuthera. Twenty-three years later, another group from Bermuda made New Providence their home. The new Bahamian settlers found that life in paradise was not so paradisiacal-band after band of pirates pillaged their properties until Captain Woodes Rogers put an end to the raids in the early 1700s. The next changing of flags took place during the American Revolution when the Bahamas fell under Spanish rule. The Treaty of Versailles gave the Bahamas back to the British in 1783. It remained a British colony until independence was tendered in 1973.

WEBSITE :

www.bahamas.com

CAPITAL :

Nassau

TOURIST INFORMATION :

800-422-4262

POLITICAL STATUS :

The Bahamas is a constitutional parliamentary democracy.

AREA SIZE :

The islands themselves total only about 5,400 sq. miles, leaving more than 94,000 sq. miles of pristine Atlantic waters.

TAXES :

US $15 to $20 cash-only departure tax. And there is a 12% tax on your room rate.

AREA CODE :

242

TIME :

Eastern Standard Time from the last Sunday in October through the last Saturday in April, and Eastern Daylight Time from the first Sunday in April to the last Saturday in October.

DOCUMENTS :

You need a passport, or birth certificate with photo ID, and return or onward ticket.

POPULATION :

300,000

AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE :

79 degrees F

AVERAGE VISIBILITY :

Winter 18-30m Summer 25-60m

TYPES OF DIVING :

The Bahamas offer all types of diving including shore,boat and live-aboards. There are also plenty of resorts that cater to divers. The Bahamas also offer a variety of dives including shallow reefs, wrecks, blue holes, walls and Shark dives.

BEST TIME TO DIVE :

September and October bring the highest risk of Hurricaines.

WHAT TO WEAR :

In Summer you could use a skin or 1.6m shortie. If you're going on a deeper dive you may want to wear a three quarter 1.6 mm suit. In the winter the water temperature can drop to about 70 degrees so you may want to bring a three-quarter 3mm neoprene or full 3mm depending on the depth of your dive.

DIVES NOT TO MISS :

The Bahamas are made up of many different islands with their own unique diving experiences. Andros is home to the world's third longest barrier reef protecting the entire 140 mile long coastline. The reef has tunnels, caves, coral gardens and many wrecks fro divers to explore. The Blue Holes of Andros lead to complex underwater cave systems that house giant stalactites and stalagmites. Bimini is home to the wreck of the Sapona which was used for target practice in World War II and has many holes for divers to swin in and out of. Bimini is also home to the ruins of the Bimini road that some scientist believe may reveal evidence of ancient Atlantis. Eluthers/Harbour Island has a razor sharp reef named Devil's Backbone that has claimed several ships leading to many wrecks for diver to explore. The rarest underwater site on the island is an underwater train wreck.