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Social Profile
Food & Drink: There is a wide choice of restaurants and bars. Specialities include conch, grouper cutlets, baked crab and red snapper fillets in anchovy sauce. Fresh fruit is available from the Out Islands, including sweet pineapple, mango, breadfruit and papaya. Table service is usual in restaurants.
Local drinks are based on rum. The local liqueur is Nassau Royal, served alone or in coffee.
Nightlife: Hotels have bars and nightclubs. Beach parties and discotheques are organised regularly. Live entertainment includes calypso, goombay music and limbo dancing. Nightclubs are found in Nassau and Freeport. There are four casinos: one on Cable Beach, another on Paradise Island; on Grand Bahama there is a casino in Freeport and one in Lucaya. All casinos feature restaurants and live entertainment.
Shopping: Special purchases include china, cutlery, leather, fabrics, spirits from Britain, Scandinavian glass and silver, Swiss watches, German and Japanese cameras and French perfume. Local products include all types of straw artefacts, sea-shell jewellery and woodcarvings. Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700.
Special Events: For a full list of special events, contact the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism (see Contact Addresses section). The following is a selection of special events occurring in The Bahamas during 2003:
Jan 1 New Year’s Junkanoo Festival, Nassau. Jan 29 14th Annual Quilt Show, Nassau. Feb Nassau Race Week, Nassau/Paradise Island; Abaco Art Festival, Abaco Beach Resort. Mar Annual Red Cross Fair, Nassau; Annual Alton Lowe Art Museum. Apr Bahamas Billfish Tournament, South Abaco; Annual National Youth Choir Concert, Nassau; Annual Family Island Regatta, George Town. May Annual Bimini Festival of Champions (fishing competition), Bimini Islands; Annual Long Island Sailing Regatta. Jun Junkanoo in June Heritage Festival; Bahamas Summer Boating Fling, Abaco. Jul Cultural Showcase and Mini Tattoo; Annual Regatta Time in Abaco; Round the Great Turtle Race, Abaco. Aug Annual Bernie Butler Basra Swim Race, Grand Bahama Island; Bimini Family Fishing Tournament; Fox Hill Festival, Nassau Sept Bahamas Culinary Classic, Nassau; Great Abaco Triathlon, Abaco; All Abaco Sailing Regatta. Oct International Cultural Festival, Nassau/Paradise Island; National Eco-Tourism Awareness Month; North Eleuthera Sailing Regatta, Harbour Island. Nov Annual One Bahamas Music & Heritage Festival, Nassau/Paradise Island; Christmas Jolification, Nassau/Paradise Island; Annual Bahamas Wahoo Championships. Dec Christmas Sailing Regatta, Nassau/Paradise Island. Dec 26 Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade, Nassau/Grand Bahama Island.
Social Conventions: The pace of life is generally leisurely. Informal wear is acceptable in the resorts with some degree of dressing up in the evenings, particularly for dining, dancing and casinos in Nassau or Freeport. Further from the main towns, dress is more casual although there is still a tendency to dress up at night. Small outposts like Green Turtle Cay, for example, will not require more than a shirt and long trousers. It is not acceptable to wear beachwear in towns. Tipping: Fifteen per cent is usual for most services including taxis. Some hotels and restaurants, however, include service charge on the bill.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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