Bahamas: Holidays, Climate, and Events
Public holidays
There are a number of public holidays that do not have a fixed date, but are based on the time of Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the beginning of spring. Lent, which lasts for 46 days, begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter. Corpus Christi is celebrated on the second Thursday after Pentecost. All Saints’ Day is celebrated for Orthodox Christians on the first Sunday after Pentecost, but for Catholic Christians the date is fixed on November 1st. On October 31, Protestants celebrate Reformation Day. The Halloween festival also takes place on this day.
Date | Holiday |
January 1 | New Year |
1st of May | Labor Day |
25. May | Declaration of independence from Spain (on May 25, 1810) |
20th June | National Flag Day (Día de la Bandera) |
July 9 | Recognition of independence by Spain (on July 9, 1816) |
10th of July | Independence Day (independence from Great Britain on July 10, 1973) |
August | First Monday in August: Liberation Day, commemorates the Slavery Abolition Act, which came into force on August 1, 1834 |
October 12 | Discovery Day: The day when Christopher Columbus discovered the Bahamas |
25 December | Christmas |
December 26 | Boxing Day, the Junkanoo Parade is held on Boxing Day |
Source: Countryaah – Bahamas Holidays
Holidays are made up on the following Monday if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday.
Cultural events
January Nassau Carnival
February Nassaus race week
MarchAnnual Red Cross Festival, Nassau Alton Lowe Art Exhibition, Miss Bahamas Universe Pageant, Paradise Island
AprilNational Youth Choir Concert, Nassau,International Yacht and Jet Show, Paradise Island,Bimini Sailing Regatta, Bimini, Bahamas Billfish Tournament, Abaco
MayBimini Festival of Champions (fishing competition),Cat Island Heritage Festival,Green Turtle Cay Spring Arts Festival, Abaco
JuneJunkanoo Heritage Festival, Nassau,Pineapple Festival, Eleuthra,Crab Festival, Andros, Pirates of the Bahamas (Caribbean Poker Tournament), Grand Bahama Island
JulyCultural Showcase and Mini Tattoo,Round the Great Turtle Race, Abaco
AugustBernie Butler Basra Swimming Competition, Grand Bahama Island,Fox Hill Festival, Nassau
SeptemberBig Abaco Triathlon,All Abaco Sailing Regatta
OctoberInternational Culture Festival, Nassau,National Awareness Month for Eco-Tourism,Annual Red Rose Ball, Grand Bahama Island
NovemberAnnual One Bahamas Music and Heritage Festival, Nassau/Paradise Island
DecemberAnnual Bahamas Wahoo Championships,Regatta, Nassau/Paradise IslandChristmas party, Grand Bahama Island,Junkanoo Parade on Boxing Day, Nassau / Grand Bahama Island (see below)
Junkanoo Culture FestivalThe origins of the name of the Junkanoo Culture Festival, which takes place annually on Boxing Day and on New Year’s Day, is not completely clear. One theory relates to John Canoe, an African tribal leader. He was deported to the Bahamas as a slave and was probably given the privilege of celebrating traditional festivals with his followers and compatriots. Whatever the case: the lavish cultural festival impresses with its fascinating drum rhythms and pretty costumes.
Sporting events, party
SportThe range of sporting activities on offer in the Bahamas is very diverse. Although the archipelago is mostly associated with water sports, there are many sports that take place on land. Colonization may have played a major role in this. National sports include tennis, squash, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, rugby, golf, American football and cricket. However, the Bahamas also has a lot to offer for island visitors who prefer to be in contact with water while exercising.Sailing, parachute sailing, motor boat racing, diving, swimming and water skiing are popular sporting activities.
PartyAt Pink Beach on the small island of Harbor Island – located in the northeast of Eleuthera – folk festivals take place with beer and rum. You can get here by ferry that starts early in the morning from Potter’s Cay in Nassau. The beach got its name because of its pink color, which comes from a single cell called Foraminifera.
Climate
Travel times
The idea of what is meant by a particularly favorable travel climate depends on various factors. Pure cultural travelers certainly see the climate differently than people planning a beach holiday. Health status and age can also play a role in the experience of the climate.
Summer or autumn is particularly recommended for a stay in the Bahamas for people who are more sun-hungry, like to enjoy a lot of sun and for whom higher temperatures do not cause any problems
For people who prefer a more moderate climate
People who prefer a more moderate climate and lower temperatures should better use spring or winter time to stay in the Bahamas. But even in this time of the year the temperatures do not drop below 20 °C.
Climate table
The following table shows some climate data from. It should be noted that the climatic conditions in different regions of the country can differ from each other and thus also from the values shown. In addition, the monthly average values of the temperature have little informative value with regard to the minimum or maximum temperatures. It is possible that at average temperatures of around 20 °C maximum values of 30 °C or more occur. The table therefore only provides a general overview of the climatic conditions in the Bahamas.
Month | Average number of rainy days | Mean maximum temperatures in (°C) | Mean minimum temperatures in (°C) |
January | 05-06 | 23-25 | 16-18 |
February | 04-05 | 23-25 | 16-18 |
March | 04-05 | 24-26 | 17-19 |
April | 05-06 | 25-27 | 20-21 |
May | 08-09 | 27-29 | 20-22 |
June | 11-12 | 29-31 | 21-23 |
July | 13-14 | 29-31 | 22-24 |
August | 13-14 | 30-32 | 22-24 |
September | 14-15 | 29-31 | 22-24 |
October | 12-13 | 27-29 | 21-23 |
November | 08-09 | 25-27 | 20-21 |
December | 05-06 | 25-26 | 18-19 |
Bahamas: Sightseeing
- Abbreviationfinder.org: Presents the way that BS stands for the nation of Bahamas as a two-letter acronym.
Special structures
Fort Charlotte, Nassau
Of Nassau’s three fortresses, Fort Charlotte is the largest. It was built by Lord Dunmore between 1787 and 1789 and named after the wife of King George III. named: Sophie Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Interesting details of the fortress, which was hardly used at the time, include the fortress moat and the ramparts, of course, the drawbridge and the deterrent dungeon. Visitors not interested in history are reconciled with a magnificent view of the city’s harbor.
Fort Fincastle, Nassau
Lord Dunmore, Viscount Fincastle, after whom the fortress was named, had the structure built around 1793 on a hill called Bennet. The architectural masterpiece was once armed with rather imposing weapons and still towers majestically over the city of Nassau.
Fort Montagu, Nassau
The third of Nassau’s fortresses was built in 1742. Among other things, you can marvel at a gigantic cistern in the form of a terrace, as well as a guard room, a powder magazine and the officers and soldiers’ barracks.
Queen’s Staircase, Nassau
If there was a landmark for Nassau, it would be the recently renovated so-called Queen’s Staircase, which has just 65 steps in total, but is 21 meters high. The stairs are said to have been worked by slaves in 1793 and 1794, who had to cut the steps into the limestone. Today (and then as well) the stairs are used to take a shorter route to Bennet Hill.
Right next to the Queen’s Staircase is the only waterfall in the entire Bahamas. However, it was created artificially.
Museums, theaters and galleries
Bahamas Historical Society Museum, Nassau
Anyone interested in the history of the Bahamas, from the first settlement of the islands to the time of Columbus’ discovery to the recent present, is in good hands at the Bahamas Historical Society Museum. The numerous artifacts of the Lucayan, Taíno and Arawak are particularly worth seeing.
Pirate
Museum , Nassau This museum is extremely pirate, as the celebrities of piracy come to life again – just think of Edward Teach (called Blackbeard), Jack Rackham (called Calico Jack) or Charles Vane.
Pompey Museum, Nassau
This two-story structure, constructed in 1796, was named after a slave who lived on the island of Exuma. This naming is related to the fact that the building functioned as a marketplace until the end of the 19th century, where slaves were also sold. Today you can visit an interesting permanent exhibition there about dealing with the slaves and their experiences.
Regency Theater, Grand Bahama
The Regency Theater on Grand Bahama was built in 1971.
Markets and distilleries
Bacardi Distillery, New Providence Island
Established in 1962, the Bacardi Distillery once produced most of the rum for the islands and could be visited as part of a free, guided tour that lasted about 30 minutes. Unfortunately it closed its doors again in 2008, so it is currently not possible to say what the future will look like.
Nassau
Straw Market The straw market pays homage to one of the oldest industries in the Bahamas, namely straw processing. The fame of the straw souvenirs increased significantly after the Second World War, when more and more (American) tourists discovered the Bahamas as a holiday destination. In addition to the organized straw market in Nassau, you will find others on Paradise Island and Cable Beach.
Churches and monasteries
Nassau
Monastery This 14th century monastery has a very interesting history behind it: it was first built in France and brought to the United States in the 1920s by the newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, stone by stone, of course. Huntington Hartford bought it in the 1960s. He had it built on a hill on Paradise Island, where it still overlooks Nassau harbor today.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is located in Nassau and was built there in 1810. She is also called “The Kirk”.
Educational institutions
College of The Bahamas
This institution was founded in 1974 and currently has approximately 5,500 students.
Rand Nature Center, Grand Bahama Island
Just outside of downtown Freeport is the Rand Nature Center, named after James Rand and established as the first educational center for knowledge about the nature of the Bahamas.
University of the West Indies
The Bahamas is one of the sponsors of the University of the West Indies. This university is a network of several universities, with different institutes spread across the West Indies. There are 3 main institutions in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.
Participating states at the University of the West Indies are:
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- British Virgin Islands
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Jamaica
- Cayman Islands
- Montserrat
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands
Swimming pigs
Feral domestic pigs live on the island of Big Major Cay, which probably survived a shipwreck or somehow got ashore from the ships earlier.
The pigs swim to the boats anchored here to beg for delicacies such as fruit or bread. But they also swim with people or lie down near them on the beach.
Big Major Cay is located in Exuma, an administrative district of the Bahamas, to which over 300 smaller and smaller islands belong and cover an area of 187 km². The “capital” is the little town of George Town with 1,000 residents.
Flamingos
There is a salt lake on the Inagua archipelago, where around 60,000 flamingos gather during the breeding season to raise their young.
This flamingo colony is the largest in the West Indies. The local flamingos are closely related to the African and European animals.
However, they differ from these in their more intense pink color. This color is due to carotenoids that they ingest with their food, including algae and small crustaceans.
Carotenoids (carotenoids) are a large class of natural colorants that, for example, lead to a yellow to reddish color when ingested with food. They are found in carrots, peppers, apricots and egg yolks, among other things.
The Inagua archipelago is the southernmost part of the Bahamas and consists of Great Inagua and Little Inagua, with Great Inagua being the third largest island in the Bahamas with an area of 1,544 km². It is about 90 km from the eastern tip of Cuba.
Natural beauties
Dolphin Cay, Paradise Island
The Dolphin Cay is the natural habitat of dolphins, sea lions and manta rays, with various activities (e.g. deep-sea diving) being offered, which enable you to get in closer contact with the fascinating marine life.
Lucayan National Park, Grand Bahama Island
Certainly the most impressive national park on Grand Bahama is the Lucayan National Park, the only one in which all of the six ecosystems of the islands can be found. The caves, which include the longest underwater limestone cave in the world, are particularly breathtaking. A picturesque wooden bridge over a mangrove swamp and a wonderful white sand beach complete the offer of the park.
Peterson Cay National Park, Grand Bahama Island
This small island, surrounded by reefs, is only accessible by boat. The island offers a wonderful (legally protected) flora and fauna, which must be respected.
The Dig, Atlantis, Paradise Island
As you know, Atlantis is said to have been a picturesque island that existed centuries ago, but which eventually sank in the water. Although no one has really been able to prove whether this island ever really existed, some people believe that it must have been near the Bahamas. Either way, The Dig is an underwater tour that aims to take visitors to the supposed ruins of Atlantis. You can see several lagoons that are home to sharks and manta rays.
Versailles Gardens, Paradise Island
About a fifteen-minute walk from the Atlantis Resort are the wonderfully manicured Versailles Gardens. They belong to the ocean club Casino Royale and are the perfect place for cozy hours for two.