🇧🇸The Bahamas

The stay

• Most visitors can stay up to 30 days without a visa, and that is the length granted on arrival rather than something you apply for.
• Extensions run to a maximum of 8 months, applied for inside the country.
• Overstaying means a fine, detention and deportation. This is a small country and immigration takes the date seriously.

The passport

• It must be valid at least 6 months after the date you plan to leave, which is counted from your departure and not your arrival.

The ESTA trap

• If you arrive from the United States on an ESTA, the days you spend in The Bahamas count towards your 90. The clock does not stop when you leave American soil.
• Check your US status before you start the return journey if there is any doubt. The place to fix it is not the gate at Nassau.

Customs, and the hundred dollar line

• An oral declaration is enough if you are carrying only used personal belongings.
• Anything else needs a C17 baggage declaration filed in the Exempt app, with valid receipts for what you declare.
• A visitor's exemption is USD 100.00 on dutiable articles. Above that, duty and taxes apply. That is low enough to catch a laptop you meant to leave behind.
• The duty free allowance is one quart of spirits and one quart of wine, and 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars, adults only.

Vaccination

• A yellow fever certificate is required only if you are arriving from a transmission risk country.

The ambulance

• Call 911 or 919 and ask for an ambulance.
• Contact your insurer quickly once you are referred anywhere, because the bill starts immediately.

Where care actually is

• Medical treatment is of a good standard but can be expensive.
• Emergency facilities are limited on all the Family Islands. Serious cases are transferred by air ambulance to Nassau, Freeport, or Miami in the United States.
• That is the reason the insurance matters here more than the disease risk does. Cover has to include evacuation and repatriation, with funds you can actually reach.

Health risks

• Zika and dengue are both present. Neither has a tablet, so it is repellent and covered skin at dawn and dusk, and Zika is a specific consideration if you are pregnant or planning to be.
• HIV prevalence is around 3.2 percent of adults, roughly ten times the UK figure. Take normal precautions.
• See a travel clinic at least 8 weeks before you go, which is the window vaccine courses need.

The first hour

• Free wifi covers the whole of Nassau airport under the name LPIA Free WiFi. Connect, fill in the short form, and sort a local number later rather than at the kerb.

Keep the phone able to reach you

• The Government of The Bahamas issues wireless emergency alerts directly to mobile phones, which is the fastest official warning you will get in hurricane season.
• That only works if your phone is on a network that carries them. A phone in aeroplane mode on hotel wifi is not receiving alerts.
• The Bahamas Department of Meteorology publishes updates, and the US National Hurricane Center is the standard second source for storms in this part of the Atlantic.

On the Family Islands

• Coverage thins out away from New Providence and Grand Bahama. Download maps and your accommodation details before you take the inter-island flight or ferry.

Power, and why this one matters

• Type A and B sockets at 120 V and 60 Hz. These are the flat American pins, not the British or European ones.
• A plug adaptor is not enough for an appliance that expects 230 V. Phone and laptop chargers are almost always dual voltage and fine; a hairdryer, a shaver or a travel kettle from Europe is not.
• Check the small print on the charger for "100 to 240 V" before you pack it.

Language and driving

• English is the official language, which makes almost everything easier.
• Traffic drives on the left in a country where most of the cars are American and left hand drive. Give yourself a moment at every junction.

Custom

• Same-sex sexual relations have been legal since 1991, with an age of consent of 18, but public affection of any kind is uncommon here and same-sex couples in particular may attract negative attention.
• Dress is relaxed on the beach and less so away from it. Beachwear in town reads badly.

One dollar, two currencies

• The Bahamian dollar trades at par with the US dollar for cash, at a buying rate of USD 1.00 to BSD 1.00.
• In practice the two circulate side by side. You can pay in US dollars and get Bahamian change, or the other way round.
• Take the US notes home rather than the Bahamian ones. The Bahamian dollar is hard to change once you leave.

Cards and cash

• ATMs are spread through the airport terminal, in domestic check-in, the domestic and international departure lounge, the arrivals terminal and the US departure lounge.
• Cards are accepted widely in Nassau, Paradise Island and Freeport. The Family Islands are a different matter and cash matters more there.
• VAT applies to a lot of what you buy, and it is not always shown in the advertised price.

Keeping it

• Break-ins and thefts have increased. Lock doors and windows at a short-term rental, particularly one without a security guard.
• Petty theft and pickpocketing rise during regattas and festivals. Keep valuables in a safe.

Crime

• There have been violent crimes and armed robberies, sometimes fatal, in residential and tourist areas of New Providence and Grand Bahama. That is Nassau and Freeport, not some distant province.
• Do not walk outside the main tourist areas and beaches, especially alone. Stay in downtown Nassau, which has regular police patrols.
• Avoid unlit areas and travel in groups after dusk.
• Take care on local buses at night away from the tourist areas.
• If you are attacked, do not resist. Robbers may have concealed weapons.
• The Family Islands, the Out Islands, have lower crime rates.

Drinks and assault

• The risk of sexual assault increases during regattas and festivals. Do not leave a drink unattended.
• There have been reports of sexual assaults on foreign nationals by jet ski operators in Nassau. That is the FCDO's own wording and it is specific for a reason.

The water

• The water sports industry is poorly regulated. Many operators are unregistered or use poor equipment, and people have been killed or seriously injured on jet skis, including killing others.
• Fatal shark attacks can happen without warning, and the Bahamian authorities warn of a particular threat around New Providence and nearby islands and cays.
• Night and dusk swimming raises the risk, even in shallow water near a resort, and paddle boards in deeper water are also exposed.
• Never go into water that has been baited. Several attacks have been linked to operators running shark encounters close to where fishermen gut fish.
• Watch for jet skis when swimming. Buoyed swimming areas are not always respected.

Driving

• Traffic drives on the left, and most cars are imported from the United States and left hand drive. That combination is the thing to be careful about, at junctions especially.
• A UK photocard licence works for up to 3 months. A paper licence means getting a photocard or a 1968 international driving permit.
• The drink drive limit matches England's but is not always enforced, so evenings and rural roads carry more risk than the law suggests.

Hurricanes

• The season runs from 1 June to 30 November. Hurricanes and the floods that follow have been deadly here.
• Know where your shelter is, keep drinking water, and know where life jackets are in case of a tidal surge.
• Residents book flights out well ahead of any evacuation order, because cancellations are the bottleneck. If a storm is named and heading this way, decide early.

Drugs

• Penalties for possession or trafficking are severe, police are vigilant, and you may well encounter drugs in bars. A substantial fine, deportation or prison is the realistic outcome.

The numbers

Before you need them

• Both numbers work. 911 is the one an American visitor will reach for automatically and it is correct here.
• On a Family Island, know how you would get to Nassau or Freeport. An air ambulance is the realistic answer for anything serious, and your insurer needs to be told at once.
• Keep the government's hurricane alerts switched on and your embassy's number saved offline.