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HRGolfGuide.com


Nassau Exuma: This Is Not Your Mama’s Bahamas By A. J. Jones


Baha Mar Royal Blue Golf Course in Nassau, Bahamas If you are ever looking for a great


place to vacation during the Christmas holidays, I cannot think of a better place to go than the Bahamas. As a matter of fact, I spent this past Christmas holiday in Nassau and Exuma, Bahamas. The water was turquoise, the weather was warm and the people were even warmer.


I must admit that when my


daughter said that she wanted to go to the Bahamas and see the swimming pigs, I told her, ‘as much as I love pigs, I have already been to the Bahamas and there are too many other exciting new places where I have not visited yet.’ Since she had her heart set on going to the Bahamas and seeing the swimming pigs, and she worked hard to graduate


Photo by A. Willis


from Stanford, recently, with a master’s degree in Computer Science focused on Artificial Intelligence, I promised her earlier in 2019 that I would take her. Of course I had to wait until the weather was just right. I thought it would be too hot in the summer and too stormy in the fall, during hurricane season. I believed the Christmas holidays would be the perfect opportunity to enjoy the Caribbean weather and it was. When my mother and I visited the Bahamas previously, after my graduation from college, we stayed in Freeport. This time we chose


the Nassau airport


to fly into because it is closer to the swimming pigs and I am glad we did. If you have not


been to the Bahamas ever or lately, you need to go


and you need to stay at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar.


I almost do not want to


recommend it because it is so beautiful, so relaxing and so accommodating that it is difficult to leave and explore all of the wonderful people and places we discovered while in the Bahamas. The Grand Hyatt has 10 swimming pools/water features, 10 restaurants and a 100,000 square foot casino in the lobby. It is located on Cable Beach and it offers numerous shows and other entertainment options. The hotel was decorated exquisitely for the holiday season. There is a night club off the lobby and live music in the bar area. An ice skating rink with live shows is located near the convention center area outside of the hotel. Another good


reason to travel to the Bahamas during the Christmas season, is because of the Junkanoo Parade. The parade is an African celebration in honor of a man named John Canoe (Junkanoo), who upon hearing that the Germans were going to sell Fort Fredericksburg to the Dutch in the early 18th Century, mounted a resistance


almost 20 years. Fort Fredericksburg was in


present day


that lasted Ghana.


I do not know what it is like in other parts of the Caribbean but in Nassau, Junkanoo is celebrated on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and lasts for about 12 hours each day. Can you imagine a 12 hour parade? I went to the portion that occurred from 9 a.m. until noon. It was amazing. The dancing, the music and the costumes


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