Page 39 - The British Big Four
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We appreciate you purchasing the Top Four USA Explore the Sea
East Coast Diving Destinations eBook and the module of over 400
hours of enjoyment in the form of written text, web pages that
maps, video, slideshows and hyperlinks to external describes Coral,
information. Sponges and Sea
Critters.
T he Bahamas, officially the island chain that it shares with mas is tropical savannah. There
Commonwealth of the Ba- the Turks and Caicos Islands. The has never been a frost or freeze
hamas, is an island country con- Bahamas territory encompasses ever reported anywhere in the
sisting of more than 700 islands, 470,000 km2 (180,000 square Bahamas – although every few
cays, and islets in the Atlantic miles) of ocean space. In terms decades low temperatures can
Ocean; north of Cuba and His- of gross domestic product per fall into the 3–5 °C (37–41 °F)
paniola (the Dominican Repub- capita, the Bahamas is one of range for a few hours when a
lic and Haiti); northwest of the the richest countries in the severe cold outbreak comes off
Turks and Caicos Islands; south- Americas (following the United the North American landmass.
east of the U.S. state of Florida States and Canada). The name Otherwise, the low latitude,
and east of the Florida Keys. Its Bahamas is derived from the warm tropical Gulf Stream, and
capital is Nassau on the island of Spanish baja mar (“shallow wa- low elevation give the Bahamas
New Providence. The designa- ter or sea” or “low tide”) reflect- a warm and winterless climate.
tion of “Bahamas” can refer to ing the shallow waters of the
either the country or the larger area. The climate of the Baha-
