If there’s any connection between myself and those lovable mop-haired lads from Liverpool, it’s pasty white skin resulting from an upbringing in cold, rainy northlands.
Unfortunately, it’s a biological influence that often turns tropical sun, surf and sand into a torturous experience, at least with an SPF less than 400.
Yet once the last strips of burnt skin have peeled away, the allure of these places inevitably regains enough strength to pull me back again, as it did a few weeks ago to the Bahamas.
The Beatles felt the same way when preparing for Help!, their follow-up film to A Hard Day’s Night. As Paul admitted in the Beatles Anthology, “We started saying, ‘Well, we’ve never been to the Bahamas, could you write that in?'” They did, as a hiding place for Ringo, who was being pursued by an exotic eastern cult determined to sacrifice him to the goddess Kaili.
Undoubtedly, Nassau looks much different than when the Beatles landed in February 1965. On the way to Sandals Resort, my driver pointed out the new highways, ports for cruise ships and a Chinese-backed, 1,000-acre resort currently under construction called Baha Mar.
Sandals has also much changed since the Beatles stayed there…
Follow the link below to read Mike Dunphy’s entire article.
