The Exuma Swimming Pigs

Nobody is entirely sure how pigs came to be living on Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island in the Exumas; the accounts range from sailors leaving them as a future meat supply to a failed farming attempt to a deliberate tourism scheme in the 1990s. What is certain is that they now swim out to arriving boats, and the image of a pig paddling in turquoise water has become the single most reproduced picture of the Bahamas. The colony is managed after several animals died from being fed inappropriately, and the rules now are firm: no bread, no alcohol, feed only what the guides supply, and keep out of the way of the larger boars.

What you actually see

• The swimming pigs - paddling out from the beach to meet boats.
• Big Major Cay - the uninhabited island they live on.
• Staniel Cay - the settlement nearby that most trips work from.
• The Exuma water - shallow banks in improbable shades of blue.

When to go

December to May is the dry season with the calmest crossings. Morning trips avoid both the heat and the largest crowds. Trips run from Nassau as long day excursions or, far better, from Staniel Cay or George Town in the Exumas.

Honest expectations

Feeding rules exist because pigs have died from sand ingestion and unsuitable food; follow them exactly. The boars are large, strong and can bite, and people are hurt every year. Day trips from Nassau involve hours of boat time each way and arrive in a crowd. Several other cays now have imitation pig colonies set up purely for tourism, which is worth knowing.

Nearby

Thunderball Grotto and the Exuma Cays are within a short boat ride.