Getting piggy with it!
The phenomena and history of swimming pigs in the Bahamas is quite fascinating.
Many a century ago, pirates seeded these islands with chickens, goats and pigs in the event that they were shipwrecked or beached (banished) for disobeying Captain’s orders.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.
And so every time pirates returned to these islands they were often met by swimming pigs. and this is how the phenomenon of swimming pigs in the Bahamas began.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.
In the last decade or so most visitors could not afford to go to Exuma or Eleuthera for a full day swimming pig trip which can cost up to $500. A price well worth it too. For that, you get a full day excursion of pigs, stingrays, iguanas, sharks and lunch.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.
This led to tour operators coming up with a cheaper alternative, particularly for pregnant ladies who can’t make the bumpy 3 hour family island boat trip and cruise ship passengers who have limited time. For about $120-$250 you visit nearby cays such as Rose Island, Pearl island and Atoll for a swimming Pig Excursion.
Depending on the tour operator this half-day trip may also include lunch, drinks, snacks, snorkeling and also wonderful beach time with family and friends.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.
Specifically, when you have a pig encounter, a pig handler will walk everyone through the procedure. They also supply you with apple bits in a cup on a skewer, you will then go out into the ocean waist deep and the pigs will swim to you in order to be fed.
Family Island pigs on Exuma and Eleuthera are wild and feral but the pigs in Nassau, particularly the ones on Rose Island are very tame and well-trained.
There are no booty biting pigs near Nassau, however the pigs on the family Islands, having been there for generations with no one to care, train or feed them; are often sunburned, thirsty for fresh water and starving.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.
I’ve often been told that you have to hold your hands up in the air when you’re around these pigs because if you have your hands down they will assume that you have food and being hungry they will bite you. Of course that’s not always true. But it’s important to remember that nature is not your playground and when you are out in the wild, well…wild things can happen.
I’m quite sure we’ve all seen posts from various Instagram girls who went to Exuma and got a little too friendly with a wild pig. The result: a booty bite from Bahamas wild pigs on the beach.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.
In Nassau I’ve heard people who grew up on a pig farm say they hated feeding pigs as a child and now they can’t believe as an adult, here they are paying to feed pigs and yet they always find it unbelievably satisfying.
To see happy free range pigs running around, with their floppy ears and cork tail screw tails happily wagging. It’s a sight to behold. They’re very friendly as well as intelligent, more so than dogs.
Nassau pigs love to frolic with the tourists and look forward to encounters every day, often twice or three times per day.
One standout thing I’ve noticed is that tourists often don’t even want to swim with pigs. On most occasions they just want to feed them on the shore. So if you have a water phobia and you don’t want to go in the water, no worries, you can still have fun with swimming pigs. No swimming required.
Book your Bahamas full day or half day swimming pig encounter now and be on a Bahamas beach tomorrow.