Pigs of Paradise: The Story of the World-Famous Swimming Pigs

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With 3N’s Swimming with Pigs tour you get a premium service with extra stops compared to most other tours.While we did not experience any other tour operator, from our observations we felt we were on one of the best tours due to small group sizes, more comfortable boats, and premium service. This was another, “ No way, I’m not doing that” wildlife experience our daughters protested about. To be honest, I didn’t think I would swim with sharks either. If you care about the pigs and follow the instructions, you will have a wonderful time “swimming” with them. You’re not really swimming with them – more like wading in waist deep water – although if you are fortunate to get there without other boats you could swim with them. Who wouldn’t want to swim here? Nope. Impossible when you see the absolute paradise that is the Exuma Islands. No wonder many celebrities come here for a private escape. If you’re planning ahead and wondering when to fit this attraction into your Bahamas itinerary, then you will want to plan your visit for outside the hurricane season.

They are exposed to the sun, rain, and especially the harsh Caribbean storms and hurricanes. The pigs are an unusual feral-domestic hybrid.So, you want to swim with pigs in the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the Bahamas? We did just that in the beautiful Exumas Islands, and this is how you can do it too! Our kids loved the experience Please help spread the word to let people know that Pig Island is no paradise for the pigs, but rather a tourist attraction not a whole lot different from Sea World or the Zoo. Instead of googling “Where can you swim with pigs?” and booking a flight, plan a trip to an animal sanctuary like Farm Sanctuary or Animal Place ! There are hundreds of sanctuaries all around the world where you can visit pigs, rub their bellies, and support liberation rather than exploitation. The swimming pigs always look so happy and comfortable in the photos, but reality is so different from the pictures. Urge the Government to Take Action There are plenty of other reasons to visit the Bahamas—the beaches arebeautiful, and you can enjoy activities like snorkeling, paddle boarding, island hopping, and even swimming near wild sharks. The locals are incredibly friendly and kind, and it really is a beautiful place. One Bahamian wrote in sharing the following:

Well, her grandparents were the original inhabitants of Staniel Cay and so she knows how the pigs moved from that island to the one next door, Big Major Cay. I mentioned earlier that it’s not worth doing a tour all the way from Nassau on a speed boat only to swim with pigs. We loved our tour with3N’s Exuma Vacations because we got to see other gems in the Bahamas too and spend a good amount of time there! The original Pig Beach is on Pig Island which is actually called Big Major Cay. It’s an uninhabited island next door to Staniel Cay, the gateway to the Exuma Cays. Thunderball Grotto is located just off Staniel Cay and is named after the James Bond movie, Thunderball, which was filmed here. Splash and Into the Blue also had scenes filmed here. Pipe Creek Sandbar Stunning sandbarBefore going on this swimming with pigs tour on Pig Beach, Kalyra was adamant she was not swimming with the pigs as they are filthy – despite my protests that they were actually very clean animals. With all of the animals being piglets, Winter revealed that once the pigs get too big, they go into retirement. Some safely on farms through the work of local sponsors in a charity that she’s set up. Instead of living amongst the uncomfortable smell of the pigs on Staniel Cay, they had the idea to move the pigs to the nearby desolate island. They could tend to them – and slaughter them – from there. And that’s the story of the pigs. Some of them are big! Embrace Resort can help you organize a massage from Khori at Illusions by the Sea – it was fantastic. Our Experience Swimming with Pigs on Pig Island A pigs life Pig bites can be pretty serious. Pigs have strong jaws and can have a very crushing, bone breaking bite. They also often break skin. They can do serious damage.” Pig Bites Can Cause Serious Damage

Pigs can have upwards of twenty piglets each year, and they can start having babies when they’re just a year and a half old. Without killing the pigs (or giving the piglets away to locals for food), there would be no way to maintain the small population of pigs on the various islands. The pigs can suffer from severe sunburn and skin cancer. Again, strict instructions told us how to safely interact with them, with warnings to keep our fingers out of the water lest we wanted them to be mistaken for fish food and bitten. These are docile nurse sharks with tiny teeth (that can still do some damage). But, if this works for you and you really want to see the pigs, then go for it. It would be a more affordable option and I’m sure others have enjoyed it.

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A good time to visit is the Spring. From April, the weather is at its mildest and you are blessed with sunny skies. The peak season runs from December until early April, so a good time to visit would be late April and May, which will see fewer crowds and good weather. We had 80F temps in January! Yeah—but don’t worry, they roast them on a skewer and eat them, and nothing goes to waste. And no, we don’t serve them at the restaurant here—a lot of people ask that!” Pipe Creek is said to be one of the most spectacular sandbars in the Exumas, possibly The Bahamas. You need low tide and a small boat to access it. And like well-trained piggies, they’d quietly swim away until they found the food they were looking for. I left the feeding to the experts, content to just watch and giggle at them. The photos and videos I had seen online made it seem like pig paradise—no part of me imagined that Pig Island was a “managed” tourist attraction where the pigs were culled.