Ok people, if you have ever wanted to swim with the pigs and you see all the pictures on Instagram and have ever thought 1. where is this? and 2. why would you want to swim with pigs? I’m going to answer all of your questions here! Those famous pigs that live on the beach you see people posing with on Instagram is in Exuma Bahamas! Close your eyes, picture this…. you see a beautiful white sand beach, calm clear turquoise waters, you are on that beach…now do you picture a pig on that beach with you? If you answered yes then this is the place for you my friend! Even if you don’t picture a pig on the beach with you, you will by the end of this post!
So, your trip is booked for Exuma and you want to book an excursion. We booked ours through Robert’s Island Adventures. He offers many tours but the one we chose was the shared full day Exuma Cays tour. This tour included swimming with the pigs, a stop at an island full of iguanas, celebrity home sightings, swimming with sharks (extra $10 if you want to do this), Thunderball grotto, a stop at a mile long sandbar, and lunch which is a separate charge. You do need cash for the sharks and lunch. Robert was very prompt to answer my email questions but do know they are closed on Sundays so no tours on that day. He provides light snacks, beer, water, and goombay smash (an alcoholic Bahamian drink). If you pay cash, they offer a discount and you pay at the end of the tour. It starts at 8:30 and ends around 3:45, so you still have the rest of your day to enjoy!
The morning started off with us meeting our taxi driver at the front gate at Sandals. Transportation was included with the price. Be sure and ask Robert what time is the pick up time from wherever you are staying!! The pickup time for Sandals was 7:15. They sent an email the day before to verify pick up time so you may need to check your email while there. Our taxi driver was Smitty!! He is awesome and if you have read my other posts I have already mentioned him. He told me some good advice about swimming with the pigs….If you pick up a piglet and it starts to squeal put the damn pig down (in my best Smitty voice) because the mama is going to come for you and bite you in the butt!
We arrived at the pier and Robert introduced himself. There was a total of 10 people including us so it wasn’t a ton of people on the boat, which was good. There can be a total of 16 guests on board. We weren’t there long before we boarded the boat and we were off! On the boat ride Robert played country music, I’m talking like 90’s country, so if you like that you’re in luck! I happen to love 90’s country! Robert’s helper (I can’t remember his name…sorry dude!) would come to us and point out celebrity houses on the way. We saw Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s house…well mansion/island, David Copperfield’s house, and others along the way. Wouldn’t you like to own your own island?!
Iguanas for days!
The first stop was Leaf Cay where a ton of iguanas are. I’m not very keen on lizards or any kind of reptile really, so I kept my distance but they were really cool to see! The ocean is absolutely beautiful so there are photo opportunities everywhere! We didn’t stay here very long, maybe 10-15 minutes.
Sand Bar
After leaving the iguanas, the next stop was the mile long sandbar. Let me tell you something, this stop is amazing!!! The water here is pristine, crystal clear!! Get your camera ready! Unfortunately, that day the tide was high so you couldn’t actually see the sand but it was still beautiful!! Put your hands in the sand and rub them together then wash it off…your hands feel so soft!!
Thunderball Grotto
Ok on to the next stop which was Thunderball Grotto. If you have never heard of Thunderball Grotto, this is where the famous James Bond movie called, you guessed it…Thunderball, was filmed. Make sure you bring an underwater camera or a GoPro! Now, I have a love/hate relationship with this place. I love it because it is amazing!! The water is so clear inside the grotto and there are all kinds of beautiful fish you can see when snorkeling. Robert provides the snorkel and mask for you. Now, here is where the hate part comes in. There are obviously rocks everywhere since it is a grotto or cave. They are very sharp and if you are not careful you will cut your feet. Also, once inside there was a current that was so strong!! Be careful if you are not a good swimmer because you could sit still and the current would just pull you. I almost died here for real!! I am a good swimmer but I also did something stupid that I did not think through!
You can snorkel inside the entire grotto but there was a pool of light I thought was another part of the cave that you could not snorkel through because the water met the rocks. So I held my breath, went underneath the rocks and came out on the other side of the grotto, only to find I had swam out of the grotto and was just swimming in the ocean. Now, to get back in I had to go against the current and again hold my breath because you couldn’t snorkel here. This is where I messed up! I was running out of air and trapped under the rocks. I saw some light so I thought I could come up only to find my head wouldn’t fit up, so I swallowed a bunch of water and hit my head. I started struggling after that because I was quickly running out of air! I saw my husband, who had no clue I was struggling and didn’t even know where I had gone, standing there looking at me, so I knew if I could make it to arms length from him he could pull me the rest of the way in! Thank goodness he did because if he hadn’t been standing there I probably wouldn’t be here typing this now. In my struggle, I cut my feet up on the rocks pretty bad, but it could have been my head so I am very lucky!! The current was strong which made it hard to swim back out of the cave, so the “guide” had to pull us out and we could hold onto the rocks above us for help. He had fins so it was easier for him. I don’t say any of this to scare you but just to caution you to stay inside the grotto and maybe if you have water shoes to bring them to protect your feet. It was beautiful inside and I’m glad we went in!
Swimming with sharks/Compass Cay
After Thunderball Grotto, our next stop was to swim with the sharks at Compass Cay. Great! I just cut my foot up and am bleeding everywhere and now I’m going to swim with sharks! I didn’t let that stop me and I was just fine so if I can swim with sharks with a bleeding foot and come out just fine…you will too! If you want to do this it is $10 extra. As soon as you pull up, you get off and there is a man waiting to take your money. There is a little store here and they have restrooms. You will be swimming with nurse sharks. They are pretty much harmless, but they will tell you where to pet them so you don’t irritate them.
This Little Piggy Went to Market!!
Ok it’s finally pig time!!! Pulling up to pig beach is so cool!! The pigs know food is coming (not you, they give you bread!) so they are swimming out to the boats to greet you! These pigs are no ordinary pigs. They are huge and well fed!! Robert will give you bread and you can throw it in the water or just drop it in their mouths. They are friendly pigs, but I will tell you a little secret. If a pig is coming at you because they think you have food and you don’t, just hold up your hands so they see you don’t have anything and they will move on to the next person. BEWARE!! They will poop in the water and they don’t care if you’re standing next to them or not! On the beach there are more pigs being lazy just laying around. When we went, there were a bunch of piglets too!! Leave it to the Mississippi girl to be the first one to run up and grab a piglet! I couldn’t help myself, they are so cute!! Some of them will run away from you but we found one that was the friendliest and wouldn’t squeal that much. Like Smitty said though, if the pig starts squealing you better put it down pretty fast because you don’t wanna wake the mama up!
Lunch time
After all that excitement, it is finally time to eat!! Robert took us to a little place that was pretty much just us and maybe another group. Now, I’m going to pause here for a funny story and a tale of caution. My husband will kill me when he reads this. This place does have a bathroom but please make sure there is toilet paper. My husband came back from the bathroom looking very frazzled. He said when he sat down he realized there was no toilet paper anywhere. There wasn’t even any paper towels for your hands. So what does he do?? What any self respecting gentleman would do. He takes his underwear off and uses it as toilet paper!!!! That poor, sweet, unsuspecting man from London in line behind my husband for the bathroom!! So we made it home with everything except a pair of underwear. What did we learn from this?…always check for toilet paper before you go!! Back to our regularly scheduled broadcast………..The lunch was a buffet style of ribs, mac and cheese (Bahamian style), fish, and a few other choices. I had a water to drink and my husband had a beer. The total was around $40-$50. You need to bring cash. I will say I wasn’t crazy about the food. My husband loved the fish and mac and cheese though. I wish I had just waited until we got back because I feel like it was a waste, but I was so hungry so we ate. It was about an hour boat ride back to the pier, so it was nice to relax and enjoy the scenery. Robert stopped the boat on the way back and we got to see a stingray swimming around.
Whats the word?
So, what’s the word…have I talked you into going to Exuma and swimming with the pigs?! Trust me, you won’t regret it…it was such a fun day and just to get out and see more of Exuma and its beautiful water was an awesome experience!!!
I love your blog Renee! It was very informative! Makes me want to go swim w/the pigs & flamingos are my favorite! I’m so happy that you and Josh enjoy traveling. Allyn & I do too!