8/9/2019 Day Trip: Swimming With Pigs in the Exumas, Bahamas

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FormoreExumasphotosandtriptools,logontocaribbeantravelmag.com/article/top5exumas.

2 2 caribbean travel+life caribbeantravelmag.com

clockwisefrom

top:sarahgreaves-gab

badon;reaganjohnson(2);opposite:h.liu

pigs in paradiseflyng pgs are overrated. in the bahamas, they swm.

Top and above left: Palm-covered cays and crystalline waters are the Exumas s tock in trade.Above right: Wilbur gets wet. Opposite: The author, star-struck.

have something to do with their sudden

appearance roughly a dozen years ago,

but those claims are unsubstantiated.

Today the growing colony (approximately

20 pigs and piglets at last count) relies on

the largesse o visiting boaters, devouring

the ood they bring and drinking rom a

reshwater pond in the islands interior.

Answering the siren ca o the

motors hum, the pigs circe the stern,

where Justin has ripped open a pacage

o hot dogs (ture, he assures me with

a twine in his ee) and is insertingthem into buns what, no etchup?

beore tossing them toward the greed

group. This cose I notice that there

not the pin piggies o chidrens boos.

In reait, the other white meat is hair,

ranges in coor rom owhite to bac

and is considerab arger and more

earsome than I expected; the aduts

probab tip the scaes at 150 pounds.

Nevertheess, a ew o us dive in to

experience the Exumasown Ba o Pigs.

Ater a, when are we ever again going

to have the opportunit or incination

to swim with swine? Hoding two buns

overhead, I sip into the water, and beoreIm even waist deep, a determined oiner

starts maing his wa toward me. Hes an

intimidating sight as he hods his arge

twitching snout aot, snorting oud as

he approaches. In an instant he snatches

the bount rom m hand, and as he

ics coser to mae sure Im not with

hoding an more treats, a rochard

trotter painu connects with m oot.

Be careu; the eat anthing a

everthing incuding ngers,Ra

warns, and indeed, the pigs are un

wavering ocused on their oragin

coupe o overzeaous ones even tr

camber into the boat, which promp

Ra to te us about the time he wit

nessed a pig put his ront egs on th

o a rubber dingh and ip it, capsiz

its started passengers, cameras and

The pigs make no pretense about

wanting to rolic with the humans; th

clearly in it or the ood, voraciouslygobbling up all the rankurters in ala

ingly short order. And as soon as the

sausage has been scared and the fn

devoured, theyre hot to trot, turning

aster than you can say Oscar Mayer.

S A R A H G R E A V E S - GA B B

Swim with pigs on Island Routes007

Thunderball Tour or $375 per perso

including a visit to Thunderball Grot

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ball, and lunch on Royal Plantation

Island. 877-768-8370; islandroutes.c

LOOk TO THE RI G HT! yEllS

our captain, and a dozen heads

swive simutaneous starboard.

On an iset, our shapes and enthusi

astic snorts and grunts are emerging

rom the brush, and we squint into the

sun to mae out stump egs and our

pairs o arge, eaie ears. Trotting

purposeu across the rufe o goden

sand, the animas pic up speed and

aunch themseves wanton into the

sur. Here, in the midde o the Carib

bean Sea, we are being ambushed b anarmada o everish padding pigs.

We are in the Exuma Cas, a

365isand chain within the Bahamas

archipeago that is amous among

snoreers, divers and shermen or

eagues o cear aquamarine water. Capt.

Ra lightbourn, a stoc Bahamian

with a ind, sunbeaten ace, eads our

group on a daong excursion through

the 120mieong necace. less than

hawa through the cruise, we aread

now its one we wi never orget.

In the coupe o hours since eav

ing the marina at Barraterre on Great

Exuma, wed saied under a sapphire s

painted with cirrus streas, passing one

gemie ca ater another. Some wereroc protrusions with a patchwor o

bushes, a ew were carpeted with groves

o eaning coconut pams, some appeared

uninhabited, and others were punctu

ated with paatia beachront homes. At

our rst stop, Ra had punged into the

bue to retrieve a coupe o giant starsh

or us to examine uorescentorange,

14inchwide specimens that were star

ting heav. Then wed disembared on

a pristine sandbar in the midde o no

where and reaized our Sports Iustrated

swimsuitissue antasies on a ribbon o

sot white sand. Ras son, Justin, det

peeed a resh pineappe and served it

to us on the ripped shore, and at that

moment I was compete convinced thatie coudnt get an sweeter. But now,

there are pigs swimming toward us.

Ask 10 people how the paddling

porkers ound themselves on Big Major

Cay and youll get 10 dierent answers.

Common theories are that theyre

shipwrecked cargo rom a supply boat or

brave escapees rom a neighboring islet.

Cynics suggest that a nearby resort might

island hopping

d a y t r i p