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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
seen in the James Bond movie Thun
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