Swimming with the Pigs

I had been scrolling instagram and seeing the various glorified photos of majestic pigs swimming in crystal clear waters. Can you even imagine anything so adorable?

Well, I had my flight booked to The Bahamas and knew it was finally my turn to partake in swimming with these fat little creatures. I went on viator.com and and booked a day to swim with the pigs (this does not run cheaply, by the way. I was alarmed to find out it was $400 for the day). The excursion included a stop at a beach with endangered iguanas, unlimited beer and lunch included, swimming with nurse sharks, and of course, swimming with the pigs.

I was so eager with anticipation that I even painted pigs on my nails!

The day came and I was put on a boat with about fifteen other people. As I’ve said many times before, traveling solo doesn’t necessarily mean traveling alone. I sat next to a chick from Arizona and her boyfriend who were both surf instructors. The three of us immediately cracked open some beers and began chatting and getting to know each other.

Our first stop was visiting endangered iguanas. We were given sticks with grapes on the end of them to feed them. It is ILLEGAL to touch these little guys. They seemed overall uninterested in us feeding them and it made me feel like we were intruding on their space (which is almost always the case when it comes to touristic animal-involved adventures, unfortunately).

After we left the iguanas, it was time for the pigs. As we were pulling up, our tour guide instructed us a few specifics.

1. Do NOT turn around when you’re near “Big Boomba,” this giant female pig who has a reputation for nipping people on their butts.

2. When you feed the pigs (they eat carrots!), hold the carrots at the very top so the pigs don’t bite your fingers (I learned this the hard way). Their teeth are SHARP!

3. The pigs WILL SWIM. The best way to lure them in is with food (duh!). Go into the water and hold out the food and they will come to you!

I got off the boat and started frolicking with my new pig friends. The pigs definitely loved bread a lot more than they loved carrots, but the tour guides saved the bread for the younger folks on the boat so they could have a more inclusive experience. These pigs loved the water, however, some of the younger ones were sleepy and clearly wanted to be left alone. It was a little heartbreaking to see tourists bothering the young pigs for their perfect photo. They were picking them up and the pigs were squealing (shout out to this bad ass little boy who called a girl out and said “I don’t think that pig likes that!”).

We were only given forty-five minutes with the pigs which completely FLEW by, and I will say for the steep price tag, I felt a little ripped off. I am still grateful to have experienced something so unique (and fairly comical). I am not sure if I would do it again, simply because of the cost.

To anyone going to the Bahamas, I say go for it. It will only take one day out of your trip, and you can say you got to swim with freaking pigs on some of the most crystal clear water in the world!