While you’ve probably heard of swimming with fish, dolphins and other marine creatures, Big Major Spot in the Bahamas’ Exumas Cays is the only place I’ve ever heard of where you can literally swim with pigs. Locals brought the enormous hairy pigs to the island during the First Gulf War, just in case things got bad and they needed to repopulate their farm animals. The island is also home to sheep and chickens, although no people. The pigs have gotten used to humans coming to see them, so as soon as they hear your boat approaching they’ll run out of the bush and jump into the water, swimming up to your boat so you can feed them. Feel free to jump into the crystal waters and swim with them.
I was able to experience this through the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, although most hotels in the Exumas will be able to organize a guided tour to Big Major Spot or rent you a boat so you can go there yourself.
Jessica Festa is the editor of the travel sites Jessie on a Journey (http://jessieonajourney.com) and Epicure & Culture (http://epicureandculture.com). Along with blogging at We Blog The World, her byline has appeared in publications like Huffington Post, Gadling, Fodor’s, Travel + Escape, Matador, Viator, The Culture-Ist and many others. After getting her BA/MA in Communication from the State University of New York at Albany, she realized she wasn’t really to stop backpacking and made travel her full time job. Some of her most memorable experiences include studying abroad in Sydney, teaching English in Thailand, doing orphanage work in Ghana, hiking her way through South America and traveling solo through Europe. She has a passion for backpacking, adventure, hiking, wine and getting off the beaten path.
