Visiting the Bahamas? Don’t miss this incredibly unique experience of swimming with pigs in the bright blue waters of the Bahamas. Enjoy swimming in crystal clear water while watching the pigs swim around and even getting to feed them! This is a great experience and I highly recommend it if you’re visiting the Bahamas!
In February of 2023, I visited Grand Bahama Island, and the number one thing I wanted to experience while there was swimming with the pigs. In the Bahamas there’s an actual ‘pig island’ that is very popular for swimming with the pigs. Thankfully there’s also a swimming with the pig attraction on Grand Bahama Island. We booked our excursion through our hotel (we stayed at Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach).
The excursion was with Paradise Cove and you can book directly through them. They also offer tons of other activities like snorkeling, kayaking, spearfishing, paddleboarding, and freediving. They also have a beach to relax on and a bar with refreshing cold drinks.
We had transportation arranged by our hotel, they had a taxi take us about a 40-minute drive from our hotel. When we got there, we checked in and waited on the benches on the beach till our time was called. Then, when our time was called they had everyone line up while they explained the rules. We were given skewer sticks and fruit to put on them. Then they took us over to the water. We got about thigh-deep in the water, then they let the pigs out.
I didn’t know exactly what to expect but they opened the gate on the beach for the pigs and four giant pigs came running towards us. Some people were screaming and running away because the pigs were coming towards us so fast. The pigs would come up to us, take the food from the skewer, and then go to the next person. It was very chaotic but in a good way. They were very friendly even though they looked kind of intimidating. The pigs seemed very excited to be there from what I could tell and after the pigs were out there with us they calmed down a bit.
The pigs poop in the water, a lot. So if you’re doing this excursion or a similar one, watch out for the poop and try to stay in front of the pigs. We got to be in the water with the pigs for about 5 minutes then walked with them back to the beach. They put the big pigs back in a pen and let out a few small pigs for photos. The smaller pigs got passed along for photos. I took a picture with two of them and they felt pretty heavy, I was so afraid of dropping them since I had to hold them for a while to find someone to take a picture of my friend and me.
After the experience, we were able to relax on the beach and get drinks if we wanted. We went in the water a bit more but then dried off and headed back to our hotel pretty shortly after.
Tips for anyone wanting to do this excursion
Tips:
- Only feed the pigs from the skewer, keep your fingers away from the pigs so they don’t think it’s food!
- Try to stay in front of the pigs to avoid the poop! They can also get very startled easily.
- Don’t try to pick up the big pigs!
What to bring:
- Swimsuit, they have bathrooms if you need to change before or after the excursion
- Reef-safe sunscreen, there’s very limited shade
- Towel
- Bring a waterproof phonecase
Swimming with the pigs was a bit of a chaotic experience, but it was a lot of fun and very memorable. I would love to do it again at the same place or on the pig island! If you love animals I think you’d enjoy this experience, as long as your careful not to get pooped on!
