Pig Beach – The Bahamas

“Pig Beach” in the Bahamas has been sitting towards the top of our bucket list for years; long before the Fyre Festival documentaries came out, and even before the swimming pigs became a social media sensation. As animal lovers, it’s hard to envision a better way to spend a vacation than swimming with pigs in crystal clear water, but we never pulled the trigger on booking the trip until this year because 1) it’s not cheap, and 2) it’s very difficult to get to.

Where is Pig Beach?

Pig Beach is located on a small uninhabited island in the Exumas called Big Major Cay, although many people just refer to it as “Pig Island”. Exuma is a district of the Bahamas consisting of over 360 islands, and is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful island chains in the Western Hemisphere. Many of the islands are small/uninhabited and several are privately owned (Johnny Depp owns one nearby). While Exuma draws tourists from all over the world for its world class bone fishing, snorkeling, and sailing, the swimming pigs have recently become one of the main attractions. Despite the massive social media fame the swimming pigs have achieved, the island is so remote and difficult to get to that even now it is still not constantly overrun with tourists. The island is completely undeveloped, so you can’t stay on the island itself and it’s fairly far from the major tourist hubs in the Bahamas (80 miles from Nassau, 50 miles from George Town).

Where to Fly

There are a few ways to get to Pig beach, all of which eventually involve taking a boat to Big Major Cay. Of course, if you have your own boat that takes things much easier, but there are several companies that offer tour packages leaving from Great Exuma, Nassau, or Georgetown. These companies include Exuma Water Sports, Island Routes, and Tours R Us Exuma. Many of these tour packages also take you to other nearby attractions like Thunderball Grotto, or the nurse sharks of Compass Cay, but the downside is you’ll be sharing a boat with a large group of other tourists. If you want to go with one of these organized tours, then you should probably fly into Great Exuma or even Nassau, but in our opinion this is definitely not the way to go. Without a doubt the best way to see the pigs is by flying into the nearby island of Staniel Cay and staying at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Flying to Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay is the closest island with an airstrip to Pig Beach. The island is very small so there aren’t many accommodation options, but we cannot speak highly enough about Staniel Cay Yacht Club. If you want to stay there, be sure to book several months in advance since the cottages fill up very quickly. It was easily one of our favorite places we’ve ever stayed and it is the perfect home base for visiting the pigs and seeing the sights on the other nearby islands. The best part is that all guests are provided their own personal motorboat, so there’s no need to hire a guide or pay for an organized tour. While Staniel Cay is definitely the best launching point for getting to Pig Beach, it is unfortunately not easy or cheap to get to. You can either fly to Staniel Cay from Ft. Lauderdale on Makers Air or you can fly from Nassau on Flamingo Air. Either way, the flights are never cheap, you’ll need to make a connection somewhere along the way, and you will be flying in a small, single engine Cessna.







We flew non-stop from Boston to the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and then flew Makers Air from Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport to Staniel Cay. The executive airport is about 25 minutes north of the international airport, so you’ll need to Uber/Lyft between the two. We ended up spending the night in Ft. Lauderdale so we could take the early morning flight to Staniel. We had a great experience with Makers Air, but there’s no denying that the planes are small. While not the smallest plane we’ve ever been on, the Cessna only has seven passenger seats so we really got to know our fellow passengers on the short flight.

The plane landed on Andros Island where we quickly went through customs before the second short leg of the flight to Staniel Cay. The views from the plane were incredible…

Our pilots on the way there and back were both excellent, even with some tough wind during our landing on Staniel.

The Swimming Pigs

Since Staniel Cay Yacht Club provided us with a small boat for the duration of our stay, the first thing we did upon arrival was make a b-line for Big Major Cay. The boat ride took less than ten minutes, and when we approached the beach, we were greeted by a friendly pig who swam out to say hello.

Then when we anchored on the beach, we were greeted by even more friendly faces…

Some of the pigs are massive, and even a bit aggressive. People have actually been bitten by some of the more cantankerous residents of Pig Beach. These guys seem to constantly be hungry so they won’t leave you alone if they know you have food.

There are also lots of piglets that tend to stick to the shade towards the back of the beach, and they’re just about the most adorable creatures you’ll ever see. It’s rare that we admit anything or anyone is cuter than our dog, but these little guys certainly give him a run for his money.

Pig Beach is certainly not easy to get to, but it’s well worth the trip (and the money). While there are several ways to get there, we would highly recommend flying on Makers Air to Staniel Cay, staying at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, and taking a more DIY approach with your own personal boat. That way you can spend as much time at the beach as you want and you can go back multiple times if you so desire. We stopped by four or five times over the course of three days just because it was so convenient.

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