Port #6 – Staniel Cay Yacht Club (The Swimming Pigs)

So ok, maybe they don’t really swim so much any more.
But they sure do like to eat.

Intro
The Pigs of Pig Island Bahamas (Big Major Cay) have been in their tropical paradise for years.
The Exuma Cays have been a forgotten oasis for decades.

Ruthless pirates, pioneers of Europe, even the infamous Fyre Festival — all of these people & events have run their course through the Exumas. However, who was it that put the Exuma Cays on the map? Yes, the swimming pigs Exuma have brought in the most tourists over the years.

Matter of fact, over 6.62 million people went swimming with pigs in 2018 and the spectacle is slated to continue growing in popularity year-after-year with its social media virality sky-rocketing.

Some history of the Big Major Cay Swimming Pigs
Legend has it that farmers in Staniel Cay used to care for their pigpen right outside of Staniel Cay Village.

When the village people complained about the stench blowing into the village from the farm, farmers were forced to dial up a solution.

Their solution?– Moving the pigs to the nearby island of Big Major Cay (later known as Pig Island) where they would boat the pigs’ daily feed to them at the same time every day. (Big Major Cay is about 1 mile from the Staniel Cay Yacht Club).

Soon, the pigs picked up on the pattern; if they saw the boat approaching, that meant their food was nearing.

It wasn’t before long the pigs began swimming to the boat to be the first ones fed. The farmers knew they had struck tourist gold and soon the island was seeing mass amounts of visitors like never before.

Before we departed for Pig Island, I researched the Etiquitte for Feeding the Pigs. Here is what I found.

• Never feeding a pig from the beach. This will cause the pigs to assume they can get all their food from the beach at the hands of humans and ruin their natural instinct for survival and the natural process which began with them swimming to their food.
• Never feed a pig by hand. Make sure the food is removed from your hand before the pig gets to it as they can bite and are, otherwise, clumsy while eating.
• Feed pigs only the appropriate and approved foods according to local guides. Most of the approved foods include bread and fruits or natural foods = Okay, we did bring Bread !

Ok so that was the internet version of “what to do at Pig Beach”
The actual real story is more – negotiable.
Even the local guy assigned to monitor the activities at Pig Beach said –
* You can feed them on Land & Water, they will come to you.
* You can pick up the babies.
* There really are “No Rules”

So, here we go, welcome to Pig Beach

Well that’s all folks.
I may never look at a piece of Bacon the same way anymore, there sooo cute !

Next Episode = The Thunderball Grotto Cave !

Todays Boating Trivia Question = What is the difference between a Fender & a Bumper for a Boat?
Answer = Scroll Down

Scroll Down

Scroll Down

Question = What is the difference between a fender and a bumper on a boat?
Answer = They are both cushioned items used to protect a boat from impact or abrasion, either from another boat or a fixed structure, like a dock or pier.
Technically, there’s one differentiator –
A Fender is attached to the boat. 
A Bumper is attached to the fixed structure, like a Dock.