Big Major Cay Island: The world's only waterfowl resort. Swimming pigs in the Bahamas. pig island

Big Major Cay - small desert island, on west beach which is inhabited by a population of several dozen pigs and piglets. It is to them that the island owes its name - Pig Island (Pig Island) Pig Beach (Pig Beach)

Bahamas, Isle of Pigs Big Major Cay (Big Major Cay)

Bahamas, Isle of Pigs Big Major Cay ( Big Major Cay)

�Our expedition went to the southern Bahamas to take pictures white shark. Captain Jim Abernathy told me that there are wonderful piglets on an island, so we decided to go there and see them. We even managed to swim with them, they were very friendly - it is immediately noticeable that they are not in contact with people for the first time and do it without fear and even with pleasure�.

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

Eric and his team not only swam with the pigs, but also took a series of photos, after the publication of which the Bahamian swimming pigs of Big Major Cay gained popularity in all corners the globe:�Our team photographer Nadine Umbscheiden quickly found mutual language with pigs and arranged an impressive photo session with them. For this, we jokingly began to call her a pig charmer, but, to be honest, these photos turned out to be the most unusual and beautiful of all that were taken on that expedition.�

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

Bathing with pigs - exclusive to the Bahamas

Among tourists swimming in the ocean with pigs in the Bahamas has become even more popular than the traditional swimming with dolphins for this region.=

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This is not surprising, since a wide variety of swimming programs with dolphins are offered on almost any Caribbean resort, while swimming pigs can only be found in the Bahamas, and Pig Island is practically the only place on earth where you can swim and then sunbathe on white sandy beach next to real pigs =

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The pigs of Big Major Cay are always happy to have guests - they swim up to the boats that bring tourists to the beach of the island, communicate with tourists with pleasure and pose in front of photographic lenses in exchange for a treat.

Due to the constant bathing in the ocean, Bahamian pigs are exceptionally clean, so even close contact with them will not cause any discomfort.

Pigs of Big Major Cay - photo essay from Pigs Beach

Big Major Cay, Exuma Archipelago, Bahamas

Pig Island, Exuma Archipelago, Bahamas

Pigs Island (Big Major Cay), Exuma Archipelago, Bahamas

One of the most popular excursions offered to tourists in the Bahamas is considered cruise to the shores of Big Major Cay, Exuma. Among tourists and travelers Big Major Cay is better known by another name - Pig Island.

Big Major Cay is a small uninhabited island with a population of several dozen pigs and piglets on its western beach. It is to them that the island owes its name - Pig Island (Pig Island), and the beach chosen by animals is also called nothing more than Pig Beach (Pig Beach)

The island has springs with fresh water, and larger neighboring islands reliably protect this place from the effects of tropical storms. Paradise island in the Bahamas, entirely owned by pigs. In such an unusual habitat for pigs, they themselves pigs in the Bahamas are also unusual - waterfowl, which attracts numerous tourists to the Isle of Pigs, vacationing in the resorts of the Bahamas.

Where do swimming pigs come from in the Bahamas?

The origin of the Big Major Cay pigs is not known for certain. There are several theories about how the pigs ended up on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas in the middle of Atlantic Ocean.

According to one legend, the pigs were brought to the island by pirates who left the animals as a strategic food supply for the future. The pirates planned to return to the island soon, but these plans were not destined to come true, and the pigs remained to live on the island, having managed to adapt to new conditions.

Another legend says that a shipwreck occurred near the shores of Big Major Cay. Pigs were also transported on the ship in distress. The ship crashed on the reefs, and the animals were the only surviving passengers. The pigs managed to swim to the shores inhabited island where they established their colony.

There is a more prosaic version of the appearance of unusual waterfowl on a desert island near the fashionable Bahamian resorts: the pigs were brought to the island on purpose to attract tourists.

The most plausible of all is the hypothesis that pigs appeared on the small uninhabited island of Big Major Cay in the 90s, and this happened through the efforts of pig farmers from the neighboring inhabited island of Staniel Cay. The pigs were evicted from Staniel Cay to a deserted island due to numerous complaints about bad smells from the pigsties. There, the animals did not interfere with anyone, and their living conditions have changed significantly, which positively affected the hygiene of the animals.

Having found pigs on a desert island, the inhabitants of neighboring islands began to feed them. Animals quickly got used to the fact that people sailing to the island always bring them food. Having established a connection between the boats approaching the island and food, the pigs began to meet them, go deeper and deeper into the water, and then completely learned to swim.

Today, everyone swims in the pig population: both adult pigs and small piglets, which get used to water from childhood. As soon as they see boats or yachts approaching the island, the pigs joyfully rush towards them - right into the water.

The pigs are very friendly and are not at all afraid of either people or boats - they boldly swim up to them, often try to climb on board and take food directly from their hands.

How Bahamian waterfowl became famous

worldwide fame waterfowl from the Bahamas received in 2009 thanks to underwater photographer Eric Cheng.

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

Here is how Eric Cheng describes his first encounter with these unique inhabitants of the Bahamas: �Our expedition went to the southern Bahamas to photograph the great white shark. Captain Jim Abernathy told me that there are wonderful piglets on an island, so we decided to go there and see them. We even managed to swim with them, they behaved very friendly - it is immediately noticeable that they are not in contact with people for the first time and do it without fear and even with pleasure

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

�Our expedition went to the southern Bahamas to photograph the great white shark. Captain Jim Abernathy told me that there are wonderful piglets on an island, so we decided to go there and see them. We even managed to swim with them, they were very friendly - it is immediately noticeable that they are not in contact with people for the first time and do it without fear and even with pleasure�.

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

Eric and his team not only swam with the pigs, but also took a series of photos, after the publication of which the Bahamian swimming pigs of Big Major Cay gained popularity in all corners of the globe: �Our team photographer Nadine Umbscheiden quickly hit it off with the pigs and had an impressive photo shoot with them. For this, we jokingly began to call her a pig charmer, but, to be honest, these photos turned out to be the most unusual and beautiful of all that were taken on that expedition.�

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

Bathing with pigs - exclusive to the Bahamas

Among tourists swimming in the ocean with pigs in the Bahamas has become even more popular than the traditional swimming with dolphins for this region.=

=

This is not surprising, since a wide variety of swimming programs with dolphins are offered in almost every Caribbean resort, while swimming pigs can only be found in the Bahamas, and Pig Island is practically the only place on earth where you can swim and then sunbathe on a snow-white beach next to real pigs =

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Due to the constant bathing in the ocean, Bahamian pigs are exceptionally clean, so even close contact with them will not cause any discomfort.

Pigs of Big Major Cay - photo essay from Pigs Beach

Big Major Cay, Exuma Archipelago, Bahamas

Pig Island, Exuma Archipelago, Bahamas

Pigs Island (Big Major Cay), Exuma Archipelago, Bahamas

Pig Island on the map (Google Maps)

One of the most popular excursions offered to tourists in the Bahamas is a sea voyage to the shores of the Big Major Cay island of the Exuma archipelago (Big Major Cay, Exuma). Among tourists and travelers Big Major Cay is better known by another name - Pig Island.

Where do swimming pigs come from in the Bahamas?

The origin of the Big Major Cay pigs is not known for certain. There are several theories about how the pigs ended up on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Another legend says that a shipwreck occurred near the shores of Big Major Cay. Pigs were also transported on the ship in distress. The ship crashed on the reefs, and the animals were the only surviving passengers. Pigs managed to swim to the shores of a desert island, where they founded their colony.

There is a more prosaic version of the appearance of unusual waterfowl on a desert island near the fashionable Bahamian resorts: the pigs were brought to the island on purpose to attract tourists.

The pigs are very friendly and are not at all afraid of either people or boats - they boldly swim up to them, often try to climb on board and take food directly from their hands.

How Bahamian waterfowl became famous

Waterfowl from the Bahamas gained worldwide fame in 2009. thanks to underwater photographer Eric Cheng.

Bahamas, Big Major Cay Pig Island

The Bahamas is a set of paradise tropical islands in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of them are taken over by tourists, but there is one particular island that is occupied by pigs. It is called the Isle of Pigs.

Let's go over an important detail right away. If you think that Pig Island is a place where you can see stupid and ignorant tourists or dirty beaches, then you are wrong. Pig Island - the most common Paradise Island, where the main population is ... pigs. Yes, ordinary domestic, but feral piglets live in this secluded place.

That is why the island is known throughout the world as the island of pigs (in the original Pig Island), although officially it is called Big Major Cay (Big Major Cay).

Where is pig island

The island is located in the Exuma region, which consists of 360 islands. Nearby are the islands of Steniel Cay to the southeast and Foul Cay to the northwest. The capital of the Bahamas, the city of Nassau, lies 130 kilometers to the northwest.

Geographic coordinates 24.183436, -76.456483

Pigs on the island are waterfowl

General information about the island of pigs

The island is about 1.9 km long and 1.6 km wide. The surface area is slightly less than 1 km2.
The island is covered rainforests. Sources can be found here fresh water and even 3 is enough large lakes. One of them (approximately 210 by 130 meters in size) is located in the central part of the island, and the other two lie side by side in the southern part. They are slightly smaller. On the coast of the island there are beautiful sandy beaches.

Despite conditions close to ideal, there are no people or hotels on the island. This is a practically uninhabited corner of the planet (naturally, with the exception of piglets).

Theories about the takeover of the island by pigs

There is no reliable information about how pigs appeared in the Bahamas. But there are several assumptions.

Perhaps the sailors left the pigs here as a food supply. They planned to pick them up later, but they never showed up, and the pigs took root on the island.
According to the second version, the pigs survived the shipwreck, got to the island, survived and even increased the population.
There is also a pragmatic theory according to which pigs were simply brought here as an interesting and extraordinary attraction. This version looks quite real, as tourists willingly go to the island of Pigs, where they can not only feed piglets from their hands, but even swim with them
Well, the most prosaic hypothesis says that the pigs were expelled from the neighboring island. The fact is that the pigsties on the island of Steniel Cay were sources of unpleasant odors, which began to be complained about and locals, and tourists. Therefore, at the end of the last century, good-natured piglets had to be sent into exile neighboring island Big Major Cay

I must say that the pigs on the island quickly adapted. Now there are about 20 piglets here, who are absolutely not afraid of either people or boats. Moreover, the pigs are so accustomed to the constant attention of tourists that they literally attack tourist boats, knowing that people always bring something tasty with them.

Food interactions between humans and animals are fairly common. For example, on Monkey Island in Hainan, macaques actively demand goodies from visitors, and for disobedience they can steal some shiny thing from you, from chains to phones.

Why pigs in the Bahamas learned to swim

Actually, pigs are indifferent to swimming, but the inhabitants of the island of pigs are very fond of water procedures. It has developed in piglets over several generations. Pigs on the island began to understand that the sound motor boats portends the appearance of people, which means they will bring various pig goodies. Over time, the pigs, trying to bring the moment of eating sweets closer, began to go deeper and deeper into the water, and so they learned to swim.

Now even little piglets on the island can swim. Hearing the sound of motors, the pigs set sail towards the tourists. Quite often, piglets practically climb into boats and beg for treats from people.

Do not think that only pigs are able to get used to a person and eat practically from his hands. About 750 kilometers southwest of the island of pigs in the Cayman Islands is located Stingray City. Here already graceful and deadly stingrays meet people and beg for a treat in their own way.

The place where you can see piglets is called Pig Beach (in the original Pig Beach). This small sandy strip, about 200 meters long, is located on west coast islands.

Now swimming with dolphins is no surprise. Many sophisticated travelers prefer to swim with pigs in the Bahamas. This is one of the most popular tourist places in the Bahamas.

If you are going to visit the Bahamas, then you should definitely visit Big Major Cay, which is famous for its unusual inhabitants. This island is inhabited by pigs that can swim in the ocean. The life of these pigs in the Bahamas can truly be called paradise. It is not known how the pigs originally came to the island, but they have already been replaced by more than one generation. To get their own food, they had to learn how to swim. Moreover, very small piglets already know how to swim almost from birth. There are no other inhabitants on the island, so only tourists make up the social circle of pigs.

(Photo by Roberto Muoz)

Animals swim with their noses above the water to breathe.

(Photo by Roberto Muoz)

There are about 20 pigs on the island.

(Photo by Roberto Muoz)

They are not shy about asking people for food. People working on the island warn tourists not to feed the pigs with anything, as this can harm them. For those who want to feed them, local bar on the shore provides a service such as the sale of special leftovers that the pigs will enjoy.

There are many legends explaining how the pigs ended up on a deserted island. According to one of them, the pigs were left on the island by some sailors. The sailors were supposed to return and use the pigs for food, but never returned. According to another legend, they survived the shipwreck and were able to swim to the island. There is also a more prosaic version that the pigs were brought to the Bahamas specifically to attract tourists. But where they actually came from on the island remains a mystery...