Swimming Pigs at No Name Cay [Bahamas]

One of the most popular excursions in the Bahamas currently is seeing the Swimming Pigs. These cute animals first became popular on the inhabited Big Major Cay in Exumas but other islands have bought into their popular draw of tourists. Big Major Cay has unofficially taken the name of Pig Beach but for Swimming Pigs of Abacos on No Name Cay, the locals say Welcome to Piggyville. 

Welcome to Piggyville

Tharon and I have been to No Name Cay to see the pigs two times now. Both times being an eye-opening experience with wonder of how they got there and why is this so fun to see these piggies? Well, it’s really just fun to see these pigs (big and small) on an island all to themselves. That’s seems like a better farm life than any, in my opinion. Also, no one eaten them yet so that’s got to be awesome for them too! Another fascination is their swimming skills. They must be some hungry pigs to want to swim all the way out to boats, can you imagine the first time that happened?

Swimming pigs are really adorable but the piglets are my favorite. Just beware when you feed the pigs because the big ones will grunt and push their way through to beat the little ones to food. Please bring enough scraps for all pigs to enjoy!

 

Conspiracy Theories

So how did these swimming pigs originate? Let’s understand some history and a few of our theories. 

Pig & Chicken Sailor Tattoos

Certain tattoos have different meanings when it comes to sailing and when a person would tattoo a pig and a chicken on the tops of their feet, that stood for safety at sea. Back in the day on large ships, pigs and chickens were carried in wooden crates. In a shipwreck, those crates would often float to shore and crash open with the animals being the only survivors. One theory is that the pigs swam to shore after a shipwreck but I think that maybe that’s is a bit too old fashioned for this tale. 

Swimming Pigs Migration

Once discovered, I think the pigs enjoyed their popularity for a while but some started to swim to other islands looking for a better life or more food. Although it’s a far swim from Exumas, could the pigs make it all the way to the Abacos? Maybe this isn’t the best theory but we even saw a lone pig on Crab Cay, a secluded island a few islands away from No Name Cay. Did he swim that far? Could he swim farther?  Maybe pigs can fly.

Transplanted by Humans

Another thought is that humans put the pigs on the island originally to come back and eat later. Humans thought it be fine to put the pigs on an island only to find out that they could in fact swim away. The pigs could most certainly not escape an island, or could they?

 

However these pigs got on these islands, if you visit the swimming pigs, show respect and keep them safe. They are innocent creatures who were looking for a nice getaway and now have to tolerate tourists for the rest of their existence.

Cheers and thanks for reading!

Interested to learn more about the Bahamas –> Posts about the Bahamas