Pig Beach, Exuma: how to get there

Pig Beach is the nickname for Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island in the Exuma Cays where a few dozen pigs swim out to meet every boat. There is no ferry, no dock and no hotel: you arrive by boat or not at all. Here is every way in, from Nassau and from inside the Exumas.

From Nassau: by sea or by air

By powerboat, a full day of about 8 to 9 hours from Paradise Island, with roughly two hours of open water each way. Stops usually include Allen's Cay iguanas, the Compass Cay nurse sharks, a sandbar and lunch, with 15 to 30 minutes at each. The Exuma island-hopping tour (4.8 from 679 reviews) and the Aqua Shores all-inclusive run (4.8 from 535) both sell from $439. By plane, the fly-in tour flies about 40 minutes to Staniel Cay and switches to a small boat of around eight guests, from $850. It costs twice as much and spares you four hours of bumpy water.

If you are already in the Exumas

Staying on Great Exuma, you are an hour or so by boat from Big Major Cay. The Exuma Island & Cays Tour leaves from Barraterre with hotel pickup and rates 4.9, from $308. On Staniel Cay itself the pigs are about 10 minutes away, and local boat rentals and guides make it a short morning.

At the beach

Boats anchor a few yards out and the pigs swim to them; you wade in water around knee to waist deep. Feed only in the water and only what the crew hands out: sand swallowed with food thrown on the beach killed several pigs in 2017. Morning visits find the pigs hungriest; by mid-afternoon many are asleep under the trees. Read the rules guide before you go.