Big Major Cay (Pig Beach)

Big Major Cay is a small uninhabited island in the Exuma Cays Chain, about 200 kilometres southeast of Nassau, covered in Casuarina trees and scrub with a long pale sand beach on its western shore, and it is famous for a population of feral pigs that have lived here for decades with no permanent human inhabitants.

The pigs are not native to the island; historical accounts suggest they were dropped off by passing sailors who intended to return and harvest them, while other accounts suggest they escaped from farms during the colonial period, surviving and thriving in the island's forgiving climate where they learned to find fresh water in the forest and food washed up on the beach.

What makes Big Major Cay unique is not merely the presence of feral pigs but the specific behaviour they have developed; the pigs have learned to swim out to meet arriving boats and yachts, crowding the shallows in anticipation of food dropped by visitors, creating a scene that has become one of the most photographed wildlife encounters in the entire Caribbean.

The spectacle is genuinely unusual and genuinely joyful for most visitors; the pigs are plump and healthy, the water is warm and clear, and the combination of a tropical beach and friendly pigs creates an experience that feels like a once-in-a-lifetime event even though it has become increasingly accessible with the growth of Exuma day-trip tourism.

The ethical dimensions of Pig Beach are worth acknowledging; the pigs have no permanent veterinary care, no regulated feeding schedule and no official management, living as truly feral animals on a uninhabited island with all the attendant uncertainties that entails for their welfare and survival.

The surrounding Exuma Cays include the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, a protected marine area covering approximately 176 square nautical miles that surrounds the cays with pristine reef and kayaking opportunities, making a day at Pig Beach part of a broader Exumas itinerary rather than a destination in isolation.

The Exuma Cays as a whole are one of the least-developed and most beautiful stretches of water in the entire Caribbean; the cays rise dramatically from the shallow turquoise bank on one side and drop away into the dark blue of the open Atlantic on the other, creating one of the most dramatic coastlines visible from a small boat anywhere in the region.

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, established in 1958 and expanded since, covers approximately 176 square nautical miles and protects one of the most pristine marine environments in the Bahamas, with coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove creeks that provide critical habitat for Nassau grouper, sea turtles and dozens of species of reef fish.

Swimming with pigs is a globally unique experience found nowhere else in the world at this scale.

The Exuma Cays are among the most beautiful in the Bahamas, with transparent water, dramatic cays and excellent snorkeling.

The journey through the Exuma Cays by boat or seaplane offers spectacular aerial and sea views of the shallow bank and cays.