Staniel Cay Swimming Pigs

Everyone had been talking about the swimming pigs at Staniel Cay for as long as I can remember.  For many, it was the highlight of their trip.  With excitement building, we sailed to Staniel Cay and anchored off of the famed Pigs Beach.  We jumped into our dinghy in anticipation of seeing the adorable swimming pigs.

Only there was a slight problem.  No swimming pigs seen, only tourist filled boats by the dozen speeding past your boat at anchor while headed to Pigs Beach.  Tourist then run quickly to shore and walk among the pigs while feeding them.  In other words, the pigs are smarter than the tourists!  Why swim, when food and tourists will come to you?

Later in the day, Joe took Ethan for a second chance at seeing an actual swimming pig after some boats left.  However, just as he arrived, another large tourist boat arrived, with the tourists running to shore.  A rather large woman in a bikini got out with her hula hoop, and began to perform for the pigs.  It was very bizarre.  Once again, no swimming pigs,

At the anchorage, we were waked by speeding boats every few minutes.  It was uncomfortable, though the tour boats stopped doing this at night.  Heading into Staniel Cay the next morning, we ran into friend boat, Tryst Two, from San Juan Capistrano, CA.  They told us about a good provisioning spot, so off we went. They were moving their boat to a new place since Staniel Cay was such a disappointment.

Groceries in hand, we started motoring back to our boat when two large tourist boats came behind our slow moving dinghy.  It became clear that with their bow raised, they did not see our little dinghy and were about to run us down.  Joe changed course, and the boats did, too.  By this time, Ethan is screaming, and Joe and I were honestly scared.  Joe changed course again, and the boats finally saw us, slowing down.  Near miss averted.

We had one last try to actually see some swimming pigs.  No, most we saw is one ankle deep in the water.  Those pigs are now trained to stay on land to be fed.

By this time, I was ready to get the hell out of that place.  So we pulled up anchor and headed for Bitter Guana Cay, home of the beach iguanas.  Swimming Pigs seen: 0