It was a very nice island and the marina was lovely to but we all wanted to see the pigs so that's all we could think about and we could not wait to set off the next morning.
We had a lovely sail to Pig Beach even though the weather was not the best and we had showers all the way but it was the pigs we wanted to see, so the weather did not matter.
In all my life I have never seem such a funny thing a swimming pigs. It's just something I did not expect to see while I was sailing and to get a chance to swim with them and to stroke was amazing. As the weather was not the best there was no tourists around so we got the place to ourselves. If you are ever in the Bahamas then you have to go and see this for yourself as its so much fun and the pigs are very happy too.
You can feed them but you can only feed them in the water so the piglets don't get any food as it might kill them. They are just allowed their mothers milk for now until they get older. Its a great idea as you get to see them swim and if there is any bits left over it just washes out sea. You are only allowed to give them certain foods too and not anything which will affect them at all and at the end of the day they are here to help the locals make some money from the tourists.
There is a few old wife's tale that they were put on the island by a group of sailors to make space on the boat and then they were going to come back to cook them. The sailors never returned but the pigs survived on excess food that was dumped over board by passing ships. Another was they swam to the island after the ship hit the rocks and sank. Even though these are really good stories I think they were put the to help with the tourism as they do attract a lot of people to the beach. About a year ago they disappeared from the island and we were later told that some total prat, who I would to punch, gave them rum as they thought it was funny and they all died. This is why when you see them now they are all tagged and got names. I'm disgusted by humans at times if this is true but again its all gossip and deep down I hope its all lies.
What ever the truth they are here to stay and they will put a lot of smiles on people faces seeing them.
After that we went to a cave called Thunderball Grotto and if you any sort of James Bond fan this was an area it was filmed. Its a small cave been carved out by the sea and it is amazing to swim through, with fish swimming around you and very pretty. There is also a hole at the top of the cave which lets in some amazing light and as we left to go back to the boat we saw someone jumping through the middle of the hole into the cave itself. I looked at Simon and he looked at me and we both said together "We have to do that".
We all had a great nights sleep and a lovely breakfast, we could not wait to to see the pigs again and of course Simon and myself were itching to jump of the top. The weather was a little bit better and more people were around today so we headed out with high hopes of a wonderful day. The
pigs did not let us down at all and if anything they were even better than the 1st day. They were so hungry when we arrive that they nearly got into the dingy for a carrot. I have never laughed so much and they even swimming around the dingy. This was great for me as I had brought my goldfish bowl lense with me to get a half in and half out of the water pictures.
We left the pigs with big smiles on our faces and we were of to Thunderball Grotto for some more fun but just before we got there Kim shouted Stingray and before you could say Stingray again both Simon and myself were in the water swimming beside it. Wow I was blown away.
When we arrived at the grotto, we dropped the anchor and jumped into the water. We swam through the grooves in the rocks and then all of a sudden it opened up into a massive caves with a hole in the top. It was crystal clear and had loads of fish around. It is something I did not expect to be honest and again if you ever get a chance to come here then do as its amazing. After swimming through all the tunnels and caves we had a steep climb to the top and when you get there you kinda wet yourself as its higher than we first thought. I was not going to mess this one up as the hole was not as big either. Its was about 25ft high and all I can say it was a hell of a buzz. Well that's the polite words as there was a few swear ones added into that. It was Simon's turn so I filmed him coming down and I can tell you now it was so funny seeing his face when he surfaced. We looked at each other and giggled like little kids.
This was by far the best day and to make things a little bit better I was starting to feel part of the family which made things for more easier. I felt so comfortable around this family and I know they are very similar to me but when you are in their home you just want to fit in and now I was....
Why not click on this link Sailing Britican and see the video of the swimming pigs. Kim is far better than me for the videos and more consistent too.
