BS
Exuma
Turquoise cays and the famous swimming pigs
Turquoise cays and the famous swimming pigs
The famous feral pigs of Big Major Cay, who swim out to meet boats in the shallows — the Exumas’ signature sight and an unforgettable, only-in-the-Bahamas photo.
💡 Don’t feed them by hand or in the water — follow your guide’s rules.
At low tide, brilliant white sandbars rise from the shallows — you can walk on sand in the middle of the sea, surrounded by every shade of blue imaginable.
💡 The colours are most surreal on a bright, calm day from above.
Snorkel the crystal water and the marine cave of Thunderball Grotto, a James Bond film location full of bright fish — and swim with nurse sharks at Compass Cay.
💡 Thunderball Grotto is best snorkelled at low, slack tide.
Boat tours, jet skis and charters link the cays — the iguanas of Allen’s Cay, empty beaches and hidden anchorages that most visitors never reach.
💡 A full-day boat tour is the best way to string the highlights together.
Exuma eating is fresh, simple and island-slow. Conch is everywhere — conch salad made to order on the boat or the dock, cracked conch, fritters — alongside fresh-caught grouper, snapper and spiny lobster, with peas ‘n’ rice and johnnycake on the side. In George Town, the hub of Great Exuma, laid-back restaurants and beach bars serve Bahamian plates and rum cocktails, and the legendary Chat ‘N’ Chill on Stocking Island is a boat-up beach bar famous for its Sunday pig roast and fresh conch. Bring cash for the smaller cays, and don’t leave without a Goombay Smash at sunset.
Most visitors reach the Exumas one of two ways: a day trip by fast boat or small plane from Nassau, which covers the pigs, sandbars and snorkelling in one long day, or a stay in Great Exuma, reached by a short domestic flight to George Town. Once there, the islands are linked entirely by boat — local operators and charters run between the cays, and this is the only way to see the uninhabited islands. On Great Exuma itself, taxis and rental cars (driving on the left) cover the main island. There is no public transport between cays, so plan boat trips ahead.
An early boat to Big Major Cay for the swimming pigs, then the nurse sharks at Compass Cay.
Snorkel Thunderball Grotto, then a stop on a bright sandbar for lunch and a swim in the shallows.
The Allen’s Cay iguanas, then conch and a Goombay Smash at Chat ‘N’ Chill on Stocking Island.
They are wild animals — follow your guide, don’t feed them in the water, and keep a respectful distance.
The cays are only reachable by water — book boat tours or charters ahead, especially for a day trip.
The flight from Nassau over the cays is spectacular — a window seat is half the experience.
Smaller cays and beach bars are cash-only — ATMs are limited outside George Town.
Quick answers to the questions travellers most often ask before visiting the Exumas.
On Big Major Cay (Pig Beach) in the Exumas, an uninhabited island where a colony of feral pigs swims out to meet visiting boats. It is reached by boat tour, either on a day trip from Nassau or from Great Exuma.
Either on a day trip by fast boat or small plane from Nassau — covering the pigs, sandbars and snorkelling — or by staying in Great Exuma, reached by a short flight to George Town, and taking boat tours between the cays from there.
See the swimming pigs at Big Major Cay, swim with nurse sharks at Compass Cay, snorkel Thunderball Grotto, walk the turquoise sandbars, visit the Allen’s Cay iguanas, and relax at beach bars like Chat ‘N’ Chill on Stocking Island.
Absolutely — they hold the most spectacular water in the Bahamas, the famous swimming pigs and a string of near-empty cays. Whether as a long day trip from Nassau or a slower island stay, it is the Caribbean at its most dreamlike.
The pastel colonial capital, the turquoise cays and swimming pigs of the Exumas, and the resort beaches of Paradise Island — the essential Bahamas.