Swimming With Pigs, Sharks, Iguanas, and Mermaids

We were so excited to do the full day Swimming with Pigs excursion/tour. 

We booked the excursion through Exuma Water Sports.

This full day tour is way more than just swimming with pigs.

We had 8 stops on our full-day excursion.

Stop 1 was to see and feed the rock iguanas.

Stop 2 was to snorkel at a crashed plane site.

Stop 3 was to snorkel Thunderball Grotto.

Stop 4 was going to pig beach and swimming with the pigs.

Stop 5 was swimming with nurse sharks.

Stop 6 was exploring a beautiful sandbar.

Stop 7 was eating a delicious lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Stop 8 was snorkeling the Musician Mermaid.

Our excursion was supposed to leave from Barratterre Bonefish Lodge and Marina on the north side of Great Exuma.

Due to lots of rain and flooding that week, they moved our launch site to the Emerald Bay Marina.

We got to the Emerald Bay Marina around 8am and checked in.

We got onto our boat and headed to Leaf Cay to see and feed the endangered rock iguanas.

We arrived at Leaf Cay, got out of the boat and got to see and feed the iguanas. Our excursion included the lettuce and grapes that we fed them.

After feeding the iguanas, we got back onto our boat and headed up to Staniel Cay to snorkel around a plane wreck on the southwest side of the island.

After snorkeling around the plane wreck, we headed to the northwest side of Staniel Cay to snorkel Thunderball Grotto.

We went at low tide so it was easy to get into the grotto. When you get in, you look up and see a massive cavern with some holes up top.

There are also a lot of fish and other tunnels to get in and out of the grotto.

After snorkeling at Thunderball Grotto, we got back onto the boat and headed over to Pig Beach to swim with the pigs.

As we pulled up the pigs came from the beach into the water expecting food. 

Our excursion included carrots to feed the pigs. 

We got off the boat and fed them and then went onto the beach to see the other pigs and to hold some baby pigs.

After exploring Pig Beach and swimming with the pigs, we got back onto the boat and headed to Compass Cay to swim with nurse sharks. The landing fee was included in our excursion fees.

After swimming with sharks, we headed to the Little Pipe Cay to explore a beautiful sandbar.

We got out of the boat in really shallow water and went over to the swing. This sandbar was absolutely amazing!

After exploring Little Pipe Cay, we headed back to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a delicious lunch.

We parked the boat and headed to the restaurant. This meal was included with our excursion. We ordered some hamburgers, which were delicious.

After eating we headed out to the pier/dock area. We found some steps that go down to the water and we swam with some more nurse sharks.

After everyone was done with lunch and swimming with sharks, we got back onto the boat and headed to our 8th and last stop.

This was to snorkel the Musician Mermaid. This is a statue of a mermaid sitting by a piano down at Rudder Cut Cay.

This was such a cool snorkeling spot.

After snorkeling the Musician Mermaid, we got back onto the boat and headed back to the marina.

We arrived back at the Emerald Bay Marina around 4:30pm.

So our excursion went from about 8am to 4:30pm.

This full day excursion was expensive, but we felt like it was worth it. We would do this excursion again on our next trip back to the Exumas.

(Click on the map above to go to a Google Maps larger view.)

We booked our trip through ExumaWaterSports.com

The cost when we went was $399 US Dollars per adult and $320 per teenager (13-17). These fees also included the sharks and pigs landing fees. We had a captain and his assistant on our excursion. We tipped them $30 each at the end of the excursion.

Total Cost: $1,661.03 including the tip for 4 people.

The price per person includes:

• Ice cold beer
• Bottled water
• Cokes/Diet Coke
• Children’s juice
• Rum Punch (on board)
• Lunch at The Staniel Cay Yacht Club, with soft drink
• On board snacks
• Snorkeling gear
• Pig Food/Iguana Food
• Landing fees at the Sharks
• Landing fees at Big Major's Cay

Optional: Pickup/return service was available if close by. We were far away and drove ourselves there.

These are the checklist items I recommend:

• Bring a hat to keep the sun off of your face.
• Bring reef-safe sunscreen
• They provide your snorkeling gear. We always bring our own snorkelling gear.
• Bring a breakfast as they don't serve any food till lunch.
• Bring cash for a tip for the crew
• Bring a towel
• Bring sunglasses
• Bring flip flops
• Bring a long sleeve sun shirt if you burn easy.