Big Major Spot Cay Bahamas

A bit lumpy in Exuma Sound.  Note the colour change where the depth increases sharply from 10 to 20m

It was blowing quite hard from the north when we got up on Thursday 28 March.  The anchorage behind Hog Cay was still very sheltered but Exuma Sound was pretty bumpy and lumpy.  We had a good sail, 8nm or so downwind, under a reefed genoa to Conch Cut (the southernmost point of the Exuma Land and Sea Park) before motoring west through the cut to the Grand Bahamas Bank side of the cays.

Flat turquoise seas and a brisk warm breeze, perfect sailing conditions on the Grand Bahamas Bank

Here the water was flat though the wind was still brisk and we enjoyed perfect Bahamian sailing across smooth turquiose seas, south to Big Majors Spot.

Working our way into the anchorage at Big Majors Spot

Big Majors Spot and the swimming pig beach

Four hours of fun sailing after getting the anchor up at Hog Cay we had the engine on again to work our way into a suitable space at Big Majors Spot.  The anchorage was fiendishly busy with superyachts and ‘normal’ yachts; almost all types of boat were represented, except for deep draft sailing superyachts, it’s just a bit too shallow for them.  We would say that it’s all about the beach and the pigs that live there but on the day we visited, with strong northeasterly winds forecast for the next couple of days, it was a lot about the excellent shelter in the bay too.

The famous swimming pigs ashore

After lunch we took a trip ashore in the dinghy to see the swimming pigs.  They are, apparently, wild pigs but they all have numbers and names, there are a couple of shelters where they can sleep and a wooden gazebo with information boards about them and how they are looked after.  So, whilst they’re not owned by anyone and are free to wander where they will, they are inoculated and cared for if they are sick – free-range really more than wild.

Nevertheless, they are great fun and we had a thoroughly enjoyable hour or so with them, though keeping them from investigating all the stuff in the dinghy was surprisingly hard work!

The wind was still brisk and there was a reasonable amount of cloud cover so neither we nor they were much inclined to get in the water (to Nicky and me the Bahamian seas still felt quite cool at 24degC versus the balmy 28degC further south in Cuba).

And, in their eyes, we were a bit boring having brought no tasty morsels for them but we enjoyed pottering on the beach….

….and watching the baby piglets and their mothers in one of the shelters.

Tripper boats visiting the pigs. To see the pigs swim you need to stay afloat and then they are very keen to come out for tit-bits.  Note the issued white latex gloves for the punters and the gulls trying to get a look-in too

When the first of several tripper boats arrived, the pigs were delighted and rushed out en masse to welcome the visitors and to vie for the proffered vegetable snacks.

Swimming (and eating) session – GO!

Though the boats came in close enough for many of the pigs to just wade out, or only have to swim a short distance, they would quite often swim a circuitous route back to the shore from the tripper boats proving that they are pretty good swimmers and that they seem to enjoy swimming too.

The gulls also enjoyed all the freebies on offer

Nicky (top right) and Nici (bottom) with the pigs

Take my picture, please, please! Or, more likely, feed me, feed me, please please!

US Coastguard flypast

Part way through the afternoon we had a flypast from a US Coastguard helicopter.

Cool in the breeze with woolly hat under faithful Tilley and a windproof
jacket too! (must be getting soft)

To finish off the afternoon we took the dinghy to the northeast corner of the bay where there is a small coral reef and a number of coral heads and spent a while snorkelling around them, enjoying the fish and other wildlife.  Rather as at Lobster Cay, the snorkelling was somewhat disappointing in comparison to places we have been in Cuba, the Turks and Caicos and some areas of the Eastern Caribbean but there was a reasonable number of small reef fish, some of them with really good colours, so it was very much a worthwhile stop, particularly for Nici and Strevs.  But as you can tell from the picture, it was quite cool in the breeze – I certainly hadn’t expected to be wearing a woolly hat in the Bahamas!!

Big Major Spot Cay, Bahamas