Nassau

Excursions

Swimming Pigs from Nassau: What You Actually Get on a Cruise Day

Updated September 2026 · By Pierstop

The swimming pigs are the most-searched thing in The Bahamas and the single most misunderstood item on any Nassau itinerary. The photograph everybody has seen — a pig paddling out into impossible turquoise, no buildings anywhere — was taken on Big Major Cay in the Exuma Cays. Sandy Toes' own operator site puts that beach 89 miles / 143 km from Paradise Island, roughly two hours each way on the water.

That distance is the whole story. It means the pigs in the picture are not a cruise-day excursion from Nassau, and it means the pigs you can reach on a port day are different animals, on a different island, 9 km out.

That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason to know which thing you are buying before you pay for it.

Why Exuma Is Not a Port Day

We went through every Exuma-branded pig trip listed in this port, and we shipped none of them. Here is why, honestly.

The genuine Exuma Cays day trips — the ones that really do reach Big Major Cay, usually with the Allen's Cay iguanas and the Compass Cay nurse sharks on the same run — came out at EUR 325 to EUR 750 with review counts between 1 and 47. That is a lot of money against very little social proof, on a trip whose failure mode is a two-hour open-water crossing in weather that turned.

There is a second trap worth naming. The cheapest thing in the port with "Exuma" in its title is not an Exuma trip at all: its own description says it runs to a private island one hour from Nassau. And one well-reviewed Exuma pig listing we checked has quietly become a fly-in beach experience rather than a boat day. Titles drift; the itinerary is what you are buying.

So if the aerial photograph is non-negotiable for you, do Exuma properly on a land holiday, from Great Exuma. If what you want is to be in warm water with a pig swimming at you on the day your ship is in Nassau, read on — that is Rose Island, and it is genuinely good.

Rose Island: Two Completely Different Days

Rose Island lies about 9 km off Nassau, and there are exactly two shapes of pig day available from the port. One moves and one stays put.

	Pig Beach, Turtles & Reef Snorkel	Sandy Toes beach day
Shape of the day	Catamaran hopping three cays	One private beach, all day
From	EUR 126	EUR 217
Duration	About 5.5 hours	6 hours
Rating	4.8 from 1,042 reviews	4.7 from 191 reviews
Time in the water	Most of it — reef, turtles, pigs	Some — guided snorkelling, then sand
Food and drink	Lunch cooked on board, a couple of rum drinks	Bahamian buffet at 1pm, standard drinks open all day
Runs	Check your date	Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun only
Departs from	Check at booking	Paradise Island ferry terminal, 9:30am check-in
Suits	Snorkellers, families, anyone who wants variety	Anyone who wants a lounger, a bar and no more boats

The prices are the lowest listed at the time of writing, in euros; everything you actually pay for ashore in Nassau is quoted in US or Bahamian dollars, which trade one to one.

1. The Catamaran That Hops Cays

Pig Beach, Turtles & Reef Snorkel by Catamaran is from EUR 126 for about 5.5 hours, and at 4.8 from 1,042 reviews it is the most-reviewed high-rated boat day in the port by a wide margin.

It is three stops rather than one. Pearl Island for reef snorkelling, Turtle Cay for sea turtles, and Rose Island for time in the water with the pigs. Lunch is prepared and served on board, the boat is roomy enough to sit in the shade between stops, and a couple of rum drinks are included.

What is not included, and what people wish they had brought: reef shoes, cash for tips, and a dry bag. Nassau's port has free WiFi — the network is "Nassau Cruise Port WiFi" — so save the photos before you are back out of range rather than trusting a hotspot on a cay.

The structural argument for this one is the reason it leads this article. The operator states in writing that the itinerary can be adjusted for weather conditions and pig-beach closures. Read that sentence as what it is: the operator warning you about its own headline stop. On the day that happens, this booking still gives you a reef and a turtle. A single-stop pig product gives you a boat ride.

2. Sandy Toes, the Beach-Club Version

Rose Island Private Beach Day at Sandy Toes is from EUR 217 for 6 hours, rated 4.7 from 191 reviews, and it is the most expensive thing we list in Nassau. It is also the only one that hands you a whole beach.

Twenty-five minutes by double-decker catamaran from Paradise Island gets you to eleven private acres on Rose Island: a hammock garden, a beach bar, guided snorkelling, and the resident swimming pigs — which the operator raised on the island itself. A Bahamian buffet lunch is served at 1pm and standard drinks are open all day. Snorkel gear is included against a refundable USD 10 deposit.

This is the stay-put version. You are not counting stops or drying off between them; you get a lounger, a bar and one set of pigs, for six hours. For a lot of passengers — anyone travelling with a toddler, anyone who hates boats, anyone whose idea of a good day is a hammock — that is worth more than variety.

The Sandy Toes Closure You Have to Check

This is the single most expensive mistake available on this page, so it gets its own heading.

Sandy Toes is closed for its annual fall closure from 21 September 2026 to 12 October 2026. That is the operator's own site-wide notice, on a page last modified 31 August 2026. Today is 9 September 2026, so the shutter comes down in under two weeks.

And outside that window it still does not run every day. The same source says Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday only — no Mondays, no Saturdays.

There is a third detail that catches people who have already paid: check-in is 9:30am at the Paradise Island ferry terminal, not the cruise wharf. You need a taxi over the bridge, and you should leave the ship earlier than the clock suggests. Nassau taxis are zone-priced and never metered — meters were abolished in 2017 — so agree the fare before you get in, and expect about USD 4 per extra passenger beyond two. We are not printing a zone amount, because the current consolidated tariff is not published anywhere we could verify, and neither is the Paradise Island bridge toll. Ask the driver, out loud, before the door closes. The full mechanism is in the Nassau cruise port guide.

The port's own Paradise Island ferry runs every 30 minutes but, by the port's published window, from 09:00 to 12:00 only — which is a strange window for a full port day and not something to build a 9:30 check-in around. Take the taxi.

You come back around 3:45pm, so this is a booking for a ship in port all day, not for a short call.

The Pigs Themselves: Be Honest About What This Is

The pigs on Rose Island are not wild. The Sandy Toes animals were raised on the island by the operator, and every pig you will meet on either trip lives on a beach where boats arrive on a schedule. Calling this wildlife would be flattering ourselves.

That does not make it bad. It makes the rules obvious:

• Do not feed them anything of your own. Not crisps, not fruit from the ship's buffet, not anything that has been in a bag with sunscreen. If the crew hands you food for the pigs, use that.
• Do not lift, ride or carry a pig. They are heavy, they are strong, they bite when frightened, and the photograph is not worth it.
• Stay in the water and let them come to you. A pig swimming towards you because it wants to is the whole experience. A pig cornered on the sand by six people with phones is not.
• Keep small children within arm's reach. A pig that has decided to leave will walk straight through a five-year-old.
• When the crew says that is enough, that is enough.

On the reassuring side: we found no relocation, ban or welfare closure affecting the Rose Island pigs in the 2026 local press. They are operating, and the operator has an obvious commercial interest in animals that look healthy.

Treat the Pig Stop as Likely, Not Guaranteed

Say it once more, because it is the thing most likely to sour your day: the catamaran operator says in writing that the itinerary can be reshuffled for weather or pig-beach closures. Nassau sits in the hurricane belt, June to November, and squalls pass through fast and often.

The practical response is not to cancel. It is to book the day that still works without pigs. The three-cay catamaran is that day — reef, turtles, lunch and a sail — with pigs as the best stop rather than the only one. If you book a pig product and pigs are the only thing on the itinerary, you have bought a single point of failure.

Which One, and How It Fits the Day

Nassau calls run 8 to 11 hours and the ship berths in the middle of the capital, so you are not spending your morning getting out of a container port. Both of these are comfortable on a normal call and neither is comfortable on a short one.

Book the catamaran if you snorkel, if you are travelling with kids who like being wet, if you want the best chance of a good day regardless of what the pigs are doing, or if EUR 126 against EUR 217 matters. It is the higher-rated product and the more-reviewed one.

Book Sandy Toes if you want a beach day with pigs attached rather than a pig day with a beach attached — and if your call is not on a Monday or Saturday, and not between 21 September and 12 October 2026.

Book neither if your ship is in for half a day. Spend it downtown instead; Bay Street starts at the terminal gate. Our verdict on all six bookable Nassau products, including the walking tours that work on a short call, is in are Nassau shore excursions worth it?, and the arrival, walking and currency detail is in the Nassau cruise port guide.

For the pinned map of what is within walking distance of the wharf, open the Nassau port guide. To settle the boat before you sail, browse the hand-picked Nassau shore excursions.

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them, Pierstop earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only link to services we genuinely recommend. Prices are the lowest listed at the time of writing and are subject to change — always confirm directly with the operator before your visit.