Big Majors and the Bay of Pigs

We spent several days in the heart of the Exumas at a wonderful anchorage off Staniel Cay called Big Majors Spot. It offered great protection from the wind and waves, as well as an abundance of activities. We started immediately by snorkeling and having a cold beer. Jon helped me replace the propellor zinc, which had eroded and fallen off since Nassau; it took several dives but we finally got it installed.

We next got the dingy in the water and the outboard installed. Everyone was eager to find the pigs on a beach nearby that were rumored to swim out and great visitors. We spotted the beach and saw a few of them strolling the sand. We all boarded the dingy and motored toward the beach. At about 100 yards out one them entered the water and started swimming. It was a fascinating and peculiar sight to behold. We tossed the little fellow a tortilla, but he showed no interest once it hit the salt water. We were so fascinated watching the leader that we didn’t notice the armada approaching from the shore. One in particular, a brown pig with long ears, was a quick and hungry swimmer. Once he arrived at the dingy the entire innocent excursion turned into what Jon called the Bay of Pigs. We drifted to shallow waters at the corner of the beach along a rocky wall as we became encircled by our new friends. For some reason we missed the tip in the guidebook suggesting we get out of the boat early and feed them on land. The brown pig began climbing on the back of the boat, where his hooves scratched away at our inflatable boat; the crew had a mixed reaction of laughter, shock and, let’s just say it, terror. I had shut the motor off as we got into shallow water; i grabbed an oar to push us out, but the paddle came off in the sand. Marilee helped to distract the pigs by shaking the bag of cereal we brought over there heads and into the the air. This further induced the boarding attempts as well as the laughter from Tni and Jon. I raced to get the motor started again. It was propped up so the propellor was now thrusting water into the air, making an enormous amount of noise; there left little doubt at this point: all the boats in the anchorage were now getting a show they could talk about for days. We eventually outran them and made it to deeper water where I could lower the engine. We lured them down the beach so we could race back to get the paddle sticking in the sand.

After making it back to the boat–all of us stunned, amazed and amused at what had just happened–we enjoyed some drinks and lots of laughter. About an hour later we looked over to the beach where young kids were petting and dancing with these ferocious animals who almost sank our dink.