Swimming With Pigs
August 27, 2020
By: Juli Russ
Would you like to experience a unique, hands on excursion on your next Royal Caribbean cruise? Look no further than Swimming with Pigs! This excursion is available when your ship is docked at Royal Caribbean’s private island, CoCo Cay.
Several boats leave CoCo Cay and zoom across the Caribbean to a privately-owned island which is currently inhabited by 200 pigs. Six years ago, 18 pigs were saved from a slaughterhouse in Nassau and brought to the island. They have enjoyed their new home and the visitors who come to see them.
When the boats dock on the beach everyone is led to a deck for instruction and an introduction to the pigs. The pigs have been trained to sit, come, stay, and to do tricks. Each pig also has a name like: Kevin Bacon, Tarzham, and Vivian. After the guides introduce the pigs and give instructions, the group is led down to the beach to interact with the pigs.
The pigs are trained with pieces of apples, they love the apples! The guides stand in the water with buckets of apples and skewers to hand to the guests. The pigs will follow the guests to get the apples. Some pigs like to swim more than others! Some of the pigs really just want the apples, but some will follow and swim as far out as you would like to go. The guides encourage the guests to make the pigs swim because they need the exercise.
It was fun to get to know the pigs a little and learn their personalities. One of our favorite pigs, Michelle Obhama, would swim with us and nudge our hands to get the apples. No matter how far we went into the ocean she would come along. Kevin Bacon on the other hand wanted to stay as close to shore and just eat the apples. Our very favorite was a piglet named Tarzham! My daughter wanted to bring him home with us.
Now, one thing to know is that the pigs are eating A LOT of apples. What goes in must come out and there is “applesauce” as the guides call it floating in the ocean. The guides do have nets to pick up the poop and get it out of the swimming area. The pigs can get a little aggressive at times, primarily when going after the same apples. They do respond to being told “NO”, they are very similar to dogs and did listen very well. The guides are always close by to defuse the situation.
We had a great time swimming with the pigs. It is probably the most fun we have had on an excursion. If you are looking for something a little different I would definitely recommend swimming with the pigs. I’d love to tell you more about this excursion and any of the other excursions available on your next Royal Caribbean cruise. Contact me, julir@wishesfamilytravel.com or follow me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jruss.wft/ , Instagram https://www.instagram.com/travel.with.juli/ , or Twitter https://twitter.com/juliruss.