3.2kMeet the pigs without losing your day in port. Half day swim with pigs Nassau trips run 3 to 4 hours - a 25-minute speedboat ride to Rose Island, knee-deep water with the pigs, reef snorkeling, turtles, and a beach lunch, with you back at the dock with hours to spare.
pigs swim out hungry in the morning
A half day is enough to swim with the pigs near Nassau, and the choice comes down to how many stops you want. Express boats run straight to a pig beach in under three hours. Multi-stop tours add reef snorkeling, sea turtles and a beach club lunch within four hours. Private charters let a group set the pace.
You want three island stops and a beach club lunchNassau: Pigs, Snorkel, Turtles, Lunch, Private Beach ClubA powerboat runs three stops: snorkeling the reef between Pearl and Rose Island, turtles at Green Cay, then a private Rose Island beach club with lunch.From $125 
You want the pigs only, then a free afternoonSwimming Pigs Express Tour, 2 Islands, Under 3 HoursThe express run reaches two islands in under three hours, so you feed the pigs, take photos and still have most of your day left.From $63 
You want the whole boat to yourselvesNassau: Private Swim with Pigs and Snorkeling AdventureA private speedboat tailors the route to your group: Pig Beach, a coral reef snorkel and a swim with green sea turtles.From $850 /group 
You want an unhurried day with several departure timesNassau: Half-Day Swimming Pigs, Reef Snorkel & Beach ClubMultiple daily departure times fit cruise schedules, and the pace stays relaxed from reef snorkel to pigs to beach club.From $198 book a morning slot, pigs are hungriest then
Answer a few quick questions and the finder picks the tour that matches your day.
Your best matchPopular with families with kids or teens.
Three stops in four hours, with a private beach club lunch and turtles at Green Cay.
Your best matchPopular with families with kids or teens.
Runs as a 2.5-hour express version when your port time is tight.
Your best matchPopular with families with kids or teens.
The simplest way out: a water taxi to the pigs, food not included.
Your best matchPopular with families with kids or teens.
A three-island loop past the Atlantis tunnel, with GoPro and drone on request.
Your best matchA private boat for your group, all-inclusive with rum punch and two reef stops.
Your best matchPopular with families with kids or teens. 93% of them gave it 4 or 5 stars.
Optional hotel and cruise port pickup plus paddleboards at the beach club.
Your best matchA relaxed pace with multiple daily departures timed around cruise schedules.
Your best matchA private speedboat just for your group, with pigs, reefs and green turtles.
Nassau: Pigs, Snorkel, Turtles, Lunch, Private Beach ClubFrom $125 /personNassau: Swimming Pigs and Snorkel Tour w/ Lunch & Beach ClubFrom $140 /personNassau: Swimming Pigs of Rose Island Water TaxiFrom $89 /personNassau: Rose 3-Island Tour with Snorkeling and LunchFrom $175 /personNassau: 4-Island Boat Trip with Swimming Pigs & Sea TurtlesFrom $1,450 /groupNassau: Swimming Pigs and Private Beach Club Trip with LunchFrom $139 /personNassau: Half-Day Swimming Pigs, Reef Snorkel & Beach ClubFrom $198 /personNassau: Private Swim with Pigs and Snorkeling AdventureFrom $850 /groupRead the health and age notes on the tour you are considering before booking, and if a condition applies to someone in your group, pick a calmer water taxi trip instead of a fast powerboat.
morning boats get the hungriest pigs
pigs paddle out when boats arrive
The pigs come first for most people, and they show up early in the day. Pigs on the cays near Nassau are domesticated animals brought over in the late 2010s, kept by caretakers and released onto the beach in timed stretches when boats arrive.
You meet them standing in waist-deep water, feed from apple skewers the crew hands out, and watch a few of the larger ones paddle out toward the boat.
A four-hour route like the one below adds snorkeling over a reef and turtle watching at Green Cay before you settle at a private beach club on Rose Island for lunch, hammocks, and beach time. Most tours carry gear, snacks, and drinks on board, so the day runs without extra purchases.
morning slots mean hungrier pigs
Green marks the lowest price. Each price says whether it is per person or per group.
crew airdrops photos after the trip
So much fun! My whole group would do it again.
Fun day! Mansa Bay is perfect for swimming. The pigs were so cute, not aggressive at all, and we held a baby pig! Nice lunch choices, good snorkeling, well organized crew.
One of my best excursions ever! Keenan and his assistant were professional and fun. Lots of fish and turtles, and the pig beach was so clean and well maintained.
Super event. Pleasant boat ride to Rose Island with guide commentary, then fed the pigs, crowded water but still so fun. Island had free WiFi, kayaks, snorkeling, and water trampolines.
Our best holiday experience - we did it twice! Once for pigs, once with the drinks option.
Great captain and crew, spontaneous, flexible, super nice! Saw stingrays, turtles, and a thousand reef fish, visited a lonely island, and drank lovely Bahama Mamas. Five stars!
Even with colder water, a highlight of my Nassau trip. My boyfriend and I snorkeled with turtles, it was amazing. Great drinks and food, and Cam made it special.
Most reviewers praise the boat crews by name, saying the guides kept the ride fun and helped at every stop.
Many reviewers did not expect the snorkeling to be a highlight, swimming with turtles and schools of tropical fish.
Several reviewers wished they could swim with the turtles instead of watching them from the boat.
morning pigs swim out, afternoon pigs nap
Choose a date first, then a morning or afternoon departure. On a typical 8 am to 4:30 pm cruise call, a 4-hour tour starting at 8:30 am or 9 am is back at the pier by 12:30 pm or 1 pm, leaving hours of buffer before all-aboard.
Most tours offer one standard option, and a few add a private or extended version. One tour includes optional roundtrip transportation from hotels and the cruise port. Check which option fits your group size before you pay.
After payment, a confirmation arrives by email with your booking details. The tours on this page let you cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund, and bad weather cancellations bring a full refund or a reschedule.
Your voucher shows the meeting point. Downtown docks sit along Woodes Rodgers Walk right outside the cruise gates, a 1-minute walk, with other spots a 4-minute walk west by the Señor Frog's waterfront entrance or a 5-minute walk east at Elizabeth on Bay. Some tours board farther east or across the harbor, which means a short taxi.
Get to the dock 15 to 20 minutes before departure so check-in and the waiver never hold you up. On a 4-hour tour you get 20 to 30 minutes of speedboat each way and 1.5 to 3 hours on the island, with the pig encounter in shallow water.
pigs come out for 15 to 30 minutes when boats land
Independent boats carry no ship-delay protection, and the ship sails on time without you. On a typical port day, a 4-hour tour starting between 8:30 am and 9 am docks back around 12:30 pm to 1 pm, leaving close to three hours before all-aboard. A 1 pm start leaves no slack at all, so take a morning slot if a ship sets your deadline.
The run to Rose Island or the nearby cays takes 20 to 30 minutes each way, sometimes up to 35 depending on your dock and the sea. The rest of the half day goes to the island, where tours schedule 1.5 to 3 hours for the pigs, lunch and the beach.
Four hours comfortably fits three stops: about 20 minutes at the turtle spot, 45 minutes of reef snorkeling, and up to two hours at the beach club with the pigs. Trips that cram in more than that squeeze the pig encounter down to 10 or 15 minutes and it shows.
Expect a structured session of 20 to 30 minutes in the water feeding and playing with the pigs, with the rest of your island hours free for the beach club and lunch. Morning tours catch the pigs hungry and swimming out to the boats; by afternoon they are full and tend to lounge in the shade.
Feed the pigs only what the crew hands out, usually apple slices or skewered snacks, and hold the skewer out to the side so fingers stay clear. Raise both hands when you walk near the pigs so they can see you have nothing to eat.
Pigs do their business in the shallow water where everyone stands, so expect some floating matter and keep your head above the surface. Cover any cuts before you wade, avoid swallowing seawater, and rinse off with fresh water once you are back on the beach.
Tips usually stay outside the tour price, so bring cash for the captain and crew. Around 10 to 15 percent of the fare, or a few dollars per person on a group boat, is the custom. US and Bahamian dollars work equally well.
On a fast powerboat the bow takes the hardest pounding when the water chops up. Grab a seat low and toward the middle or back if you would rather have a smoother ride.
You can cancel up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund. Weather that cancels the boat earns you a refund or a reschedule, so a rough day costs you nothing but a change of plans.
Book a couple of weeks out if you travel between December and April. Peak dates, especially March and spring break, sell out 4 to 6 weeks ahead.
Nearly every operator excludes pregnant travelers, and several speedboats also rule out people with back or heart problems, young children under 3, and guests over 70. A few tours list non-swimmers as unsuitable too. If any of these applies to someone in your group, confirm before you book.
Pack light and keep it to the basics:
three stops max on four hours
The pig beach on Rose Island sits 25 to 30 minutes from Nassau Harbour, close enough for a cruise port call. Four hours hold a pig swim, a reef and lunch, and a morning boat returns with hours to spare before all-aboard.
Take a morning boat, ideally leaving between 8:00 and 9:30 am: the pigs are hungriest then, and a four-hour tour is back at the dock by about 1 pm, close to three hours before a typical 4:30 pm all-aboard.
Expect three stops at most: roughly 20 minutes with turtles, 45 minutes of reef snorkeling, and up to two hours of beach club and pigs.
Pack a towel, water shoes and a dry pouch, because the boats supply the gear but never the towels.
Rose Island is the reason a port call can hold a pig swim. It sits a 20 to 30 minute speedboat run east of Nassau Harbour, over sheltered turquoise water, so the crossing never becomes the day.
The Exuma pigs play by different rules. Big Major Cay lies more than 80 miles southeast, a two-to-three-hour open-ocean crossing each way, which turns the visit into a six-to-nine-hour day. Beach time with the original herd runs 15 to 40 minutes.
Against that, the half day reads well for a cruise schedule: 30 to 60 minutes with the pigs, a couple of hours of beach club, snorkeling and lunch, and a dock return by early afternoon.
The two pig-time figures measure different things. The wider count covers every minute with the animals across a tour; the 20 to 30 minute session is the timed slot for one boat arrival, since the pigs come to the beach in shifts.
The morning version of a four-hour tour is back between 12:30 pm and 1 pm, hours before all-aboard.
A short walk from the cruise terminal gates
20 to 30 minutes over sheltered water
A structured 20 to 30 minutes with feed provided
Stop order shifts with wind and sea
Hours left before a typical all-aboard
Travelers who want the shortest version take the Swimming Pigs Express Tour, 2 Islands, Under 3 Hours, which pairs the pig swim with a private island beach and still leaves the afternoon free.
Three stops is the honest ceiling for four hours on the water. Schedules that add a fourth compress the water time and the pig encounter down to 10 or 15 minutes each, and that is the trip people describe as rushed.
The usual order runs turtle watching first, about 20 minutes off Green Cay, where 15 to 30 juvenile green and hawksbill turtles graze the seagrass in water calm enough to watch from the boat.
Next comes roughly 45 minutes of reef snorkeling over the shallows off western Rose Island, where the Mahoney shipwreck sits, and moray eels, yellowtail snappers, queen angelfish and southern stingrays gather along the reef bar.
Turtles and a reef around the pig stop give the outing its full shape, and the long beach club stop carries the rest: up to two hours for lunch, loungers and time in the water with the animals.
The pigs come out in shifts. On Rose Island and the nearby cays these are domestic animals, kept in shaded paddocks and released onto the beach in intervals of 15 to 30 minutes, each shift lasting about 20 minutes of feeding before they head back inland.
The water stays shallow. Most encounters happen in ankle- to waist-deep water you can stand in, and swimming skills never come into play. A few of the larger pigs paddle out to the hull; the rest wait near the sand.
The crew supplies the feed, sliced apples on skewers or skewered hot dogs, held out to the side so no hand gets mistaken for lunch. Show open, raised palms when a pig approaches with expectations, and it moves along.
Caretakers feed them and a vet checks them over, and they come to the beach only when boats arrive
Pigs eat only the apples and skewers handlers hand out, never visitor snacks
A pig that sees raised open palms loses interest fast
Pigs take to salt water naturally. They hold their heads high, keep their nostrils clear, and cool off by wallowing because they have no sweat glands; on hot days they dust themselves with sand as a homemade sunscreen. Anyone who would rather stay dry can watch the whole thing from the beach.
Mornings belong to the pigs. Boats leaving between 8:00 and 9:30 am meet animals that are hungry and eager, swimming out to the hulls before the day's feed runs, and the shallows are cleaner before repeated visits stir them up. The trade is crowds, since morning matches the peak of boat traffic.
Active, hungry pigs eager to swim, alongside peak crowd levels.
Pigs reach full stomachs and retreat to shade during peak hours.
Substantially smaller crowds and open beaches, though pigs are sleepier.
Afternoons run the other way. By 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm the pigs are fed full and dozing in the shade, while the beaches empty out as the midday cruise crowds clear. Late departures sometimes catch the quietest water of the day for people, if not for pigs.
Season decides how early to book. From December through April, half day swim tours out of Nassau sell out 2 to 4 weeks ahead, and spring break dates go 4 to 6 weeks out.
March is the peak season for tours, pairing warm 26°C air with ocean temperatures around 24°C (75°F).
Tap a month to read it.
July: 5 out of 5 for water temperature. 29.5°C (85.1°F)
Tap a month to read it.
August has steady bookings with Nassau's warmest waters reaching over 30°C (86°F) and occasional rain.
Tap a month to read it.
October remains quiet on tours as waters begin cooling to 28.5°C (83°F) with occasional autumn wind.
Tap a month to read it.
June brings lower crowds and warmer 28°C (83°F) waters alongside more frequent afternoon showers.
Tap a month to read it.
The month shifts the water too. Winter runs coolest in January and February, spring brings the thickest crowds, and the warmest, calmest swimming stretches from May into September.
Two shapes of half day leave the docks. An express water taxi runs straight to the pig beach and covers little more than the crossing, the entry and the guide. A combo tour stitches the pigs to reef snorkeling, a turtle stop and a beach club with lunch and drinks.
| Express water taxi | Multi-stop combo | |
|---|---|---|
| Transit | One direct run to the pig beach | 20 to 30 minutes to the first of several stops |
| Included | Crossing, pig beach entry and guide | Snorkeling, turtles, lunch, drinks and beach club access |
| Time with the pigs | The whole visit built around one beach | A 20 to 30 minute session plus beach club hours |
| Suits best | Pig-and-beach purists on a tight clock | Active groups who want more than one memory from the day |
The combo suits restless groups and value seekers. The Nassau: Half-Day Swimming Pigs, Reef Snorkel & Beach Club tour runs four hours across three stops and finishes at a private beach club with a Bahamian lunch and loungers facing open water.
The express format suits travelers who will eat before and after the boat and want nothing but the pigs.
One more thing worth knowing: Rose Island trips use private beach club stretches set away from the public shoreline, with restrooms, beach chairs and hammocks between the palms. Drinks at the island bar usually cost extra.
Some docks sit practically at the cruise gates. Boarding along Woodes Rodgers Walk is a one-minute walk from the terminal exit, the excursion piers by the waterfront restaurants run four to five minutes, and the Elizabeth on Bay docks sit five minutes east along East Bay Street.
Marinas farther out change the math. Departures across the harbour need a 7 to 10 minute taxi over the bridge, about 2.5 km, because walking the high footpath takes roughly 30 minutes and the harbour water taxis run on schedules too irregular to trust with a morning boat.
Keep your cruise SeaPass card in a pocket you can reach. The gates out of the terminal need nothing special, but returning passengers show the card at the security desk before re-boarding the ship.
Towels are the classic miss. The boats supply snorkel gear and life jackets, and the towel is on you, which matters more than it sounds after a wet snorkel stop and a breezy run home.
Water shoes earn their place twice, first against rocky shore edges and again against the heavy hooves of animals that outweigh you. A waterproof pouch keeps the phone alive for in-water photos.
From December to March, when highs sit at 25°C to 26°C and the boat spray carries a chill, a dry layer for the ride home is worth the space in the bag.
Bring cash as well. A tip of 10 to 15 percent for the captain and crew is the custom at the end of the trip, paid in cash, and US and Bahamian dollars pass at par.
The island beach bar takes cash for drinks, and some tours ask for a signed waiver at check-in, so arrive a few minutes early.
The shallows are working water, and it helps to arrive knowing that. Pigs do what pigs do in the same ankle-deep water everyone stands in, attendants net floating waste through the day, and social media rarely mentions the cloudiness. Keep your head above the surface and skip the underwater swimming near the pigs.
For a healthy adult on a well-run trip, the risk sits about level with any close contact with animals. Keep cuts out of the water entirely, avoid swallowing any, and rinse off and wash your hands before eating.
Nudges and trotter scratches happen. Bites that break skin stay uncommon, and a pig bite calls for emergency care, so give the big animals room.
Super event. Pleasant boat ride to Rose Island with guide commentary, then fed the pigs, crowded water but still so fun. Island had free WiFi, kayaks, snorkeling, and water trampolines.
First-timers tell the same story: water less than postcard-clear, piglets squealing, and kids too busy laughing to notice. A rash guard or one-piece swimsuit saves skin if a pig snaps at a snack.
Wind writes the schedule. Above 15 knots the crossing to Rose Island turns choppy and operators start dropping the snorkel stop; beyond 20 knots, or with winter seas of 6 to 8 feet, crossings get shortened or called off. A weather cancellation means a full refund or a rebooked date.
| If this happens | What happens then |
|---|---|
| High wind or rough seas cancel the boat | A full refund or a new date |
| Winds over 15 knots | The snorkeling stop comes off the itinerary |
| The trip is called off for too few bookings | A full refund comes through |
| Your ship docks behind schedule | The crew holds departure where they can |
The clock matters as much as the sky. On a typical 8 am to 4:30 pm port call, a four-hour tour leaving at 8:30 or 9 am is back between 12:30 pm and 1 pm, close to three hours of slack before all-aboard.
The same tour starting at 1 pm leaves none. Crews hold departure for late-arriving ships where they can, but an independent booking carries no protection if you miss the deadline.
Keep at least 45 minutes to an hour between your return to the harbour and the ship's cutoff. That absorbs harbour congestion and the walk back through the terminal.
Almost every operator running pig boats out of Nassau rules out pregnancy, and back, heart and mobility conditions keep many passengers ashore as well. Some tours stop at children under 3 and travelers over 70. Each operator sets its own minimum age, so read the limits when you book, long before you reach the dock.
The shallows make non-swimmers a non-issue on most trips: life jackets come standard and the pig encounter happens on foot in ankle-deep shallows. Children need closer watching.
A toddler at knee height meets pigs that outweigh them at eye level, so hold the little ones during feeding and keep them on the sand while the food comes out. One tour waives the fare for children 3 and under; others charge the same fare at any age.
Never pick up or handle the piglets. Sows charge and bite to defend them, and standing between a mother and her litter is the mistake that ends days early. Staff hand out the feed and hold piglets for photos, which keeps small hands out of the job.
Families with mixed ages do well on the Nassau: Swimming Pigs and Snorkel Tour w/ Lunch & Beach Club, which runs 2.5 to 4 hours with cruise port pickup, calmer water and beach games between swims.
Back at the dock by early afternoon, the city takes over.
The Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle sit a 15-to-20-minute walk from the harbour and take 20 to 45 minutes to see, the Straw Market and Parliament Square fill an idle hour, and the Pirates of Nassau Museum and the National Art Gallery cover the ground on a wet afternoon.
Eating is the easiest part. The Arawak Cay Fish Fry and Junkanoo Beach sit just west of downtown for fried fish and cold drinks, conch salad stalls line Potter's Cay under the bridge, and waterfront restaurants run the length of Bay Street.
A half day swim with the pigs, followed by any of that, turns a port call into a full day.
A half day here is the right trade for a port call: 20 to 30 minutes of transit each way, an hour or more of beach, and 30 to 60 minutes with pigs that paddle out to meet the boat.
Book a morning slot in season, arrive with a towel and water shoes, and keep a clear hour of buffer before all-aboard. The rest of the day stays yours.
bring a towel, no boat supplies them
Short answers to the questions people ask before booking a half-day pig trip.
Nassau2026Book a morning slot and you have plenty of slack. On a typical port call, a 4-hour tour leaving between 8:30 am and 9 am returns downtown by about 1 pm, which leaves roughly three hours before all-aboard. The same tour starting at 1 pm leaves no slack at all.
The speedboat crossing to Rose Island and the nearby cays takes 20 to 30 minutes each way, sometimes up to 35 depending on the dock and the sea. Once you arrive, tours schedule between 1.5 and 3 hours on the island for the pigs, lunch, and beach time.
Morning pigs are hungry and swim out to greet the boats, though you share the beach with more tour groups. By afternoon the pigs are full and prefer lounging in the shade, while the beaches and boat traffic thin out noticeably.
Three stops sit comfortably in a 4-hour window: about 20 minutes watching turtles at Green Cay, roughly 45 minutes snorkeling the reef, and up to two hours at the beach club. Tours that squeeze in more stops tend to trim the pig encounter down to 10 or 15 minutes.
The Rose Island pigs are domesticated animals brought to the cays for tourism, kept in pens inland and brought to the beach in timed stretches of 15 to 30 minutes when boats arrive. Caretakers feed them and a licensed Bahamian veterinarian checks on them regularly.
Guides hand out the feed themselves, usually sliced apples or skewered hot dogs, and ask that pigs eat only what the crew provides. Keep your own snacks stowed; a pig that spots food in an open hand tends to come looking for it.
Pigs do their business in the shallows where everyone stands, so expect some floating matter and cloudier water than the postcard reefs. Keep your head above water, skip swallowing any, and rinse off with fresh water and wash your hands before eating. Attendants also scoop droppings out with nets through the day.
For a healthy adult on a reputable tour, the risk is about the same as any close contact with large animals.
Expect the odd nudge or a wobble in knee-deep water; bites that break the skin are uncommon. Skip the encounter if you have open cuts, and keep small children held or on the sand while feeding happens.
High winds or rough seas can force a cancellation, and in that case operators give you a full refund or move you to another day. Winter cold fronts roll through every few days from December to March, so leave a little flexibility in your plans during those months.
A morning tour back by early afternoon still leaves time for the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle, the Straw Market, or the Fish Fry at Arawak Cay, all within a 15- to 20-minute walk or short ride of downtown. Waterfront restaurants along Bay Street sit close to the return docks.
Back by early afternoon, you can walk 15 to 20 minutes from the harbour to the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle, browse the Straw Market, or head to Junkanoo Beach and the Arawak Cay Fish Fry for conch dishes.
morning boats get the hungriest pigs
Every cay in the Bahamas where pigs swim, and how Rose Island stacks up against the rest of them.
The full picture of Big Major Cay, the original herd, and why reaching it takes a whole day instead of half.
A closer look at Rose Island beach clubs and what a full pig day there looks like beyond your boat trip.
Which pig beach near Nassau fits your schedule best, from Athol Island to Pearl Island.
What a half-day pig trip really runs in Nassau, and the cheaper ways to get on the water.
eat breakfast before you board
Book this four-hour trip with three stops, a reef snorkel, Green Cay turtles and a private beach club on Rose Island. Cancel up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund.
