The best days here all start at a dock.
Which pig boat is worth the money. Whether the Exumas justify a whole day and four hundred dollars. Reviews of every tour you can book in the Bahamas.
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02
03The pig boat, the town walk, a beach club and the run south.
Four bookings a first trip here tends to hang off. What each one costs, and what the people who went say about it.
01The full boat day3 Islands Tour, Snorkel, Pig Beach, Turtles & LunchThree cays in one run: pigs at the first stop, green turtles at the next, a reef and lunch after. This is the day most people mean when they say they went to the Bahamas.
02The town half-dayBites of Nassau Food and Walking TourConch, guava duff and rum cake through the lanes behind Bay Street. Two hours on foot, and the most popular booking on the island.
03The beach daySwimming Pigs and Private Beach Club EscapePigs first, then a lounger at a private club with the harbour in front of you. The version for people who would rather not spend a whole day at sea.
04The long run southOriginal Exuma Powerboat AdventuresTwo hours by powerboat to the Exuma cays for the original pigs, the nurse sharks at Compass Cay and a sandbar that is only there at low tide.
Rose Island, Pearl Island or the Exumas. The difference is two hours and three hundred dollars.
The swimming pigs are why most people get on a boat here, and where you meet them decides the shape of the whole day. Twenty minutes out of the harbour, an hour, or the long run south to the cay they came from.
Six ways to spend a day out of Nassau.
Pigs, reef, a lounger, a plate of cracked conch, a quad bike on the ridge road. Pick the shape of the day first, then pick the boat.
Nassau sits on a bank where the sea rarely gets deeper than a house.
That is the whole reason snorkeling here is so easy. Reef heads in ten feet of water, green turtles that come to the boat, a wreck sitting upright on white sand, and a clear-hulled kayak for anyone who would rather stay dry.
The Bahamas trips more people book than any other.
Every Bahamas review →The most popular days out on the island, and what earns each one its place.
1
Bites of Nassau Food and Walking Tour
Taste Bahamian soul food, conch fritters, rum cocktails, and local history on a small-group walking tour through downtown Nassau.
From $99
Read our review →
2
3 Islands Tour, Snorkel, Pig Beach, Turtles & Lunch
from $136
3
Nassau Island Highlights Sightseeing Tour
from $80
4
Pirate Jeep Sightseeing Adventure!
from $165
5
Swimming Pigs and Private Beach Club Escape
from $149
6
Sandy Toes The Original Rose Island and Swimming Pigs Tour
from $258
7
Pigs, Snorkel, Turtles, Lunch, Private Beach Club
from $139
8
Rum Tasting and Food Walking Tour in Nassau Bahamas
from $98
The Exumas are where the swimming pigs actually live.
Big Major Cay is two hours south of Nassau by powerboat and forty minutes by light aircraft. You get the original pigs, the nurse sharks at Compass Cay, an iguana beach and a sandbar that only exists at low tide. It costs what a whole day costs.
Every Exuma day →
What a day out in the Bahamas actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The gap between a harbour beach day and a run down to the Exumas is wider than most people expect before they book.
Town walks, beach day passes, jet skis and the short hop out to Rose Island.
The standard boat day: pigs, turtles, a reef stop and lunch on a private cay.
The Exuma runs, private charters and the fly-in days.
Three things that only happen in the Bahamas.
Beaches and reef exist all over the Caribbean. Pigs that swim out to meet a boat, turtles grazing in water you can stand up in, and a kayak you can see the bottom through do not.
The Swimming Pigs
Nobody agrees on how pigs reached an uninhabited cay in the Exumas. The stories run from a shipwreck to a sailor who left them there to fatten and never came back for them. What is certain is that they learned boats mean food, and now they swim out to meet them. A second, much closer colony lives off Rose Island, and it is the one almost every Nassau day trip uses.
- 13 Islands Tour, Snorkel, Pig Beach, Turtles & Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 2,585 reviews
- 2Swimming Pigs and Private Beach Club Escape★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,238 reviews
- 3Sandy Toes The Original Rose Island and Swimming Pigs Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,232 reviews
The Turtles
Green turtles feed on the seagrass here in water you can stand up in, which is why a turtle stop sits on almost every three-cay boat trip out of Nassau. They are wild animals that have simply got used to boats, so the rules are the same on every operator: no touching the shell, no chasing, keep your fins clear. Morning departures tend to find them feeding.
- 13 Islands Tour, Snorkel, Pig Beach, Turtles & Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 2,585 reviews
- 2Pigs, Snorkel, Turtles, Lunch, Private Beach Club★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,116 reviews
- 3Snorkeling, Pig Beach, Swim with Turtles, and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 790 reviews
The Clear Kayaks
White sand bottom under two feet of water is the one combination where a transparent hull is worth anything at all, and the flats east of Nassau are exactly that. Operators run these with a drone overhead for the photograph, and the whole thing takes about an hour. It is the cheapest way to come home with the picture.
- 1Clear Kayak Photoshoot in Nassau ,Bahamas.★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 168 reviews
- 2Clear Kayak Photoshoot+Free Cocktail Nassau, Bahamas★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 48 reviews
- 3Beach Day and Clear Kayak Photoshoot in Bahamas★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 10 reviews
Nassau takes several cruise ships at once, and they all land in the same half mile.
On a heavy day Bay Street, the straw market and the nearest pig boats absorb thousands of people between nine and five. There are two answers and both of them work. Take the earliest departure of the morning, or go somewhere the tenders never reach.
Cracked conch, guava duff and the rum that started here.
Bay Street is the cruise strip. The food is one street back, in the lanes off Market and down at Potter’s Cay under the bridge, where the conch salad is made in front of you. Two hours on foot, or a tasting room and a bus.
By island and cay
By boat, beach, plate or engine
A first Bahamas trip, in the order most people do it.
The pig boat
A beach clubThe newest reviews out of Nassau.
More new Bahamas reviews →
Rose Island Swimming Pigs & Beach Snorkeling Experience Nassau
Read our review →
