Where pigs swim in the sea. Big Major Cay Island: The world's only waterfowl resort. Where is Pig Island?

Trips

Do you think that beaches have become something ordinary for many, and nothing can surprise an ordinary tourist anymore?

1. Beautiful glass beach

Place: Hanapepe, Kauai County, Hawaii, USA

What's special:N Although the beach itself is made up of just rocks and basalt, it is covered in millions of pieces of sea glass that have washed ashore over the years.

Similar beaches can be found in Fort Bragg and Benicia, both located in California.

2. Green sand beach

Place: Papakolea Beach, Cape Ka Lae, Hawaii

What's special: The sand at the site is brilliant green thanks to the rock-forming mineral olivine, which comes from an ash cone - a conical mound of mounded material ejected during a volcanic eruption.

This is one of four beaches in the world with bright green sand. Others can be found in the town of Talofofo, Guam, on the island of Floreana, Galapagos archipelago, and at Lake Hornindalsvatnet in Norway.

3. Star Sand Beach

Place: Iriomote Island, Japan

What's special: Most often, those who come to this beach can be seen bent over, as they are all interested in exploring this unusual beach, namely the intricate particles that make up the beach.

Star Beach is actually made up of the outer skeletons of foraminifera, microscopic marine organisms that have washed ashore over the years. If you look closely, some organisms are still alive.

4. Beach that makes sounds

Place: Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, USA

What's special: P Before your imagination gets carried away, know that the sounds on this beach come from the friction between grains of sand. In fact, the sounds are more like grinding than a melody as such.

One way or another, this beach is one of the main attractions of the area.

5. Sandy shell beach in the middle of a meadow

Place: Playa de Gulpiyuri, Spain

What's special: Imagine that you are walking through a meadow and suddenly come across a sandy beach. If this happens, then you can only be in one place - Playa de Gulpiyuri.

Although there is no ocean or sea nearby, the beach is actually connected by a network of complex underground waterways leading to the Atlantic Ocean.

6. Pink sand beach

Place: Harbor Island, Bahamas

What's special:Throughout west coast Bahamas washed ashore blurred parts of red corals. They mixed with the sand and gave it a shade of pink.

7. Purple sand beach

Place: Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California, USA

What's special: E that extraordinary beach is painted in shades of purple. The color of the sand comes from nearby deposits of quartz and dark red manganese, which are stored in the rocks.

8. Cathedral Beach

Place: Playa de las Catedrales/Praia de Augas Santas, Ribadeo, Spain

What's special: Magnificent geological formations create a cathedral-like effect all over the Spanish beach. You can only get here at low tide.

9. Maho - beach near the airport

Place: Saint Martin Island

What's special: The beach is in close proximity to International Airport Princess Juliana. Vacationers can touch airplanes flying over the beach with one jump.

10. Sunny beach with a tunnel

Place: Dunedin, New Zealand

What's special: Heading towards the beach, you will cross a private farm, after which you will have to go through a long, hair-raising tunnel before reaching your destination. On the shore you can see beautiful sand cliffs, caves, rock arches and other unusual rock formations of the Pacific Ocean.

11. Disappearing beach in India

Place: Chandipur Beach, India

What's special: In the mornings, this beach completely disappears, as if by magic. At low tide, the water moves 5 km from the shore, allowing vacationers to walk along the shore and explore the seabed and some of its inhabitants - crabs, for example.

But as soon as high waves come to the fore, vacationers are better off leaving the beach, because... the sea returns to its place. This phenomenon occurs twice a day all year round.

12. Hidden beach in Mexico

Place: Marieta Islands, Mexico

What's special: Called "Playa de Amor" (beach of love), this paradise was actually created when the government At the beginning of the first decade of the 20th century, Mexico decided to throw a bomb at this site.Thus, it created a huge hole in the canopy of the cave.

Despite its terrible past, this place is quite welcoming and the beach is simply magnificent.

13. Black Beach

Place: Punaluu, Hawaii

What's special: If you're tired of the regular beach, head to Punaluu Island, where all the sand is black. Vacationers come here to sunbathe, but you are unlikely to want to swim, because... Due to the many fresh water sources in the region, the water here is quite cold.

There are also a lot of turtles here, which are protected by law. They come ashore to bask and also lay eggs.

14. White Beach

Place: Hyams Beach, New South Wales, Australia

What's special: This beach was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the beach with the whitest sand on planet Earth.

15. Rainbow Beach

Place: South East Queensland, Australia

What's special: Multicolored sand dunes, surrounding the city give this beach 74 different shades. The colored sand is the result of erosion and iron oxide that has been occurring here for many years.

16. Beach with pigs in the Bahamas

Place: Big Major Cay, Bahamas

What's special: Big Major Cay is an island inhabited by a number of wild pigs who often emerge from the bush to take a dip in the clear water. No one knows where the 20-odd wild pigs came from, but they certainly made this place interesting for tourists.

17. Beach Scala Dei Turchi in Italy

Place: southern Sicily, Realmonte commune, Italy

What's special: Scala dei Turchi is a series of steps made of white stones. These steps were formed due to prolonged exposure to waves.

If you walk through these areas, you will most likely be covered in white limestone. But don't be afraid local residents they say it's even good for the skin.

18. Whitehaven Beach in Australia

Place: Whitsunday Island, Australia

What's special: This beach is not only visually stunning, it has also been voted the cleanest beach in the world.

On local beaches, usually, White sand, containing large amounts of silica, which does not retain heat, allowing visitors to safely walk along the beach barefoot on a hot sunny day.

19. Shell Beach

Place: L'Haridon Bight, Shark Bay, Western Australia

What's special: the entire coast is covered with a layer of shells. The thickness of this layer varies from 7 to 10 meters.

Due to the high salt content in the water, mollusks have no enemies. In such conditions, their natural predators cannot survive, so the mollusks reproduce here in large numbers.

20. Desert in Brazil that turns into a beach

Place: National Park Lencois Maranhenses, Maranhão state, northern Brazil

What's special: Every time at the beginning of the year, heavy rainfall falls here, and water begins to fill the dunes in the desert national park. This creates beautiful turquoise lagoons in white sand.

In October the water completely evaporates. Before that, if you look closely, you can see several varieties of fish swimming in the water.

Beaches of the world

Bonus:

Lagoon with black sand and ice blocks

Place: Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon, southeast Iceland

What's special: Blocks of ice, like shiny crystals, are scattered along the black coast.

This place attracts many tourists. Even films and commercials are shot here. The ice here came from a nearby glacier, and the black sand from volcanic rocks.

Not everyone will agree with this, but pigs are quite adorable creatures. Of course, they are not the cleanest animals, but they are very cute, especially when they are children. All pig lovers will be pleased to hear that there is a small island dedicated specifically for pigs. It turns out that there is a pig island in the Bahamas, where these cute animals were discovered in 2009 by photographer Eric Cheng and captain Jim Abernathy.

The island's official name is Big Major Cay, but most people know it as Pig Island. This island has a fresh water spring and the surrounding islands protect it from tropical storms. It's the perfect habitat for the pigs, who laze around the clock like little beach bums. They have fun in the water, swim together and enjoy showing off their rowing skills to visitors. What's interesting is how the pigs originally appeared on the island. Rumor has it that some sailors passing by the island a few years ago decided to leave some pigs on the island and turn the place into a reliable and secret source of food. Luckily for the pigs, the sailors never returned. The animals did not have to worry about food, as passing yachts often threw excess food into the sea. The pigs seem to already know when their next meal will be delivered, and as soon as they spot a yacht on the horizon, they happily fly into the sea. They swim as close to the ship as possible, hoping to get the most delicious pieces of food.

Photographer Eric Cheng says "I was in the south Bahamas and was taking pictures of whitetip sharks,” when the captain of his boat told him that he had heard that there were pigs on Big Major. They dropped everything and headed to the island to look at the curiosity. To their surprise, the rumors turned out to be true. "When approaching white sandy beach It’s easy to spot the pigs (pink and dark brown) lying on the sand,” says Cheng. “Because the local people bring them food, the pigs run into the water and swim up to the boats to personally greet the people. Pigs lying on a tropical beach are already a strange sight, but when they run into the water to greet the boats, the spectacle becomes simply incredible.” Cheng and his team took many pictures of the pigs, and last years they have become quite popular. The team even took a swim with the pigs. “Nadine Umbscheiden, one of the photographers, became so friendly with the pigs that she even got to swim with them,” says Cheng. “We called her the Pig Whisperer because she could make pigs swim towards our cameras!” No one else lives on Big Major except pigs.

This isn't the first time a habitat has been completely taken over by a particular species. You may have heard of Rabbit Island in Japan or a Brazilian island full of snakes.

Hi all!

The hallmark of the Bahamas are the waterfowl pigs that live on Pig Beach (Pig Island) and bask in the waters Atlantic Ocean under the Bahamian sun.

To look at this miracle of nature, we bought a tour from the Exuma agency. Cost $180 per person from Exuma, $220 from Nassau. It will be cheaper if you live on the island of Staniel Cay, but housing prices there are hellish!

In addition to waterfowl pigs, the price of the excursion includes:

snorkeling in James Bond Cave,
visiting a sunken plane,
study of starfish,
landing on shallows in the ocean.

From Great Exuma Island to Pig Island it takes about 1-1.5 hours on a large motor boat. Already from afar, pigs are visible on the shore.

As soon as the pigs notice the boat, they dive into the water and swim towards the tourists.

According to legend: pigs were brought to the island by pirates along with all other treasures. Then the pirates disappeared, and the wild pigs remained to live on the island. Over time, the animals adapted to life near the ocean and learned to swim.

On the boat we were given some bread and fruit to feed the pigs. As soon as I got out of the boat into the water, a huge pig swam up to me. It was so scary that it seemed like he would eat me.

Another pig had already settled down on the other side and opened its mouth for me to throw food at it!

In general, adult pigs are quite dangerous animals. They can easily eat a human baby. Just look how much larger an adult pig is than a human.

When the Pigs took all the food from us, they brazenly turned their faces and swam towards the shore. And we followed them.

In addition to large boars, there were also small piglets on the shore. But they didn’t know how to swim yet, so they crowded on the shore.

Actually, I counted on the island about 30 pigs. But it seems to me that there are many more of them. I think now the pigs are kept here for the sake of tourists, because it really is a gold mine. And the Bahamas without pigs is no longer the Bahamas.

You can feed pigs only bread and vegetables. It is strictly forbidden to serve alcohol. A month ago, 2 Bahamian pigs died because tourists gave them rum to drink. Sometimes the inhumanity of people is amazing!

Some pigs know the "sit" command, the rest just run back and forth, asking for food!

Surely you have seen beautiful photos pigs in blue waters ocean or on snow-white beach...don't be fooled! There are many times more tourists here than pigs, and big boars can even bite you on the butt!

At one point I was just standing with my empty hands hanging down, a pig came up to me and suddenly bit me on my fingers, almost eating my wedding ring! So be careful!

It's more fun to nurse little piglets. It turns out that you need to be able to hold them correctly, otherwise you can get pretty bad from their Big Momma. Below I will provide 2 photos for comparison.

You can't keep piglets like that! They start squealing very loudly, and their mother immediately becomes alert and runs towards you!

This is how to keep piglets correctly! The main thing is to support the tummy, then the piglet lies calmly in your arms.

I’ll tell you another secret that won’t be reflected in photos in magazines: pigs go to the toilet wherever they have to - on the sand or in the water! And stepping on something brown and warm with your bare foot is still a pleasure! On the other hand, I’m now waiting for big money, like manna from heaven!

All the pigs on the island can be petted, but they run away very actively. Therefore, you will have to run after them.

Overall, of course, I really enjoyed my visit to Pig Beach, even despite the mumps bite and the “pleasant” surprise on the sand!

This place is a must visit, but be careful precautions:

handle your piglets correctly
keep your fingers to yourself
feed your pigs only bread and fruits
don't pester big boars
look at your feet

Thank you for reading my review! I hope it was helpful.

Read about meeting alligators.

More reviews about the Bahamas below.

Pig Island in the Bahamas - they live the way we only dream...

These adorable pigs swim every day in the crystal clear Caribbean Sea. They even have their own island and beach in the Bahamas, where they live a luxurious and happy life.

If swimming with pigs is your unusual dream, well, it's entirely possible. Guests stay on Royal Plantation Island, on Fowl Cay, and from there take a boat to Big Major Cay. south beach- pig beach. This island is also often called Pig Island in the Bahamas.

The unusual inhabitants were brought to the island by sailors, believing that the animals would become a good source of food in the future. However, the sailors did not return, and the animals settled safely on the island.

There are no other inhabitants on the island, so the pigs can bask on the white sand all day and splash in the clean, transparent waves. Which is exactly what they do.

Despite the fact that pigs live in the wild, they are very friendly and are not at all afraid of people. They greet tourists, grunting joyfully, and confidently swim to the boats for refreshments.

And they don’t mind at all having their tummy scratched.

Smart pigs know that ships and yachts with tourists are full of delicacies, and people simply cannot resist feeding these charmers.

Therefore, when they see a boat, the pigs rush into the water and swim to the boat for treats.

But be careful: if you swim close and get into shallow water, the cunning pigs may (and in fact they will) jump into your boat in search of your lunch.

The pigs here are actually very beautiful, of different colors and, moreover, regular exposure to water makes them very clean. More than one generation of pigs has grown up in such conditions, so piglets are accustomed to water from an early age, and over time they become excellent swimmers.

Tourists not only feed the pigs, but also swim with them, and also sunbathe...

They are not always visible on the beach. If it is very hot, they prefer to stay in the shade, and only go out to cool off in the sea or, of course, have a snack. They are most active in the evening, when it is no longer so hot.

Pigs have become so successful in life that they live in families on tropical island in the Caribbean Sea and do nothing but sleep, swim and eat.

Popular model Michelle Levin posted a video on her Instagram of how she was bitten on the butt by one of the inhabitants of Pig Island. And, judging by the bruise on his butt, he bit with the most serious intentions. Well, it’s not for us to blame this pig - you’d think that in her place we would have acted differently! Ha!

And I was also thinking at one time, where on the Internet are there so many photographs of pigs in the sea on snow-white sand? What kind of events are these? And it turns out like...

There are no people living on the island of Big Major Cay (Bahamas), but this place is chosen by... domestic pigs. Passengers on ships sailing near the island can often see pink piglets and their already tanned parents basking in the sun on the sandy beach.

There are many versions of how these animals got to Big Major Key. Some say that the pigs were brought to the island by sailors who planned to return to the island and use the pigs as food. But the sailors did not return, and the pigs remained to live on the island, eating everything that was thrown out of passing ships. According to another assumption, the pigs survived the shipwreck and managed to swim to the shore of Big Major Cay. It is also believed that the pigs swam from nearby islands. But according to the modern version, pigs are just a way invented by businessmen to attract tourists to the island.

Which of these versions is reliable is still not clear, but it is known for sure that local residents neighboring islands fed these animals. So, for many years these people sailed to Big Major Cay to feed the pigs. And after some time, as soon as they saw the ship, the animals began to rush into the water and swim towards their breadwinners. The pigs that live on Big Major Cay today do the same thing to the tourist boats.

Interestingly, the pigs from the “paradise” island inspired the writer Jennifer R. Nolan to write a book about them for children (“The Secret of Pig Island”). The book contains fictional funny stories of pigs from the island of Big Major Cay and their photographs, and also talks about how unpredictable and amazing the nature of our planet can be, and how important it is to preserve it.

These cute animals were discovered in 2009 by photographer Eric Cheng and captain Jim Abernathy.

Photographer Eric Cheng says that "I was in the southern Bahamas photographing whitetip sharks" when his boat captain told him he had heard there were pigs on Big Major. They dropped everything and headed to the island to look at the curiosity. To their surprise, the rumors turned out to be true. “As you approach the white sandy beach, it’s easy to spot the pigs (pink and dark brown) lying on the sand,” says Cheng. “Because the local people bring them food, the pigs run into the water and swim up to the boats to personally greet the people. Pigs lying on a tropical beach are already a strange sight, but when they run into the water to greet the boats, the spectacle becomes simply incredible.” Cheng and his team have taken many pictures of pigs, and they have become quite popular in recent years. The team even took a swim with the pigs. “Nadine Umbscheiden, one of the photographers, became so friendly with the pigs that she even got to swim with them,” says Cheng. “We called her the Pig Whisperer because she could make pigs swim towards our cameras!” No one else lives on Big Major except pigs.

Even though the pigs live here wild, they are very friendly. They greet people by grunting joyfully, deftly swim up to the boats and beg various goodies from tourists. And they cannot refuse them, because the piglets from Big Major Cay are very cute, and unlike domestic pigs, they are very clean, thanks to regular swimming in the sea. In addition, the pigs are accustomed to people sailing to their shores with noble intentions and not empty-handed: they are regularly fed by specially hired residents of the Bahamas, as well as by yachts and tourist boats passing by - there have always been plenty of people wanting to admire the local miracle of nature. Some piglets get so comfortable in the company of people that they jump into the boat if it comes close to the shore, and with all their appearance they show that they want a treat and a tummy rub. True, pigs are most willing to make acquaintances in the late afternoon, when it becomes not so hot, and the whole community comes out of the forest to lie on the sand and swim in the sea.

Tourists not only willingly feed the pigs, but also swim in the water with them, take pictures, and sunbathe. Children especially enjoy such company. After all, where else can you freely frolic on clean sand with the same clean pink, brown and red piglets who can swim no worse than a dog?

As soon as they see tourists, they immediately swim up to yachts and boats and beg people for delicious food. And of course they do, how can tourists resist looking into those kind pig eyes? Pigs have been living on these islands for more than one generation; piglets are accustomed to water from childhood and can swim without any problems along with adults.

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