How to Get to Pig Beach Exuma from Nassau: Every Way Compared

Every genuine route from Nassau to the Exuma pigs, as of August 2026. Fuel prices and boat availability move these numbers, so treat cost as a planning guide rather than a quote.

Our own pick for a single open day in Nassau is the air excursion package. It costs the most, but it's the only route that puts you on Big Major Cay and back at your hotel the same evening, without chartering a private flight yourself.

Big Major Cay lies about 80 miles southeast of Nassau, out in the Exuma island chain, well beyond what any half-day Nassau boat can reach. The nearest inhabited island is Staniel Cay, population around 110, itself 10 minutes by boat from the pigs. The feral herd here numbers an estimated 50 to 60 animals, based on a 2019 count, unowned and roaming the beach freely, a different setup from the operator-raised herds much closer to Nassau.

For the full picture of every pig location in the Bahamas, our where-to-swim guide lays out all four side by side.

An all-inclusive day trip by air is what most visitors end up booking once they see the price of everything else. Packages run from $715 per person and typically bundle the round-trip flight, a boat transfer out to Big Major Cay, lunch and hotel or cruise-port pickup in Nassau. The flight itself takes 30 to 45 minutes each way and lands on Staniel Cay's grass airstrip, where a waiting boat covers the final 10 minutes to the pigs. Time on the actual sand runs short, roughly 15 minutes for most Exuma day-trip packages, so this is a route built for saying you did it and getting the photos, not a leisurely afternoon with the herd. It is, however, the only way to be back at your Nassau hotel by dinner having actually stood on Big Major Cay.

Because the whole day hinges on one flight window, book early if your dates are fixed, and confirm your pickup point the night before rather than the morning of. Weather that grounds a small plane out of Nassau is the same weather that would stop a boat anyway, so a cancellation here usually means a full-day reschedule, not a same-day plan B.

Flamingo Air runs scheduled service between Nassau and Staniel Cay, and a round-trip seat costs about $150 per person, a fraction of the all-inclusive package price. The catch is that this fare only covers the flight. From Staniel Cay you'll need to arrange your own boat out to the pigs and back, and an Exuma-based tour covering Big Major Cay and a few other stops runs roughly $350 per person.

Add the two together and this route lands close to the packaged price once the boat is factored in, but it hands you control over your own timing, and gives you the option of spending a night on Staniel Cay instead of turning around the same afternoon.

No. There is no scheduled passenger ferry running from Nassau to Staniel Cay or anywhere else in the Exumas. Bahamas Ferries, which once ran inter-island routes, no longer operates regular passenger service to Exuma, and no other company has stepped in to fill that gap. If a listing or an old forum thread tells you otherwise, it's out of date.

The only sea link that still exists is the mail boat, and it isn't a ferry in the way most travelers mean the word, more on that next.

The mail boats MV Grand Master and MV Captain C sail from Potter's Cay Dock several days a week, calling at Big Farmer's Cay, Staniel Cay, Black Point, George Town and Barraterre along the way. It's a working cargo run that also carries passengers, not a tourist cruise. The historic Nassau to George Town sailing takes about 14 hours overnight, with round-trip fares around $130 for an adult and $91 for a child aged 2 to 11.

Schedules shift with cargo and weather, so call the dock directly at (242) 393-1064 to confirm before you build a trip around it. This is the option for a traveler with days to spare and a genuine appetite for a slow, unpolished way to reach the out islands, not someone squeezing the pigs into a short Nassau stay.

If swimming with pigs is the actual goal and Big Major Cay itself isn't essential, Nassau has its own herds, and they're far easier to reach. Boats leave the Nassau waterfront and cross about 6 miles to Rose Island, Pearl Island or Athol Island, a crossing of 25 to 30 minutes depending on the stop, Athol runs about 15 minutes, Pearl about 20. These animals are operator-raised, fed and handled by staff daily, and reviewers routinely describe them as closer to pets than the feral Exuma herd.

Boats board from a handful of set points around the city, Señor Frog's pier or Woodes Rodgers Walk downtown, the Paradise Island Ferry Terminal at Margaritaville for anyone staying over the bridge, or Montagu Beach on East Bay Street, so it's worth confirming yours against your hotel before the morning of. The cheapest of our eight boats runs $120 per person for a 4-hour trip to Rose Island with snorkeling and turtles included, and the shortest option, a 2-hour safari, gets you in the water with pigs without eating up a whole afternoon. None of this replaces the specific experience of the real Pig Beach, and our honest verdict on whether that trade-off is worth making weighs the case both ways.

What Each Route Costs a Couple

Two people, one day, everything in. This is the arithmetic that sends most visitors to the Nassau boats even after they have read about Big Major Cay.

We've made this call ourselves more than once, flying out for the famous herd on Big Major Cay, or grabbing a morning boat that puts our feet on sand a half hour from the dock. Both are worth doing for different trips: fly if the Exuma pigs are genuinely the point and you've built a full day around them, book the shorter Nassau crossing if you want the swim without the airstrip. Either way, the cost of your flight or boat is the real budget line here, not the pigs themselves, so settle that first and the rest of the plan follows.