The second (and last) stop on our cruise was Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Great Stirrup Cay is a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Normally, this sort of “destination” island wouldn’t appeal to me; my fair-skinned self isn’t made for basking in the sun or floating in the lagoon, even with sunscreen. However, there was one activity on the island that we couldn’t pass up. Well, that I couldn’t pass up: Stingray City & Swimming Pigs on Treasure Island. I was sold on this cruise as soon as I learned about the pigs. Kenn, being the sweetie that he is, agreed. Norwegian only offers this specific cruise twice a year; we were on the last one for the year.

The pier at Great Stirrup Cay is only large enough for one ship, so the Star dropped anchor away from the island and passengers were “tendered” to the island on smaller boats. Specific instructions were provided for how and when to arrive for tendering. As per normal, the actual process was… disorganized. Our excursion to Treasure Island was scheduled for 11am, and since we were supposed to allow thirty minutes for tendering, it was important for us to be among the first to tender. (There really needs to be a better term, LOL.) In spite of the confusion, we made it onto the first boat so we were in the queue for our excursion in plenty of time. Whew!

Our group had a bit of a hike to the dock where we took even smaller boats to Treasure Island. Once on the island, we were given the instructions for how to behave around the animals before being allowed to proceed to the interaction areas. Staff was on hand to work with everyone individually to limit any issues. Of course, we had to sign waivers; where animals are involved, accidents can happen. Example: I got stepped on by an adult pig. No harm was intended, the pig simply wanted some apple. Did it hurt? Yep. Swim shoes don’t provide much protection from pig hooves. But, I was fine; not even a bruise. We were not allowed to take phones into the animal areas so there were plenty of staff with cameras recording everything. Yes, that meant we had to pay extra for photos, but I was fine with that. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, braces yourselves. Photo dump incoming!

Which would you prefer: swimming with the pigs or interacting with the stingrays?