The Caribbean

  The Caribbean

I welcomed the Caribbean with open arms this past week. The tropical climate and ocean views made this region a great place to escape the freezing weather in Minnesota. I chose some unique spots to visit this time around, because who can go wrong with animals?!

Site 1: The first was called Pig Beach. It is a designated place that attracts almost 6.62 million people a year. Of course you could guess that the beach has around 30 pigs that live and swim at the beach while relying on the tourists for food! This strange occurrence started back in the early 1990's when the nearby island, Staniel Cay, started farming with pigs. Long story short, the pigs were too stinky for the liking of the locals, and the farmers eventually brought them to the Pig Beach and fed them by a 10 minute boat ride each day. After a while, the pigs learned to swim to the boat so they could get fed faster and now-a-days the tourists love it. I took the most popular route from the Bahama's capital, Nassau, and flew to the island for a day trip, the flight only lasted 30 minutes. Overall, it was a great day of crystal blue water, a unique island experience, and a quirky perk of swimming pigs! 

https://www.bahamasairtours.com/destination/pig-beach/

 

 

 Site 2: Stingray City! Another animal-centered attraction, but instead of pigs there were stingrays. I personally was a little on edge about this site, but the well-trained and experienced tour guides told me that while the Southern Rays get a bad reputation, they are actually very gentle creatures. Stingray City is a sandbar that is located off the coast of the largest of the Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman. It was started on accident by the fishermen who cleaned their fish and threw the scraps out where the stingrays became accustomed to a daily meal. On busy days it is visited by 1,500 people, so the tours are always going. In conclusion, I'd have to agree that the rays are calm and gentle animals, and that this trip was an amazing snorkeling and boating excursion.

https://www.stingraycitycaymanislands.com/