A Little Adventure.
- katietrinder
- May 14, 2024
- 4 min read
Before you read this, you should know that I know how lucky I am to have been on a little adventure and I will be forever grateful for being able to do this trip.
A few years ago, I somehow ended up addicted to the TV show, "Total Divas", which was all about the female WWE wrestlers. I'm not even sure how I started watching it, apart from knowing who the Rock and John Cenna are I have very little knowledge of WWE.
I got obsessed with the lives of the Bella twins, Eva Marie, Natalya and Paige. When they weren't training, they were off doing fabulous things, they were like the Real Housewives, but they fell out less and body slammed each other more. The Bella twins loved a trip to a Vinyard, there were fabulous shopping trips and weekends away.
On one episode they took a trip to the Bahamas and went swimming with pigs. I didn't know this was a thing. I watched the epiosde about 4 times. When my sister Lucy came over, I made her watch it and we became obsessed with the idea of swimming with the pigs in the Bahamas.
No one is really sure how or why the pigs are on that island, but they've been there for a few decades. Pig Island is a popular tourist attraction and is visited by 6.6 million tourists every year.
Last week, Lucy and I got to make our dream a reality on what we called "Pig Wednesday".
Dressed in our most robust swimsuits (no one needs a nip slip when you're making a dream a reality), suncream, a camera and 30 other people all ready to get in the water with a bunch of pigs we set off.
The boat ride there was amazing, well apart from the little girl who chucked up over the side of the boat, but picked the side where the wind blew it back in her face. Gross, but also mildly amusing to see the look of horror on her vomit soaked face.
We passed the holiday homes of the rich and famous, Oprah, Tom Cruise, Chuck Norris, Beyonce and Jay-Z (they have 2 massive homes) and Bill Gates, who has 7 homes in a row. All of them were stunning.
The first stop off was Pearl island, which was like something off a movie set, crystal blue water, white sands and a barman that made a mean margarita... well hello paradise! We had time for a quick cocktail and a chance to take some "this isn't too shabby for Trindy Pops" photos and it was time to head to pig island.
As we drew closer to the island and the pigs came into view for the first time, I felt really emotional. One of things we'd talked about doing for years was about to become a reality and Lucy and I had a little cry.
The pigs are really friendly and the safety brief was simple;
Don't stick your fingers in their mouth, they'll think they're food and bite them.
Feed them by putting the bits of fruit onto a skewer and letting them take them from you.
You can stroke their backs.
If you've run out food and the pig is coming towards you, stick your hands in the air and say no and the pig will go and find someone else who does have food.
They might do a poo or a wee in the water so watch your step.
The experience was everything I wanted it to be and more. The pigs are really greedy and will happily barge each other out the way to get the food, a bit like my dogs at dinner time, but they are so friendly.
The sticking your hands above your head and saying "no" when you've run out of food really does work. I've started to implement it with my beagle Cyril, but he's not having any of it!
We managed to avoid getting pooed or weed on, but Lucy did take a video of a pig having a wee, as a homage to our uncle who once took multiple photos of an elephant doing a poo on a family outing to Whipsnade Zoo.
The whole experience lasted half an hour and it will forever be one fo the best things I've ever done. It was worth waiting 10 years to do, the saving up, the jet lag and the peeling back which is itching like a mo-fo today.
On the way back, there was a group of American men and one of them was complaining about the fact he'd been bitten by a pig. The more he went on, the more I realised that he was the sort of man who'd have definitely fed a gremlin after midnight. He went on and on for the 40 minute boat ride back, and how he was going to have to go to the doctor when we got back on the ship. Eventually even his friends got fed up with him and told him he'd probably have to have his finger chopped off! I saw the bloke the next day and he didn't even have a plaster on his finger, so I can confirm he was indeed being dramatic.
Plus, just to really cement it as one of the best holidays of all time, when we got back to Miami, Fleet Week was in full swing.... sailors everywhere!!
Sitting at my desk on a rainy Tuesday, last week feels like a bit of a dream, but one I am so grateful for. This morning as we sat having breakfast, I said to my sister, "what more fun things can we do?"
So, we've started making a list of more adventures we can go on! Any suggestions then please share in the comments below.
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