Day #17: Certain iconic events characterize a country. Take for example Pamplona's running with the bulls. The Bahamas, not to be left behind, has dinghying with swimming pigs. So, armed with a week's worth of table scraps we approached the west beach on Big Majors Cay to see two pigs swimming out to us. Some very good advice from fellow cruisers was to not feed the pigs in shallow water as they're likely to jump into the dinghy with you. With the dink's depth sounder reading a safe 6' the porkers approached. Then bedlam broke out. Bicki's metered food tossing didn't slow them a bit. On they rushed. In a scene reminisent of Hitchcock's 'The Birds', seagulls blanketed us. Their frenzie energized by the pigs' wild gyrations. Our 'isn't this cute' moment degraded into a maelstrom of hungry, open months. Bicki quickly dumped all the food overboard and dove for cover. Always cool under pressure I kept taking pictures--with my index finger firmly planted in the middle of the lens. Meanwhile our getaway driver, John, took the cue and got us clear. As quickly as the storm had formed, it dissolved. The gulls disappeared and the pigs headed toward shore. With wide eyes we silently looked at each other and shared the same thought: 'What the hell!'. Now in the anchorage just off Staniel Cay's Yacht Club. 1nm today and 409 total. DBH
