It was a fairly early start this morning. Check-in for our boat trip to Sandy Toes started at 9:15am and we were unsure of how busy it would be traffic wise to get there. It was suggested we gave ourselves an hour to get from Sandals to Paradise Island Ferry Terminal. So we went for breakfast as soon as it opened at 7:30am. Logesh came to meet us afterwards and we went to the concierge to sort a taxi to Paradise Island. He also gave us two towels which we needed for the trip.

It all happened a bit too quick, we were in the taxi by 8am, so we had more than enough time to get there. We ended up at Paradise Island at about 8:45am. There were a few check-in desks for various trips which were already occupied by staff. However, although we could see some of the Sandy Toes staff on the boat, it wasn’t time to check in yet.

We decided to pay a visit to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, which was conveniently next to the desk. It is a large bar/restaurant with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. It was serving beer so we had a small one before check-in opened (well it was 2pm UK time).

Jimmy Buffett was an American singer-songwriter who was well known for his tropical style music and recorded many songs, including a track called “Margaritaville”. He used this name and branding to sell the “island paradise” lifestyle, hence the restaurant chain of the same name. As well as the one in The Bahamas, there are restaurants in various places including Las Vegas, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Orlando and New Orleans.

https://www.margaritavillebahamas.com

We drank our beer before heading back to the check-in desk. We were given a disclaimer to sign, basically saying that the company would not be responsible for anything that happened to us such as being bitten by a shark etc!! We finally boarded the boat, using said disclaimer as our “boarding pass” and found a seat on the top deck of the boat. After our safety briefing we were off. The journey took 25-30 minutes and on the way we passed some fabulous waterside properties and other islands.

When we arrived at Sandy Toes, some of the island’s well-known residents, the piggies, were waiting on the dock to greet us. We disembarked as their keeper let them perform before she took them up the steps on the north side of the island. We followed them in to a shaded area where, if you wanted to snorkel, was where we picked up our gear. The staff were organised and made sure that we got the right sized flippers, and we were given a flotation device, snorkel and mask, and ankle tag. We were told that the tag had to be on our ankle and not placed on the wrist, as some people had done. This tag was a shark deterrent, which uses magnetic technology developed by marine biologists to keep sharks and also stingrays away. At this point JC was unsure whether he actually wanted to go through with this, but carried on kitting himself up.

When everyone was ready, we had a safety briefing. The snorkelling experience was fundamentally a guided tour of the ocean, so we had to follow the guide who led us around the waters of Sandy Toes. We went down the steps, put our flippers and masks on, and got into the ocean. It was quite busy, some 50 or so people were taking this opportunity so, to begin with, people were getting in the way of others. Once we’d got going it was better as people spread out more. I was so excited to see the turtles on our journey too.

Altogether our snorkelling trip took about 45 minutes. Although JC had doubts, it turned out all ok for him in the end and we both had a fantastic experience.

Back at the hut, we returned our snorkel gear and received our $20 deposit back. We were right at the front of the queue which gave us time to go to the south beach, only taking a matter of minutes. There is a bar there, overlooking the beach and beautiful blue waters. We chose a Sandy Toes cocktail and sat on some deckchairs down on the beach. We then chilled out for a bit before the piggies made an appearance. As you can imagine, they attracted quite a bit of attention. They were fed some food out of a small wooden box and, once they’d eaten, they somehow knew that they had to head into the sea, where there was another member of staff feeding them there. Once they weren’t given any more food there, they headed back to shore. It was all a kind of rehearsed performance of some well trained piggies. I took some snaps before heading back to the north side of the beach for our lunch.

Lunch consisted of salad, bread, rice, pasta, hotdogs and chicken. I wolfed this down as I was hungry after our snorkelling session. Once we’d eaten we then returned to the south beach for another cocktail. On the way, we spotted some peacocks and could have fed them if we’d wanted to. We gave this a miss and headed to the bar for another cheeky cocktail. No sooner had the piggies come out for a second time, there was a heavy downpour of rain which came from nowhere.

We sheltered near the beach bar until it passed and it wasn’t long before there was bright sunshine again. We returned to the beach for a third time and enjoyed some more time with the piggies.

The boat left at 3:15pm, which meant we had spent roughly four hours there. We had a fabulous time there and would recommend it to anyone. It made a lot of difference to the time we spent on the island. An alternative trip to see the Exuma pigs means a four hour return journey, whereas ours was less than 25 minutes each way. Apparently very little time is spent on Exuma.

https://www.sandytoesbahamas.com

Our taxi driver had been booked by JC just before we left Sandy Toes. Pick-up was arranged at 4pm so we had chance for another quick beer at Jimmy Buffett’s before the 40 minute journey back to Sandals.

I had a leisurely shower back in our room, trying to get rid of all the sea salt out of my hair. It was another quick turnaround before our restaurant booking at 7pm. Gordon’s on the Pier was our destination although it wasn’t on the pier as the kitchen was being upgraded. So, instead the chefs were relocated to Kanoo for the evening. We had a lovely meal outside before crashing early to bed again.