In the water
Half the reefs people are sent to are bleached, crowded or only reachable by boat. These twelve are the ones still worth the swim, with whether you can reach each from the sand, how deep it is and the months the water is clear.
Mauritius sits inside an almost continuous coral reef, which is the whole reason the water is that colour and that flat. It also means the snorkeling here is unusually forgiving: warm, shallow, no swell and no current across most of the lagoon.
What it does not mean is that every stretch of it is worth your time. Coral bleaching has hit parts of the lagoon hard, some of the famous names are now sand and rubble, and a few of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius are only reachable by boat. This guide separates the ones you can swim to from the ones you cannot, and says plainly which are past their best. Nine of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius here are in good condition, three are simply convenient.
We run guests to all of these, most weeks of the year. The visibility notes and the honest assessments below come from that rather than from a brochure.
Very little, which is part of the appeal of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius.
Bring or buy a mask and snorkel. Hotel loan gear is usually scratched and often leaks. A decent set costs very little in Grand Baie or Flic en Flac and it makes the difference between a good hour and a frustrating one.
Reef shoes, always. Sea urchins and stonefish are rare but real on rocky and seagrass bottoms, and half the entry points on this list are not clean sand. This is the single piece of kit people regret not having.
A rash vest, not sunscreen. You will be face down for an hour with your back in full tropical sun. A long sleeved rash vest solves it and keeps sunscreen chemicals off the coral, which matters more here than most places.
Fins are optional in the lagoon and genuinely useful on the boat sites, where you are covering more ground.
What you do not need is a wetsuit. The water sits between 23 and 28 degrees all year.
Six of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius need nothing more than a car park and a swim. These are the ones to do on your own, on your own schedule.
The best shore snorkeling on the island and it is not close. A protected marine park with the clearest water in Mauritius, living coral in good condition, and the reef starting a two minute swim from the sand. Ten minutes from the airport, which makes it the obvious first or last morning of a trip and the easiest of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius to fit in.
Swim out from the public beach rather than taking a glass bottom boat if you can. The boats go to the same coral and you see far more with your face in it.
The best of the northern spots and the easiest snorkeling in Mauritius for a first attempt. Shallow, calm, sandy entry and coral heads scattered through the lagoon within a hundred metres of the beach. Not the most spectacular reef on this list but the most reliably pleasant of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius.
The west coast reef runs the length of Flic en Flac and improves markedly as you go north towards Wolmar. Sheltered from the trade winds by the mountains, so this is where the water stays clear from June to September when the east is churned up.
It is also the base for the island’s serious diving. If snorkeling turns into an interest, the dive sites off this coast are the ones people come back for, and they sit beside the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius on the same reef.
Small, deep for a lagoon beach, and popular with locals for exactly that reason. Rocky sections at either end of the bay hold more fish than the sandy middle. Reef shoes here are not optional.
A small sheltered crescent at the north end of Grand Baie, with coral on the rocky edges of the bay. Convenient rather than exceptional, and genuinely useful if you are staying in Grand Baie and want an hour in the water before breakfast.
The east coast lagoon is enormous and shallow, and the coral sits a long way out towards the reef. Excellent from November to April when the water is still. From June to September the trade winds blow onto this shore and the visibility drops sharply, so plan around the season rather than the beach.
Six more of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius that you cannot swim to. Each of these is a half or full day trip and none is reachable from the sand, and each one is a genuinely different reef from the lagoon sites above.
Off the west coast near Le Morne, and the trip most people mean when they say they went snorkeling in Mauritius. The reef around the island is in better condition than most of the mainland lagoon, and the boats usually combine it with the resident dolphin pods off Tamarin earlier the same morning.
Go on the first departure. By eleven there can be a dozen boats on the same patch.
The wedge shaped island off the northern tip, also called Gunner’s Quoin. Deeper, wilder water outside the lagoon with better structure and bigger fish. This is where snorkeling starts to feel like diving, and it is not the place for a nervous first timer.
Flat Island, an hour by catamaran from the north coast, with the clearest water of any of the northern islands and a shallow channel between the two islets that is close to perfect for snorkeling. A full day and worth it. Weather dependent, so trips are cancelled more often here than anywhere else.
The famous sandbar, and the snorkeling around the edges is better than its reputation suggests once you swim away from the main beach. Most catamaran trips include a snorkel stop, lunch and the Grande Riviere Sud Est waterfall. Go on a weekday.
A speedboat run out of the south east across a string of small islands, with less traffic than the northern and western trips. Good structure, good fish, and the closest thing to having a reef to yourself that is still easy to book.
The lagoon under the mountain is deep, clear and enormous, and from a boat the coral heads towards the reef edge are among the healthiest left on the island. From June to September the far end fills with kitesurfers, which is spectacular to watch and a reason to snorkel the northern half. It closes the list of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius on the healthiest coral of the twelve.
The complete list of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius, side by side. Drive times are from the airport to the beach or the departure point, so you can see which of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius are near your hotel.
| Spot | Coast | Reach it | Depth | Best months | From airport |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Bay Marine Park | South east | From the beach | 1 to 4 m | Nov to Apr | 10 min |
| Trou aux Biches | North | From the beach | 1 to 3 m | All year | 1 hr 5 |
| Flic en Flac and Wolmar | West | From the beach | 1 to 5 m | All year | 50 min |
| Pereybere | North | From the beach | 2 to 4 m | All year | 1 hr 15 |
| La Cuvette, Grand Baie | North | From the beach | 1 to 3 m | All year | 1 hr 10 |
| Belle Mare | East | From the beach | 1 to 3 m | Nov to Apr | 45 min |
| Ile aux Benitiers | West | By boat | 2 to 6 m | All year | 55 min |
| Coin de Mire | North | By boat | 3 to 10 m | Oct to Apr | 1 hr 20 |
| Ile Plate and Ilot Gabriel | North | By boat | 1 to 5 m | Oct to Apr | 1 hr 20 |
| Ile aux Cerfs | East | By boat | 1 to 4 m | Nov to Apr | 45 min |
| The Five Islands | South east | By boat | 2 to 8 m | All year | 20 min |
| Le Morne lagoon | South west | By boat | 2 to 8 m | All year | 60 min |
Swipe to see the full table
The single biggest variable in snorkeling in Mauritius is not the reef, it is the visibility on the day, and that is driven by wind and rain rather than season alone. That holds at every one of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius.
November to April is the best window overall. The sea is warmest at 27 to 28 degrees, the trade winds have dropped, and the lagoon is glassy. The catch is that this is also the wet season, and heavy rain puts silt into the water for a day or two afterwards.
May to October is drier and the water is cooler at 24 to 26 degrees, which is still perfectly swimmable. The south east trade winds churn the east coast from June to September, so move to the west and the sheltered north in those months.
The day to day rule matters more than either. Go in the morning. The wind almost always picks up after eleven, and the difference between eight and two on the same beach can be five metres of visibility. Avoid the day after heavy rain entirely.
Parts of the Mauritius lagoon have been badly hit by bleaching, and some spots that appear on older lists are now mostly rubble and algae. The reefs on this page are the ones still in reasonable condition as of this year. If you are shown a patch of grey and white coral and told it is a highlight, it is not: swim further out towards the reef edge, or ask the boat to move.
Setting expectations honestly, because the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius are lagoon sites rather than wall dives.
Reliably. Parrotfish, sergeant majors, butterflyfish, wrasse, damselfish, the occasional moray in a crevice, and sea cucumbers on the sand. Blue Bay and Ile aux Benitiers hold the widest variety.
Often. Green turtles, mostly at Ile aux Benitiers, Coin de Mire and the reef edge at Le Morne. Eagle rays and stingrays across the sandy stretches of the east and south east lagoon.
If you are lucky. Octopus, which are everywhere and almost impossible to see, and lionfish on the deeper structure at Coin de Mire and the Five Islands.
Not from a snorkel. Sharks are not a feature of the Mauritius lagoon in any sense, welcome or otherwise, and the dolphins off Tamarin are a boat trip rather than a snorkeling encounter. Swimming with them is restricted for good reasons.
Snorkeling in Mauritius is about as safe as it gets, which makes the few genuine hazards at the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius worth knowing precisely.
Reef passes. Where the reef has a gap, all the water that came over the top has to get back out, and it does so through that gap fast. This is the one real current risk in the lagoon. Look for the breaks in the white line offshore and stay well clear of them.
Boat traffic. The lagoon is busy with speedboats and pirogues, and a snorkeler face down is nearly invisible. Tow a float or stay inside marked swimming zones, particularly at Grand Baie and Trou d’Eau Douce.
Stonefish. Genuinely dangerous and genuinely rare, and they sit motionless on rocky and seagrass bottoms looking exactly like a rock. Reef shoes and not standing on anything you have not looked at solves it.
Do not touch the coral. Standing on it kills it, and fire coral will remind you for a week. Float, do not stand.
Sun. An hour face down burns backs badly. Rash vest.
All six of the shore based spots are on a bus route, which makes the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius among the cheapest things you can do here. Blue Bay, Trou aux Biches, Flic en Flac, Pereybere, Grand Baie and Belle Mare are all reachable by public bus from their nearest town.
The six boat sites are a different matter. Departures leave from Tamarin and Le Morne in the west, Grand Baie in the north, Trou d’Eau Douce in the east and Pointe Jerome in the south east, and none of those is close to the others. Getting to a morning departure from the wrong coast means leaving at six.
Our private day tours and boat trips leave from all five departure points with hotel pickup, and fixed transfer rates to every beach on this page are on our Mauritius taxi prices page. The beaches themselves are covered in our Mauritius beaches guide.
Blue Bay Marine Park for shore snorkeling and Ile aux Benitiers for a boat trip. Blue Bay is a protected park with the clearest water on the island and coral a two minute swim from the sand, and it is ten minutes from the airport.
Yes. Six of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius need nothing but a car park and a swim: Blue Bay, Trou aux Biches, Flic en Flac, Pereybere, La Cuvette at Grand Baie and Belle Mare. The other six need a boat.
November to April, when the sea is warmest at around 28 degrees and the trade winds have dropped. May to October is cooler but drier, and the west and north stay clear when the east is windy. Whatever the month, go in the morning.
No. The water sits between 23 and 28 degrees all year. A long sleeved rash vest is far more useful, because it stops your back burning during an hour face down and keeps sunscreen off the coral.
Not in any meaningful sense. The reef keeps large marine life outside the lagoon and there is no shark issue at any of the spots on this page. The real hazards are reef pass currents, boat traffic and stonefish on rocky bottoms.
Regularly, at Ile aux Benitiers, Coin de Mire and the reef edge at Le Morne. Green turtles are the usual sighting. They are wild animals, so keep your distance and never touch or chase them.
In parts. Bleaching has damaged sections of the lagoon and some older recommendations are now rubble. The twelve reefs on this page are the ones still in reasonable condition. Blue Bay, being a protected marine park, is the best preserved.
Snorkeling happens inside the lagoon in one to five metres and needs no training. Diving in Mauritius happens mostly outside the reef off the west coast, where the wall drops away, and needs certification or a supervised discovery dive. If you enjoy the boat sites here, that is the natural next step.
Six of the best snorkeling spots in Mauritius need a boat, and they leave from five departure points on four different coasts. We collect from your hotel, get you to the first departure rather than the eleven o'clock crowd, and wait while you are in the water.
See boat trips and day toursAbout these figures
Drive times are our own, measured on these routes in normal traffic. Depths and visibility notes reflect typical conditions and change with wind and rainfall. Coral condition is assessed from current observation and will keep changing: bleaching has affected parts of the lagoon. Marine park and conservation information comes from the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. Blue Bay is a legally protected marine park with rules on anchoring and fishing that apply to every operator.
REACH THE BEST SNORKELLING SPOTS BY SPEEDBOAT
Visit Blue Bay, Ile aux Aigrettes and the Five Islands marine reserve in one day. Private speedboat with snorkelling gear and hotel pickup included.
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