beaches and snorkeling in Mauritius

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The beaches I went to were Pereybere in the north, Belle Mare and Blue Bay in the east, Gris Gris, and Rivieres des Galets in the south, Le Morne in the southwest, La Preneuse and Flic en Flac in the west. I went snorkeling in Belle Mare, Blue Bay, Le Morne, La Preneuse and Flic en Flac.
Pereybere was way way too crowded. It’s made up of several small beaches. Gris Gris has very big waves but interesting landscape and caves to explore for the very good swimmer who can swim in the big waves. But the undercurrent is strong and might take you out so better be careful and stick to shore or not go out at all. The area is very beautiful and worth a visit. Rivieres des Galets looked really nice and was a very big beach. It was also very crowded, but that’s because we were there on Sunday. we’re talking really crowded so if you want to avoid the crowds, don’t go on Sunday and holidays. Le Morne is also a really big beach and beautiful as it has a mountain very close by. It’s also the most touristic beach I’ve been to with lots of very high-end hotels and not many residential buildings (no locals live near the beach, I think). Because of the clientele, it’s also the cleanest beach by far. La Preneuse is very small but seems to have a few interesting bed and breakfast accommodations close by. La Preneuse is a pretty big town so I thought the beach would be mostly locals but there were surprisingly lots of tourists on the beach. Flic en Flac has also a very big beach that stretches forever with both lots of tourists and lots of locals as Flic en Flac is also a pretty big town. I didn’t like it though because most things (shops, etc.) were for the tourists so there was no local flavour at all.
The best snorkeling everybody says is Blue Bay, as there are conservation areas for the fish and coral to thrive. But when I was there, there were many snorkelers in the conservation areas (brought in by boats) and the corals were really deep so you couldn’t really see them but what they did was bring bread so that all you have to do is take out some bread and you will be surrounded by tons of fish. Sure they were beautiful but it was kind of like cheating. The snorkeling in Le Morne and La Preneuse were the same, there was not much to see. Hardly any fish or corals. At Flic en Flac, you can go out really really far and the water was the same level all the way (I could stand and have my head out the water) so it was very safe to snorkel. There weren’t as many corals there as at Belle Mare but I saw a lot of very beautiful fish. You just have to go down into the corals and wait and all the fish will come out. Belle Mare was by far the best place to snorkel as there were tons and tons of very big corals very close to the surface and very close to shore and the beach stretches forever so there was tons to see and explore. It does get deep further out in some spots so have to be cautious.
All the beaches, except Gris Gris, had practically no waves because of the coral reef so you’d get this huge shallow area with hardly any waves which is ideal for very small children. If you’re there just for swimming, better get water shoes as there are corals everywhere which will cut your feet quite easily, especially at Flic en Flac. (I had flippers) At the other beaches, there are areas where there is just sand at the bottom. I think Blue Bay is mostly sand at the bottom. There are very few corals at Le Morne and La Preneuse so no shoes required. The only real danger for snorkeling is the motor boats which goes at high speed very close to shore parallel to the shore so I always had to look up just in case one was coming. That was kind of annoying. I really really enjoyed snorkeling though. loved being in the corals and being among the fish. I so wished I could become small and just there in the corals, but then, I’d probably get eaten!

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