Maldives or Mauritius for snorkeling? Reef edge, lagoon and boat tours compared

While snorkeling I estimated visibility, water temperature and depth, just as I experienced them on the days I was there. On dives the dive computer measured depth and duration, and values with a named source show what is usual there, not how it was for me.

The water is so clear that I can see the bottom, less than four meters below me. Round corals, light sand in between, and finally colorful fish. I haven’t seen needlefish and pufferfish at all yet on this trip. My wife and I came here by boat, three quarters of an hour along the west coast of Mauritius.

In front of our hotel in Flic en Flac we had found something else: sand and gray, broken coral. The beach is beautiful. But we had come to snorkel, and in that respect we were rather disappointed.

Off Kamadhoo in the Maldives, on the other hand, the reef lies only thirty meters from the beach.

For us, that was the biggest difference underwater. Mauritius has a shallow lagoon between beach and reef that you simply walk into. We only saw a clear, colorful reef there from the boat. The Maldives had the reef right in front of the beach on several islands, and turtles and reef sharks swam there. What decides between the two is mainly whether the reef should be right on your doorstep or whether boat tours are part of the plan anyway.

At a glance

	Mauritius	Maldives
Where we were	Flic en Flac, west coast, early February 2026	five inhabited islands, April 2025 and August 2026
From the beach into the water	shallow lagoon, sand and coral rubble	Kamadhoo: reef after around 30 m · Rasdhoo: after around 50 m · Dhigurah and Fulidhoo: no good reef off Bikini Beach
Clear reef	by boat: coral stop, up to 4 m deep, around 20 m visibility	from the beach: edge off Rasdhoo, around 25 m visibility in the morning
Big animals	one turtle, around 20 dolphins from the boat	mantas, a whale shark, reef sharks, turtles
Water in August	22 °C (Plaisance, German Weather Service)	27 °C (Malé, German Weather Service)
With a child	not experienced, the lagoon is shallow	experienced twice, at six and at eight years old

Contents

1. At a glance
2. Snorkeling from the beach: lagoon or reef edge
3. Why do you need a boat for snorkeling on Mauritius?
4. Snorkeling with turtles on Mauritius and in the Maldives
5. Maldives or Mauritius with kids: what is it like in the water?
6. How warm is the sea in August, October or December?
7. My conclusion
8. Frequently asked questions
9. Further reading

Snorkeling from the beach: lagoon or reef edge

Off Flic en Flac, the lagoon lies behind large surf walls made of rock. You walk into the water, nobody has to book anything, and you swim for a long time over sand and coral rubble. A great many damselfish live in it. Kamadhoo welcomes you in a similar way, with sand and the first corals, except that there you reach the reef after thirty meters. On the very first day we saw a turtle, an eagle ray and blacktip reef sharks.

On Mauritius it only gets more colorful out at the surf wall. Lionfish hover under the rocks, but the water there is two meters deep at most, and below lie sharp corals. Rasdhoo has its edge after around fifty meters of shallow reef, and in August more was going on there than at the wall off Flic en Flac: a reef manta every morning, all kinds of different sharks, moray eels and once an octopus.

In the lagoon you need fins for the long distance. Water shoes belong at both beaches. On Mauritius they protect you at the wall, on Kamadhoo from the corals that already lie in the shallow sand.

Why do you need a boat for snorkeling on Mauritius?

You don’t need one for the lagoon, but you do for a clear reef.

On February 1, 2026, the speedboat took us to the colors. The sea was calm. Green, steep mountains reach down to the lagoon there, and in the southwest we saw the Le Morne mountain on the way there and back.

On the way, the boat stops at around twenty dolphins. Young ones are probably swimming with them. We all go into the water. First I hear them, then I see them. The group keeps its distance and dives beneath us, and shortly afterward it has vanished. Nobody on board mentioned any rules. The dolphins decide what happens in the water anyway: they come closer, or they stay away. My video of it is unfortunately so bad that I’m not showing it here.

After the dolphins comes the coral stop, half an hour over the round corals, completely relaxed.

At Crystal Rock the boat anchors in three or four meters of water, and we swim over. Around the rock the water is waist-deep, with only sand beneath. We take a look at it. Two other boats are there, around ten people, and still no photo without people works out. That’s how small the rock is.

At lunchtime there is grilled fish under a tent on Île aux Bénitiers, with guests from France, Switzerland and Spain at the table. The highlight for my wife was the grilled bananas. On the way back the water got a bit rougher, and the boat bounced over small waves. It wasn’t bad.

In the Maldives the boat wasn’t a must, but it took us to the big animals. In Hanifaru Bay, a bay in Baa Atoll, I dive down after checking with the guide, right in among the mantas. I stay still. They swerve around me, never hectically, with a small change of course. Off Dhigurah, a young whale shark, about five meters long, came straight toward me and glided beneath me.

Snorkeling with turtles on Mauritius and in the Maldives

We had booked a tour to Turtle Point on Mauritius. We could also have swum there from the beach, the spot was that close. In water barely two meters deep there was exactly one turtle, and a great many snorkelers crowded around it. We left it in peace and moved a little way off.

Ten minutes later, it is there. It comes on its own and glides close over the light sand, the sunlight drawing nets on its shell. Only my wife is still drifting next to me. Around us, there is no more crowding.

Since January 25, 2022, swimming with sea turtles on Mauritius has no longer been allowed. The Tourism Authority announced this. That surprised me, because we had booked a tour to the turtles after all. So if you come across a turtle, keep your distance and don’t follow it. It comes up to breathe, so nobody should be in its way above it.

We saw turtles more often in the Maldives. On Kamadhoo it rains in the morning, and only in the afternoon do we go into the water at Bikini Beach. The sea is slightly choppy; I can see ten, fifteen meters. A large turtle swims above the house reef, and I also see a reef shark. A few days later there were several turtles at Turtle Reef in Baa Atoll.

Maldives or Mauritius with kids: what is it like in the water?

The water in the lagoon of Flic en Flac is shallow, warm and calm. At the surf wall there are sharp corals that you can swim around. Our son didn’t try out the lagoon; he wasn’t with us on Mauritius. He came along to the Maldives twice, and there it depended on the island. From Bikini Beach on Dhigurah we couldn’t reach a good reef, but he and I played in the waves there. At Bikini Beach on Kamadhoo it was the other way around: the reef was close, but there was nothing to play with in the water. Instead, there’s a large water playground at the locals’ beach.

Scratched mosquito bites kept him on land more than once. Salt water stings in them. The Federal Foreign Office also advises protecting yourself against mosquitoes during the day on Mauritius. How confidently their child swims is something parents have to judge for themselves. I don’t see any obstacles with a child on the inhabited islands of the Maldives; the locals there are very fond of children.

How warm is the sea in August, October or December?

In February, when we were on Mauritius, both seas are equally warm. In the southern winter, the water off Mauritius cools down noticeably. Off Malé it stays warm. That is what the climate tables of the German Weather Service say:

Month	Mauritius (Plaisance)	Maldives (Malé)
February	27 °C	27 °C
March	27 °C	28 °C
August	22 °C	27 °C
October	23 °C	28 °C
December	25 °C	27 °C

Our February on Mauritius fell in the period when cyclones can occur there. The Federal Foreign Office names mainly November to May. Our August in the Maldives was hardly cooler than April, but wind and waves came instead.

My conclusion

On both trips, the weather decided the excursions. One tour was supposed to take us to the spot considered the best snorkeling site on Mauritius. It was called off. In August in the Maldives, we didn’t book any excursion in advance. We decided at short notice, sometimes after asking locally whether the trip was worth it that day. For snorkeling on Mauritius, the boat tours belong in the plan from the start. Whether they happen is decided by the weather.

I’m dedicating a separate article on the local islands to the differences between the inhabited islands of the Maldives.

Frequently asked questions

Which is farther away, the Maldives or Mauritius? Mauritius. From Berlin it’s around 9,150 kilometers as the crow flies, to Malé around 7,650. In the German winter, the clock on Mauritius is three hours ahead, in the Maldives four.

How far apart are the Maldives and Mauritius? Around 3,200 kilometers as the crow flies. We haven’t done both together.

What do you need for entry? For Mauritius, a passport that is valid for six more months beyond the end of the trip, and the “All in One Travel Form”, online or on paper before boarding. Vacationers don’t need a visa. For the Maldives, the passport is enough. The visa is issued free of charge on arrival, and you fill out the declaration online at most 96 hours beforehand.

What fees do you pay locally? Since October 2025, Mauritius has charged three euros per person per night; children under twelve pay nothing. Since 2025, the Maldives have charged six US dollars per day if you stay on an inhabited island in a house with at most 50 rooms.

Sources: Entry, cyclone season and mosquito protection according to the Federal Foreign Office, for Mauritius as of September 25, 2026, for the Maldives as of September 24, 2026. The fee on Mauritius is governed by the Mauritius Revenue Authority, the Green Tax by the Ministry of Finance of the Maldives. The Tourism Authority of Mauritius announced the turtle ban on January 25, 2022. The water temperatures are in the climate tables of the German Weather Service for Plaisance and Malé. Time zones: IANA. I calculated the distances from the coordinates of the airports. I accessed everything on September 25, 2026.

Further reading

• Snorkeling in Flic en Flac: beach, surf wall and what you need there
• Turtle Point on Mauritius: the whole encounter and the 2022 ban
• Crystal Rock: the day on the boat through to the barbecue
• Hanifaru Bay: mantas in Baa Atoll
• Whale shark off Dhigurah: the young whale shark and the crowding
• Mauritius and Maldives: the destination pages with all the months