Travel report
Can you swim with turtles in Mauritius? Snorkeling at Turtle Point, close to the beach
Translated from the German original.
The water is so shallow that I have to be careful while swimming not to stir up the sand with my fins. And then she is simply there: a large sea turtle, less than an arm’s length below me, the sunlight drawing bright nets on her shell. She glides past me close above the pale bottom. Ten minutes earlier she was still surrounded by snorkelers. Now there’s no one around her anymore except my wife and me.
The answer, before you read on: For the turtle at Turtle Point on the west coast of Mauritius, you don’t need a boat. She was about fifty meters off the beach, in two to three meters of water; you don’t need to be able to dive for it. We had booked a tour, though, and could have done without it. Something else was what mattered: if you break away from the crowd, you see more. And since 2022, swimming with turtles has been prohibited on Mauritius, so keeping your distance is a must.
At a glance
| Where | Turtle Point on the west coast of Mauritius, about 50 m off the beach |
| Getting there | we came on a booked boat trip; the spot is so close to the beach that you can swim there |
| Depth | 2–3 m, you can stay at the surface |
| Water and visibility | 27 °C, 20 m visibility (early February 2026) |
| Turtles | exactly one for us, but a great many snorkelers around it |
| Rules | swimming with sea turtles, feeding them and any kind of harassment have been prohibited since January 25, 2022 (announcement by the Tourism Authority Mauritius) |
| Best time to go | September to December for the best visibility, November and December for warm water too; cyclone season November to April, strongest January to March |
| With a child | shallow, calm water; our son wasn’t with us on this trip |
| For whom | for everyone who can swim; no diving certification needed |
Contents
- Where can you see turtles in Mauritius?
- Do you need a turtle tour in Mauritius?
- Is swimming with turtles allowed in Mauritius?
- What should you do when many snorkelers are floating around the turtle?
- Does that work on a whale shark tour too?
- Which sea turtles live in the lagoons of Mauritius?
- When is the best time to see turtles in Mauritius?
- Frequently asked questions
Where can you see turtles in Mauritius?
We saw her at Turtle Point, on the west coast, in early February 2026. The spot lies in the shallow water of the lagoon, and that’s no coincidence. Mauritius is enclosed by a continuous reef. Between this reef and the beach lies a lagoon, shallow, calm and almost without current. Green sea turtles are considered seagrass eaters, and their food grows in shallow water like this.
For snorkelers, that’s a stroke of luck. You don’t need a diving certification to meet an animal like this; two meters of water are enough. The visibility for us was around twenty meters, so you can make out a turtle from far away as a dark spot above the pale bottom. What else the lagoon has to offer, and what it doesn’t, is in Snorkeling from the beach in Flic en Flac, and the spot’s measurements are on the Flic en Flac place page.
Other travel sites mostly name Trou aux Biches in the north for turtles. I wasn’t in the water there. Turtle Point, on the other hand, hardly anyone describes, and it lies as close to the beach as you could possibly wish.
Do you need a turtle tour in Mauritius?
No. We had booked a boat trip that hardly deserves the name. The boat first took us beyond the breakwater edge, maybe two hundred meters from the beach. There we were allowed to snorkel for ten minutes, then it was back on board. The boat headed toward the beach again and sent us back into the water fifty meters from the shore. Only there, practically within sight of the towels, was the turtle waiting.
To be honest, we could have saved ourselves the boat and snorkeled straight from the beach to the spot. We had booked it as a turtle tour, but the spot was close to the beach. In the shallow lagoon, a mask, snorkel and fins are enough. What I take along is in my gear list.
Is swimming with turtles allowed in Mauritius?
What we didn’t know when booking: since January 25, 2022, swimming with sea turtles, feeding them and any kind of harassment have been prohibited on Mauritius. That’s what the Tourism Authority of Mauritius announced on that day. We were sold the trip as a turtle tour anyway.
If you want to see a turtle, what you need above all is distance: don’t follow her and don’t touch her. Most important of all is a clear path upward: a sea turtle has to come to the surface to breathe, and anyone swimming between her and the light makes exactly that hard for her. If you stay to her side and don’t follow her, you don’t disturb her. We saw that on this morning, and later in the Maldives once again.
What should you do when many snorkelers are floating around the turtle?
There was exactly one turtle, and accordingly many snorkelers gathered around this one animal. The turtle had room and didn’t let herself be pushed. Only good shots were impossible to get in the commotion. A different experience from our lonely reef near Rasdhoo in the Maldives, where we were able to snorkel with around ten turtles all to ourselves.
The difference lies in the place. At Turtle Reef near Rasdhoo you drift over a long reef edge in the middle of the sea, and the animals spread out over hundreds of meters. At Turtle Point, one turtle is in a lagoon, fifty meters off a busy beach. That it’s crowded there is no surprise; you just have to be prepared for it.
So we did the only thing that makes sense in a moment like that: we left the turtle in peace and moved away from the bustle. Ten minutes later she appeared next to me and my wife all on her own. No more crowding, no more racing for the best position. Just her, the shallow water over the pale sand and the two of us. That’s how the pictures here came about: we didn’t swim after her; she came to us.
That’s the one lesson from this morning: if you break away from a crowd, you see more. An animal surrounded by lots of people keeps feeding or swims off. If you take yourself out and wait twenty, thirty meters farther on over the sand, exactly what happened at Turtle Point can happen: the animal comes into the quiet corner, and you are the only one already lying there.
The same goes for the pictures. In the crowd you get backs, fins and stirred-up sand in the frame. On your own you get the animal.
Does that work on a whale shark tour too?
At Turtle Point it works because the water is shallow and you can simply move a bit away. There are places where that no longer works. Half a year later I was in the water on a whale shark tour where fifty snorkelers were chasing a single animal at the same time. There, moving away doesn’t help anymore; the whole place is full. What made the difference between the two mornings was how much water stayed free around the animal.
Which sea turtles live in the lagoons of Mauritius?
The lagoons of Mauritius are home mainly to green sea turtles, and besides them hawksbill turtles. The two are easy to tell apart. The green turtle has a round, blunt head and grazes on seagrass. The hawksbill turtle has a more pointed, beak-like head and uses it to search for sponges among the corals.
When it comes to conservation status, the two are far apart. The green sea turtle is now considered less endangered, the hawksbill turtle critically endangered. So distance and calm at a spot like this are not a matter of politeness.
When is the best time to see turtles in Mauritius?
We were there in early February, and the turtle was in the lagoon. What certainly changes over the year is the water around it. We haven’t experienced other months at this spot.
In February it was 27 °C, and the lagoon lay still. On the other hand, it’s the strongest cyclone season: around seventy percent of all the island’s cyclones fall between January and March. Our own boat trip to the supposedly best snorkeling spot on the island was called off because of the weather.
The clearer time is at the other end of the year. From September to December Mauritius has the best visibility, and in November and December the water is warm again, while the cyclone season is only just beginning. For a turtle in shallow water, the February visibility of twenty meters is completely enough; but if you also want to see the reef farther out, you’re better off going in early summer. The months in detail, with water temperatures and sources, are on the Mauritius destination guide.
My conclusion
If you want to snorkel with turtles on Mauritius, you’ll find one at Turtle Point in two to three meters of water, close to the beach and without a diving certification. We only had many at once in the Maldives, at a reef off Rasdhoo. At Turtle Point the first minutes belonged to the crowd, and the encounter afterward was so much more beautiful.
Frequently asked questions
Where can you snorkel with turtles on Mauritius? We saw one at Turtle Point on the west coast, about fifty meters off the beach in two to three meters of water; the spot’s values are on the Flic en Flac place page. Other travel sites mostly name Trou aux Biches in the north; we weren’t there.
Do you need a boat trip for the turtles? Not at Turtle Point. The spot is so close to the beach that you can swim there. We had booked a tour and could have done without it. What else the lagoon has to offer without a boat is in Flic en Flac from the beach.
Is swimming with turtles allowed on Mauritius? No. Since January 25, 2022, swimming with sea turtles, feeding them and any kind of harassment have been prohibited. If you want to see them, keep your distance, don’t follow her, and leave her path upward clear.
How many turtles do you see at Turtle Point? For us it was exactly one, surrounded by many snorkelers. Once we had moved away, she came to us on her own after ten minutes.
When is the best time for turtles on Mauritius? We were there in February; we don’t know the other months. For visibility, September to December is best; the strongest cyclone season is January to March; all months are on the Mauritius destination guide.
I tell the story of the boat trip to Crystal Rock in the southwest of Mauritius, with the dolphins on the way and the barbecue lunch on Île aux Bénitiers, in an article of its own.