Snorkeling with Giant Turtles, The Red Church, Pamplemousses Garden & Port Louis
3.9
60 Ratings
Trou aux Biches
Experience the thrill of snorkeling with giant turtles in the Indian Ocean before exploring the iconic Red Church, Pamplemousses Garden, and vibrant Port Louis.
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Plage de Trou aux Biches - Start the day with one of the most unique experiences in Mauritius: snorkeling with wild, giant turtles! You will board a boat on the northwest coast of the island and have the opportunity to snorkel with turtles in their natural environment. These Giant Green Sea Turtles can reach up to 1.2m in length and weight up to 200kg. Apart from the turtles, you can see a variety of marine life, including different varieties of tropical fish and coral. Snorkeling gear is included!
Note: Typically the swimming with wild turtles portion of the tour is done first, however this may change depending on the tides.
What's Included
- Snorkeling with turtles
- Air-conditioned and insured taxi, minibus or coach
- Snorkeling gear
- Hotel pickup, dropoff and transportation in a private vehicle
- Services of a fully licensed, qualified driver
What's Not Included
- Entrance fees to Pamplemousses Garden are Rs. 300 (6 Euros) per person
- Lunch or snacks
Additional Information
- Note: Please refrain from touching or interacting with the turtles.
- Note: The entire tour is exclusive, with the exception of the giant turtle snorkeling part.
- Note: The itinerary usually kicks off with the wild turtle swim, however, adjustments may be made based on tidal conditions.
Embark on a unique adventure in the Northern part of Mauritius by devoting your morning to snorkeling with giant turtles in the Indian Ocean! Begin your journey from the island’s northwestern coast, and engage with these majestic sea beings using our provided snorkeling equipment.
Post this thrilling encounter, take some memorable snaps at the iconic Notre Dame Auxiliatrice (The Red Church), nestled against a picturesque lagoon and the renowned island of Coin de Mire.
Proceed next to the notable Pamplemousses Botanical Garden where you’ll come across a range of plants indigenous to the island. End your day amidst the lively atmosphere of Port Louis, the capital city, where an array of attractions await you, including the famed Caudan Waterfront, the bustling open-air market, and more!
- The swimming with turtles portion of this outing is not recommended for pregnant women. All children under 12 years old should be accompanied.
- In most cases you will see turtles. However, if this is not the case, a second outing will be offered on the boat free of charge (transportation to and from your hotel are not included for the second outing). It’s important to note that there will be no refund once you have completed the activity.
- This tour lasts up to eight hours, and you will be able to choose how long you spend at each attraction (except for the turtles portion). Depending on your group’s speed you may not have time to see all the listed attractions. You will be able to stop for lunch but the price of the lunch is not included
- Bring swimwear and a towel for the swimming with turtles portion, and a change of clothes and comfortable walking shoes for the rest of the tour
Location
Plage de Trou aux Biches
Costal Road
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.9
(60 Ratings)
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Karlis_b
Dec 23, 2023
A good introduction to Mauritius - A great tour around North Mauritius. Definitely the highlight of the tour was the snorkeling with sea turtles, an amazing experience 😄
You also receive a personal taxi driver who carries you to all the destinations (its only you and people you booked with). Our driver was very knowledgeable and great to talk with !
Review provided by Viator
Mandy
Dec 9, 2023
Fabulous. - Excellent informative and friendly taxi driver. Very helpful boat crew even did some videos of turtles for us. Could have had more time at shopping mall as 20 minutes was not enough. Gardens were fabulous and would recommended a guide as we didn’t have one and think we should have as gardens are massive .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
454huiminz
Oct 7, 2023
great fun and wonderfully scarey - was a lot of fun and a little scarey (in a good way)... The guide was great, friendly and informative, the church was interesting and had some great pictures. The turtles were bigger than expected and scared me in a good way... and were amazing to see!
The Botanical gardens were amazing as we had a guide and he knew everything and was very friendly, and finally the capital, Port Louis was nice, though much more modern than I had expected :o
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Varga
Oct 2, 2023
Surprises all day - Such a surprise day, I've booked this last minute when in Mauritius. I haven't realised we have a private driver, Dave, for the whole day. We had to text directly him after we booked the day for the location pickup, he was punctual and very discreet. He was accompanying us when we asked him to do so, and giving us a really good guide for the attractions when we asked him. The driver was very polite and kind, friendly, and always asked us how much time we wanted to spend at each location, waiting for us outside, so when we finished we just jumped in his car and went to the next place. We first visited Tea factory, then Port Louis, then he drove us to L'Ocean seafood restaurant (definitely try the crab soup, it's amazing) then we headed to swim with turtles - we've seen so many of them, then we've been taken to the Botanical garden. It was well over 5pm when we got home, and noticed then that the driver didn't need any map, all the routes were in his head. The Red Church is a Catholic Church in the middle of a beautiful beach so definitely visit it. The day was an absolute pleasure, thank you 😊
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Julie_m
Oct 6, 2023
Snorkeling with the turtles - Snorkeling with the turtles was a fantastic experience we reallyenjoyedit. We didn't really get to see much of port Louis as was only given half hour, so by the time we got across the road and into the market we only had time for a quick walk up and down a couple of rows before heading back to the car.
Review provided by Viator
Kavalowski
Aug 18, 2023
Swimming with a turtle is a must for Mauritius - Swimming with a giant turtle was probably the highlight of my trip to Mauritius. Was genuine concerns about if we’d get a chance to as they didn’t appear in the morning due to the tide. However, Kesaven who was our guide/driver for the day worked hard to keep up to date & even when at the end of the day it looked like they weren’t going to appear, he took us to meet the person who runs that part of the day so we could come back if needs be on another day with no additional cost to do it. But, our luck came in as whilst we were having that chat they spotted a giant turtle. So we rushed into the boat & went out, for what was an amazing experience. There was only 1 but frankly that didn’t matter. This was much better than “chasing” dolphins as we were in a small group actually swimming with the turtle.
The rest of the day was great. Visiting the tea exporter/factory was great, the guide there was super friendly & knowledgable. Pamplemousses Botanical Garden was great, but that was because for the small cost of 75RPS per person (around £2) you can get a guided tour. Frankly don’t think I’d have appreciated it without them & again they were so friendly but importantly knowledgable. The Red Church is also amazing & there was a wedding at the time so we kept a little further back, but that was fine as the views out to sea were unreal.
Port Louis was probably the only drawback in that I’d have happily have gone after a quick look around the quay & market.
Would recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
242richardh242
Aug 15, 2023
Great snorkelling - Swam with a turtle but the fish were amazing moray eels and Parrot fish. Only the two of us on the boat.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alexander
Feb 4, 2024
Tour left us with mixed feelings, but turtles were fantastic - Some parts of the tour were great, and some we were not impressed by.
Good:
- Swim with turtles was fantastic and without doubt the highligt of the trip. The boat personnel were nice.
- Driver was friendly and his flexibilty was good. He stopped at Caudan waterfront on our request.
Not so great:
- Driver had poor english skills so he didn’t talk or explain alot unlike other tours we went on.
- The driver planned lunch for quite late (2pm) without asking us, and he stopped at a tourist trap/scam restaurant. It was ridiculously overpriced compared to the quality of both service and food. Food was the worst and also most expensive we had at our whole Mauritius trip. Unfortunately this made us feel we were being somewhat exploited. The restaurants name was Camaron Rouge.
Would it not have been for the turtles, the tour would not have been worth the money.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Andy_d
Oct 25, 2023
Illegal tour since 2022 - we love seeing animals in the wild ,but watching turtles being scared by lots of people them was not what we wished . then next day we found that it has been illegal to swim like this with turtles in Mauritius like this since 2022 as with swimming with whales was banned some time back .we are shocked illegal tours are on viator . If you are ok with treating animals like this then book if not then do not book and help stop this trade . Did not put pics as seeing a stressed turtle is not great
Review provided by Viator
784heleneh
Feb 25, 2024
Poor turtles! - Do not snorkle with sea turtles! It is forbidden! A poor turtle gets fed so that around 20 tourists can roam around with arms and legs all over. The information about how to snorkle and behave is non-existing. They didn't even bring snorkle equipment for people, even if the description said so. Would never have done it if I knew it was like this! Otherwise we had a lovely day with a very good guide (Manoj). Can recommend him, but not the snorkeling.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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