In Grand Baie we booked a tour to the northern islands of Mauritius at a food truck on the beach. Usually these tours are organized with a catamaran, the foodtruck owner is one of the few who offer this tour with a speedboat.
The advantage: we are the first on the island! Also, the wavy crossing with the speedboat is much shorter. Let’s give it a try!
In the morning we take the bus from Trou aux Biches to Grand Baie. There we are already expected at 8:30 o’clock, the boat is prepared and loaded. It’s not big, but we were told not to let it put us off. We are 12 passengers and two crew members and have enough space on the speedboat.
Then everyone gets a life jacket. Life jacket!? That’s what you usually get in overcautious America! In this case, it’ understandable. As soon as we have left the bay, the skipper accelerates and our boat hurtles over the waves! We leave the protective reef ring of Mauritius and in fast journey it goes over the sea towards the islands, interrupted by the continuous screech concert of the girls at the front part of the boat! Admittedly, on the fast roller coaster ride we get wet and shaken, but we don’t mind. We already have experience with this kind of boat trips 😉 For very anxious people we would not recommend this trip, for everyone else it is a lot of fun!
We quickly leave the catamarans, that leave with us, behind, but they are also shaken up a lot – and as a reminder, they are on the sea longer!
After about 40 minutes we reach the outermost island: Gabriel’s Island. As promised, we are the first! We’ve got the island to ourselves!
White sandy beaches and turquoise sea! Paradise! Of course we jump into the water immediately, because here you have the rare opportunity to see sea turtles. And instantly we discover one of them with which we swim side by side through the sea.
The reef is rather average. As we have already mentioned several times, the whole world is now struggling with the dying of coral due to climate change and global warming. We discover a large crown of thorns star, which eats corals and thus also contributes to the destruction.
Nevertheless, we still have two highlights, because we discover a large group of squids and suddenly a huge barracuda appears! The big predatory fish floats past us calmly and Markus swims of course after it! 😀
After three quarters of an hour we jump back on the boat and drive to the neighbouring island “Flat Island”. Meanwhile the catamarans arrive on Gabriel’s Island and populate it.
After a very short crossing we reach the neighbouring island Flat Island.
Once there we are the only ones who can relax at the paradisiacal beach! This island is a dream! No words needed, the pictures say it all!
We have two hours on Flat Island. Meanwhile our bar opens and we enjoy the beach with cool drinks.
Afterwards we go snorkelling, but the current is quite strong.
Lunch is ready!
The food tastes very good and at the community table you quickly get to know the other fellow travellers better.
Afterwards we have more free time before we set off for the third island.
With loud screeching we ride through the waves to the last of the three islands “Gunners Coin”. We do not enter the island itself, but snorkel there from our boat.
Here it is a little deeper, but the view is very good. That makes snorkeling fun!
Then we make our way back. In summary, we enjoyed the tour very much. We were not bothered by the crossing, for the very anxious the trip might be a bit problematic. The three islands are paradisiacally beautiful and exploring the underwater world is a lot of fun! As promised we were the first on the island, only flaw: we were also the first to return! Actually we were not supposed to be back until 5 pm, but we were already back in Grand Baie at 3:40 pm. That’s a bit of a pity, but supposedly an exception, because a passenger had an injury. Nevertheless, we can definitely recommend the tour. Whether one is better off with the catamaran we doubt a little. This decision is up to you. But one thing we can say: take the trip!
Summary and tips
Our Hotel
Elysee Residence in Trou aux Biches
Double room incl. breakfast for less than 50€ per night
- Rating at booking.com: 7,5
- Rooms are no highlight, but nothing else to complain about
- Very close to the beach
- Very good location (snorkeling, supermarket 300m, bus stop, restaurants, food stalls)
Transport
Taxi: Pereybere – Trou aux Biches (200-300 MUR)
Bus: 30 MUR
Timetables can be found at mauritius-buses.com
Tips
- Snorkelling at the southern end of the beach is fun and diverse
- It is difficult to find a good accommodation in Trou aux Biches: many are overpriced and the beach access is often blocked
Hallo, was habt ihr für die 3 Insel Tour bezahlt pro Person und war das Essen und Getränke inklusive? Danke
Hallo Melissa!
Wir haben für die Tour mit dem Speedboat 1400MUR (35€) pro Person bezahlt. Essen und Getränke sind inklusive!
Liebe Grüße!
Carina & Markus