Mauritius
Ile aux Cerfs
Trou aux Biches Lagoon
Blue Bay Marine Park
Flic en Flac Lagoon
Grand Baie
Fly over the underwater waterfall illusion at Le Morne
Hike Black River Gorges National Park
Walk the Seven Coloured Earths at Chamarel
Kitesurf at Le Morne
Snorkel Blue Bay Marine Park
Le Morne Brabant
Port Louis Central Market
Chamarel Seven Coloured Earths
Black River Gorges National Park
Rodrigues Island
The cooler, drier season from May to November brings the most settled sailing conditions, with daytime temperatures around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius and lower humidity than the summer months. December to April is warmer and wetter and falls within the southwest Indian Ocean cyclone season, with risk peaking between January and March, so most charter operators steer clients toward the May to November window for reliability.
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, near Plaine Magnien in the island’s southeast, is the only international gateway and roughly 45 minutes by road from the main marinas at Grand Baie and Black River. It has direct flights from major European, African and Asian hubs, including several daily connections to Paris and Johannesburg, making Mauritius one of the more straightforwardly reached charter destinations in the Indian Ocean.
Ile aux Cerfs, reachable only by boat off the east coast, pairs a wide sand beach with calm, reef-protected water and stays busy with day-trip traffic, so an early or late visit is worth the effort. Blue Bay Marine Park near Mahebourg protects some of the island’s healthiest coral, and Trou aux Biches on the north coast offers a long, gently shelving lagoon that suits swimming as much as anchoring overnight.
Five to seven days covers a full circuit of the island’s coastline, from the sheltered lagoons of the north around Grand Baie to the kitesurfing waters and dramatic backdrop of Le Morne in the southwest. Adding a few days to reach Rodrigues, roughly 560 kilometres east and a separate, quieter island in its own right, turns the trip into a longer two-island itinerary rather than a single-island charter.
Yes. Port Louis is the mandatory port of first entry for any foreign-flagged yacht, where customs, immigration and port health formalities are completed before the vessel can proceed to Grand Baie or elsewhere. Crews should also be aware that fresh produce arriving from Asia east of 60 degrees longitude, along with sugar cane, cannot be brought ashore, and pets require an advance permit from the Ministry of Agriculture plus a health certificate before landing.