Ilot Gabriel Beach, Mauritius

5Inge T 5:00 PM Apr 1, 2015

Great day trip from Grand Baie
There has been a lot of reviews of this trip and most are good. We had a fantastic day with lunch ON the island in a shady area. We went with PRINCESS TOURS and were the only ones to have lunch on the Island. All other tours had to go back on the boats. Snorkelling is nice but not fantastic. The water is very clear. As a bonus the Crew took us to Coin de Mire on the way back to snorkel from the boat and here there was a fabulous reef and great snorkelling. Only one other catamaran stopped here on the way back, the Wind Dancer. We paid 1000 rps, children under 12 were half price.

4Odysseyx 5:00 PM Mar 1, 2015

Book Lunch on the Island Not the Catamaran
Booking a trip to Ilot Gabriel is a bit like a lucky dip. There are tourist operators in every third shop in Grand Baie and it's confusing as to who's offering what and which boat you're going on. The BIG TIP is: make sure you book a trip that has lunch on the island and NOT on the catamaran. My partner and I fluked it by saying that and then we learned that only one company has the rights to take people onto the island. The others can't and that's why they only have you on an unshaded beach for an hour and then whip you back onto the catamaran for lunch. This was the previous reviewer's experience and, of course, it happens a lot. For the record, we booked with Princess Tours in the main street in Grand Baie and paid 2000 Mauritian for the two of us which is about AUD35 each. This was great value considering it included the return trip of about 90 minutes each way and we spent a couple of hours swimming on the beach and relaxing in the shaded, private area with wooden tables and thatched umbrellas; drank free beers, rum, soft drinks and water and enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch of fish, chicken and salads. The beaches and water on Ilot Gabriel are pristine and we enjoyed the swimming very much. We then sailed past Madame Trou and onto Gunners Point where we could swim and snorkel. Again, this was magical but there's not a lot of marine life or coral to see. Make sure you bring your own gear if you want to snorkel as none was offered by staff. The orange catamaran we went on isn't flash and you need to take your own water with you as they only offered us water in glasses washed in sea water - and that was only on the return trip. The male staff were lazy and lying in some of the best seats that passengers would have liked. They didn't look after us in any way which was disappointing and service needs to be improved. Despite this, the experience on Ilot Gabriel was one of the highlights of our three weeks in Mauritius.