Dolphin Trips in Mauritius: Shared Speedboats, a Private Boat for Up to Five, and Which One to Book

The short speedboat trips on Mauritius’s west coast centre on dolphin swimming, but departure times, time on the water and group sizes vary. The photographs are interchangeable. The price unit, the crowd and the lunch are not.

For most people: the Black River speedboat swim at €58 — 4.5 stars from 465 reviews, two and a half hours, no more than eight guests on board. For a shared trip from La Preneuse: the West Coast speedboat at €39 per person, 4.4 stars from 265 reviews. For your own party of up to five: the private Le Morne boat, from €300, 4.9 stars from 151 reviews. Confirm the total quote for your party.

Five trips side by side

What the law decides for all of them

The regulations set the ordinary operating window and a swimmer limit per boat. Under the Tourism Authority’s 2012 regulations, as amended in December 2012, paid dolphin watching and swimming operate between 6am and noon unless the Authority authorises otherwise in writing. Each boat may put no more than three swimmers, including a lifesaver, into the sea at the same time. The Black River page says guests enter the water “in groups of 2 at a time”, consistent with that limit when accompanied by the lifesaver. The regulations, and what they mean for your booking, are in the rules for swimming with dolphins.

Guests therefore take turns in the water; the boat’s capacity is not a promise of a particular number or length of swims. The pod decides how long each turn lasts.

The price unit is the first trap

The West Coast speedboat, optional-pickup listing and Tamarin lunch trip show per-person prices. Confirm the price unit for the Black River trip and the total quote for the private Le Morne boat before comparing them. The Le Morne private boat accommodates up to five people; confirm which party size is covered by the displayed quote.

A private booking reserves the boat for your party. The Le Morne trip includes snorkelling and, if time and sea conditions allow and the guests agree, a short fishing experience at no extra charge.

For a party of three to five, confirm the total booking price and available capacity before paying. A private boat does not reserve a dolphin pod: boats from other operators may be present.

The shared speedboats: what you are signing up for

The Black River swim leaves from La Jetée Road in Grande Rivière Noire. The page limits the boat to eight guests and makes lifejackets compulsory on board. Its description specifies wearing them in the water outside the lagoon, while the equipment list says in the water generally; clarify the lagoon-snorkelling requirement with the crew. The operator puts the chance of seeing dolphins at 90 per cent. That figure is the operator’s own; treat it as a sales number for wild animals. It rounds off with a snorkel on the reef. Pregnant women and people with mobility impairments are listed as not suitable.

The West Coast speedboat at €39 per person lasts 135 minutes, with guides in English, French, Spanish, Hindi and Urdu. Its description calls for an energetic swimmer: you may repeatedly enter the water, climb back aboard and move to another location. It has 4.4 stars from 265 reviews, compared with 4.5 stars from 465 reviews for the Black River boat. The description confirms snorkelling equipment and available life vests; check transfer and meal arrangements on the booking page. The West Coast speedboat meets at the public-beach parking area in La Preneuse. It excludes people with mobility impairments, epilepsy or pre-existing medical conditions.

The optional hotel-pickup listing starts at €55 per person, with 4.7 stars from 237 reviews; confirm the price for the swim-only, full-day or private option you select. It says outright that the trip takes place in the open ocean and not in an animal park, that dolphins are fast and you should expect to jump in several times, and that many boats and many tourists will be at the same spot. If you do not want to share, it points you to its private-boat option. Do not assume the shared option is a small group. The description gives a capacity of 14–17 tourists plus two crew, while the practical notes mention sharing with 10–18 other tourists. Confirm the boat and passenger count for your selected option, and choose the private option explicitly if you want only your own party aboard. The swim-only version runs at about 7:30am and finishes around 9:30am; Crystal Rock snorkelling and lunch are excluded from that option. The full-day version adds Crystal Rock and a barbecue on Île aux Bénitiers, with the description giving a return to the main island around 2pm. Hotel pickup and drop-off are optional, with island-wide pickup described for the transfer option.

Its exclusions list is long and worth reading before you pay. It excludes babies under one, people over 80, pregnant women, wheelchair users, people with back, mobility or heart problems, a cold, food allergies, recent surgery, seasickness or motion sickness. These are stated exclusions, not conditions to set aside by requesting a different meal or transport option.

The day trips: lunch after the dolphins

On these day-trip itineraries, the dolphin activity comes first and the island visit and lunch follow. The Tamarin dolphin snorkel is €63 per person for six and a half hours, with Crystal Rock and lunch on Île aux Bénitiers after the swim. It has 1,360 reviews behind its 4.3 stars, and its page says the swimming is licensed and regulated by the government. The Tamarin lunch trip requires a good swimmer and describes the activity as sporty and energetic. It excludes wheelchair users and people with mobility impairments. Drinks are included during the three-course beach barbecue.

If a day on the water is what you want anyway, this is a fair price. If dolphins are the whole reason, a short trip leaves the afternoon free without adding the island lunch itinerary. How the day trips differ from each other is in the Île aux Bénitiers comparison.

Getting to the right departure point

The meeting points are not near the resorts of the north or the east. The Black River boat meets at La Jetée Road. The pickup listing gives Tamarin public beach as a meeting instruction, with free parking in front of the Veranda hotel, and a swim-only start around 7:30am. The private Le Morne boat gives a meeting point in Le Morne; check whether hotel transport is included in your selected booking. For the others, check what the page says about pickup before you rely on it.

If you are driving yourself, compare car rental on your dates. Whether you need a car at all is the question we answer here.

When not to book this

If you cannot make the confirmed departure time, don’t book that option. Check the meeting time for the selected option and arrange transport around it.

If you need a guarantee, don’t. These are wild animals in open water. The optional-pickup listing explicitly explains that sightings and swimming opportunities depend on the animals and conditions.

If you want whales as well, assess a whale-watching trip separately. Swimming with whales is prohibited under the Tourism Authority regulations, subject to the Authority’s written educational or scientific exceptions. See whale watching in Mauritius.

Which one to book

For eligible swimmers: the Black River speedboat swim, from €58. 4.5 stars from 465 reviews, a boat limited to eight, and a page that says what happens in the water. Confirm the price unit when booking.

See availability and prices for the Black River speedboat swim

For a private party of up to five: the Le Morne boat, from €300, with the total quote confirmed for your group. Other boats may still be at the dolphin encounter. For an energetic shared swim from La Preneuse: the West Coast speedboat at €39 per person. Skip the day trip unless you want the lunch, the lagoon and a six-and-a-half-hour boat day as well.