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Surfing in Mauritius
The most easily accessible surf spots are found mainly
along the south west coast where surfing conditions
are best during the months of May to October.
Surfing
spots
The legendary and most accessible surfing spots
of Mauritius are the Tamarin bay
and Le Morne point; both along the South-West
coast and to a lesser extent the Riviere des
Galets in the South. Of course, there are
several other places where waves are occasionally
adequate. Balaclava and Pointe-aux-Piments
(on the North-West coast,) are OK, mainly in the
summer months, when depressions bring in swells
from the South-West. Other spots are difficult
to reach without a boat. |
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Tamarin Bay
This is a legendary surfing spot but not a myth.
Tamarin bay was well known in the late 60's among the
hippy surfers, namely Australians for its ideal wave.
At that time, it was such a great spot that the surfers
tried not to advertise it and keep it for themselves
and gave it the name code of "Santosha."
Since then with the natural movement of sandbanks Tamarin
is no longer an all year round spot but remains the
favourite spot for the Mauritian surfers as when conditions
are right, Tamarin bay offers the most clean right foots
and left foots (Cap Dal and Blackstone) with possibilities
of pipeline riding. Even beginners can have a treat
surfing the shore breaks of the bay. Surfing at Cap
Dal occurs along the reefs, which are rather close
to the shore (150 meters.) Only experienced surfers
should venture on this spot during low tides.
This place is magic, if not mystic, especially on "Big
Days" when the whole village is on a buzz, when all
have one thing in mind...surfing. On those days, Tamarin
is like back to the "Flower Power" times that left several
prints in Tamarin.
Le Morne
Le Morne also offers lefts and rights as One Eye
and La Prairie spots are on each side of
a pass. Le Morne spots may not often offer the ideal
waves like in Tamarin but has the great advantage of
being moderate to big almost all year round; at least
during 2 to 3 hours of the day.
Conditions at Le Morne are often extreme as there
is always a strong draught and strong sea current dragging
out of the lagoon. Both spots are along coral reefs
that are over 500 meters away from the shore. We would
recommend occasional surfers not to venture alone and
not to surf away from others, as it is merely impossible
for someone to watch a particular surfer from the beach.
The white-short question
Rumour mills carry-on about that question to the point
that we were doubtful about what to write as we received
several comments from local surfers. Being Mauritians,
we believe we are in the right place to tell the plain
truth.
Yes, there were white shorts in Mauritius and
more precisely in Tamarin. No, they are not to be compared
to the real white shorts of other places as they would
not hit surfers in the face everyday and some of them
helped other surfers when in difficulty. There are hardly
ten of them and although they still surf very regularly,
they are far more mature now and can only get a bit
grumpy when the spots are crowded. Since they exist,
there has been hundreds of newcomers (including many
foreigners) on the spots which never encountered any
problem as long as they respect priorities. They are
just a group of nostalgic conservative persons with
a hint of xenophobia but many are really nice once acquainted.
Visitors should keep in mind that this group does not
receive the support of the hundreds of Mauritian surfers
and are now surfing quietly on remote and extreme spots.
The shark question
That question is exactly the same as for white shorts.
Yes there are sharks in Mauritius like everywhere else;
and No, they are not an issue.
The varieties of sharks we have in Mauritius
are not the killer types. Near the coast there are the
grey reef sharks and the ones we call "sand sharks."
They can reach approx 2 m long if looked for but most
of them measure around 1,50 m. Further out there are
the hammer-heads, Makos and very rarely a white tip.
The regions of Tamarin and Le Morne contain
a bit more sharks than elsewhere, especially outside
the passes and channels but funny enough, the very few
reported incidents (say 3 in the past decade) did not
all occur in these places and to our knowledge no one
lost an arm or leg and no deadly attacks have ever occurred.
Have a nice ride! |
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