Pointe d'Esny Beach

Pointe d'Esny is a small beach village on the south-east coast, tucked between the Blue Bay Marine Park to the north and the wetlands of the Mahébourg Lagoon to the south, and it has remained considerably less developed than its geographical position adjacent to Mauritius's most famous snorkelling site might suggest. The beach — a narrow strip of white sand about 400 metres long — faces west across the protected lagoon and gets the full benefit of the afternoon light in a way that the east-facing Blue Bay beach does not.

The water at Pointe d'Esny is a continuation of the Blue Bay Marine Park ecosystem, which means the reef life here is similarly rich and similarly protected. Snorkelling directly from the beach puts a snorkeller above coral gardens in two to four metres of water, with the same cast of parrotfish, butterflyfish, triggerfish, and occasional sea turtle that makes Blue Bay famous. The difference is that Pointe d'Esny is substantially less visited — the parking is limited, the facilities are minimal, and most tourists gravitate to the official Blue Bay beach facilities a kilometre north — which means the reef here is often quieter and the underwater experience correspondingly better.

The village of Pointe d'Esny has a devoted community of kitesurfers who use the flat lagoon water and the strong south-east trade wind to train and compete. The wind here is highly reliable from April through September, and the flat-water launch makes it one of the safer kitesurfing venues on the island for improving intermediates. The Boathouse bar and restaurant on the waterfront is the community's social hub, and the Friday evening atmosphere — wetsuits drying on every available surface, the smell of salt water and barbecue smoke — is the most straightforwardly happy scene on the south-east coast.