Sainte Anne Marine National Park

The boat crossing from the Mahé jetty to the park takes twenty minutes and the islands of the park appear gradually on the horizon, and even this approach gives you a sense of entering a different zone — the water deepens and changes colour as you leave the harbour channel and the first reef formations become visible below the surface.

Snorkelling in the park is remarkable for the visibility, which can exceed thirty metres on a good day, and the way this clarity transforms the experience of a reef — you feel that you are floating in a large aquarium rather than the open ocean, and the fish seem almost unconcerned by your presence in the water.

The coral gardens in the park include significant stands of brain coral, staghorn coral and table coral, and the variety of coral types supports a correspondingly diverse fish community, with butterflyfish, parrotfish, angelfish and triggerfish all present in good numbers and easily identifiable with a basic fish guide.

Sea turtles — primarily green turtles — are commonly seen in the park and appear to have become habituated to the presence of snorkellers, allowing close approaches that would be impossible in a more heavily visited reef system, a testament to the effectiveness of the park's management in creating a genuinely protected space.

The islands within the park — Sainte Anne, Round Island, Long Island and others — are themselves worth exploring, with Sainte Anne having a small beach that is accessible by boat and providing a base for a picnic lunch between snorkelling sessions.

The reef shark is also present in the park, with white-tip reef sharks frequently seen resting on the bottom during the day and occasionally joined by the larger black-tip reef sharks that patrol the reef edge; they are unthreatening to snorkellers and their presence is a sign of a healthy reef ecosystem.

Glass-bottom boat tours operate from Victoria and provide an opportunity to see the reef for those who are not comfortable snorkelling, and the views through the glass bottom at high tide when the water is clearest give a good impression of the reef landscape even without entering the water.

The park was established in 1968 and was the first marine national park in the Indian Ocean, a conservation milestone that has served as a model for marine protection across the region, and the length of its existence means the reef has had decades of protection that are reflected in the size and variety of the fish populations.

It was the first marine national park in the Indian Ocean and the reef has had decades of protection, resulting in fish populations of a size and variety rarely seen in accessible reefs.

The visibility and coral diversity make it one of the finest snorkelling experiences accessible from a capital city anywhere in the world.

Sea turtles are commonly seen and the park management has successfully created conditions where they are relatively habituated to snorkellers.