If your holiday falls between November and April, book the fishing day as soon as your flights are fixed, and give it at least a couple of weeks; for the week between Christmas and New Year, earlier still. From May to October a few days to a week is usually enough. Whatever the month, there is a hard floor: every boat sets its own notice period, and on the 14 Mauritius boats listed on Reelzy that is 24, 48 or 72 hours before the trip. Inside that window the booking calendar will not let you pick the date at all.
That is the short version. The rest of this post explains where those numbers come from, because the right answer depends on the boat, the season and how much risk you are willing to carry if the weather turns.
The floor: each boat’s notice period
Captains in Mauritius leave early. Most of the boats on our Mauritius charter page list a departure between four and six in the morning, so the crew needs time to buy bait, fuel up and plan the day around the wind. That is why every listing carries an advance notice setting, and the booking form on the listing page simply greys out the dates that fall inside it.
Across the 14 live Mauritius boats today, seven need 24 hours, one needs 48 and six need 72. A few examples so you can see the spread. Last Cast in Grand Baie and the Big Game Fishing boat at Trou-aux-Biches can be booked the day before. Flying Kiss at Pointe aux Piments, the biggest boat on the list with room for twelve, wants 48 hours. Fishing on Ivan, La Rochelle and Pyramide, all at Trou-aux-Biches, want three days.
So if you land on a Thursday and want to fish on Saturday, close to half the Mauritius boats on Reelzy are already out of reach. That alone is a reason not to leave it until you arrive.
Instant book or request: add a day for the second kind
The other thing that changes your timing is how the boat takes bookings. Eight of the 14 Mauritius listings are instant book: pick a date, pay, and the trip is confirmed. The other six are request to book. You send the request, the captain has 24 hours to accept or decline, you are not charged until they accept, and a request nobody answers expires.
In practice that means a request boat needs its notice period plus up to a day of waiting. If you want ti bato out of Cap Malheureux, a request boat with a 72 hour window, sending the request four days ahead is cutting it fine. A week gives the captain room to reply and you room to try another boat if the answer is no.
The listing page shows which kind a boat is: the button says Book now on instant boats and Request trip on the others.
How far ahead by season
The notice period is the minimum. How much earlier you should go depends on when you are coming.
November to April is is the southern summer and the heart of the big game year. Our Mauritius fishing seasons guide puts the marlin season from November to April, best from December to March, with giant trevally on the reefs from October to March. Hotels fill, and the boats with the best reputations fill with them. The week from 26 to 31 December is the busiest of all; our Christmas and New Year fishing guide goes through which days crews take off. For these months, book when your dates are fixed. Two or three weeks ahead is a sensible minimum for a specific boat, more for the holiday week.
Summer is also the cyclone season. You cannot plan around a storm a month out, but you can put the trip early in your stay, so that if the captain calls it off there are days left to move it to.
May to October, the winter months, are quieter, and the south-east trade wind is stronger, which makes the exposed coasts choppier. Yellowfin tuna are at their most reliable from March to July according to the same seasons guide. Boats are easier to get, and a few days to a week ahead is usually enough. The wind is the bigger risk than availability, so the same advice applies: fish early in the holiday, not on the last morning.
One more wrinkle: not every calendar opens indefinitely. The Giant Trevally Popping trip out of Mahebourg takes bookings up to three months ahead, and the Full Day Big Game trip in Grand Baie up to twelve. If you are planning a February trip in October, check that your date is bookable before you assume it is free.
Why booking early costs you less than it looks
The usual worry about booking weeks ahead is getting stuck with a trip you can no longer take. That is what the cancellation policy on each listing is for, and it is worth reading before you choose between two similar boats.
Reelzy uses three standard policies, set out on the cancellation policies page. On a Flexible boat you get a full refund if you cancel while at least one full calendar day is left before the trip. On a Moderate boat the cut-off is five full days. On a Strict boat you get half back if you cancel at least seven full days before. After the cut-off the deposit you paid is not refunded, but any balance you have not paid yet is not charged.
Of the 14 Mauritius boats, six use Flexible, four Moderate and four Strict. If your plans are loose, a Flexible boat lets you lock in a summer date early and still walk away up to two days out.
Weather is separate. If the captain cancels because the sea is unsafe, you get a full refund of what you paid or can move the trip at no extra cost. If a captain asks you to cancel because of the weather, tell Reelzy first so the deposit is not lost. Our post on what happens when a Mauritius trip is cancelled for bad weather covers how that plays out on the day.
Early in the stay matters as much as early in the calendar
Anglers tend to think only about how many weeks ahead to book. The question that saves more trips is which day of the holiday to fish.
A trip booked for day two or three leaves you room. If the wind is up, the captain can offer the next calm morning, and you still have the rest of the week. A trip booked for the last full day has nowhere to go. In summer that is the cyclone risk; in winter it is the trade wind. Either way, the earlier slot is the safer one.
The same goes for planning around a long flight. Most boats leave before dawn and many guests arrive tired. The second morning is often a better first fishing day than the first.
What to settle when you book
Before you pay, or before you send a request, it helps to have a few things straight. Ask the captain, in the chat on the listing, what the day will target in your month, whether marlin, tuna, GT or a mixed day. Ask where exactly the boat leaves from and whether they can collect you from your hotel; our Belle Mare hotel pickup guide explains why that matters on the east coast. Ask what happens to the fish, which our who keeps the fish post explains, and check how many people the boat really takes.
Then pick the date, and if it is between November and April, do it this week rather than next.
The quick answer, again
From November to April, book as soon as your dates are fixed, two to three weeks ahead at the least and earlier for the Christmas week. From May to October, a few days to a week is usually fine. Never count on a boat inside its notice period of 24 to 72 hours, add a day for request boats, and put the trip early in your stay. Every boat on the Mauritius charters page shows its booking calendar and cancellation policy on its own listing.
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