If you are staying in a Belle Mare hotel and want a fishing trip, you will be leaving from another part of the island. As of October 2026 none of the boats on Reelzy sails from Belle Mare itself. The nearest are two Mahebourg trips on the south-east coast, and the boats that tick “Pickup and Drop-off Included” on their listings are all in Trou-aux-Biches, on the north-west coast. So the real choice is between a shorter drive south to the lagoon and the reef, or a longer one across the island with a captain who may collect you.<\/p>\n
This question came to us from a guest in a Mauritius travel group, asking for sea fishing with a pickup near Belle Mare. It is a fair question, and the hotel brochures rarely answer it, so here is how it works from the east coast.<\/p>\n
Mauritius is small, but the fishing is spread around it. The biggest cluster of charter boats sits on the north-west coast, around Trou-aux-Biches<\/a> and Grand Baie, where seven of our live boats are based in Trou-aux-Biches alone. There are a couple more in Grand Baie<\/a>, one at Cap Malheureux, and a couple on the west coast at Pointe aux Piments and Black River.<\/p>\n The east coast, where Belle Mare, Palmar and Trou d’Eau Douce sit, has the hotels but on Reelzy it has no fishing boats yet. The closest port with boats is Mahebourg<\/a>, in the south-east, next to the airport. If you arrived by plane, you have already driven roughly the route: transfer companies quote about 48 km and around 50 minutes from the airport to Belle Mare.<\/p>\n Trou-aux-Biches is a different matter. It sits on the far side of the island from Belle Mare, and the road crosses the middle of the country. We do not quote a drive time for it here because it depends on your hotel, the hour and the traffic around Port Louis and the north. Ask the captain or your hotel desk for a realistic figure for your date.<\/p>\n The two Mahebourg trips on Reelzy give you two very different days.<\/p>\n The Giant Trevally Popping<\/a> trip is six hours of casting big surface lures for GT along the outer reef, guided by Olivier Julien. It is a hard, physical day for someone who wants one big fish, and the listing invites you to bring your own rods and reels if you have them. Drinks are included; bring your own food.<\/p>\n Small Game Fishing<\/a> is the gentler one: four or six hours of light tackle fishing in the south-east lagoon, which the listing calls the largest in Mauritius, with casting, light trolling and bottom fishing. Children are welcome and catch and release is welcome on this one, which makes it the obvious pick for a family staying in Belle Mare.<\/p>\n Both list a 06:00 start, and neither ticks hotel pickup. That does not mean the captain will never arrange it, only that it is not promised on the listing. Send a message before you book and ask. If the answer is no, a hotel taxi to Mahebourg is the usual way, and it is a far shorter ride than going north. Our post on the Mahebourg lagoon fishing trip<\/a> explains what the lagoon and the reef are like.<\/p>\n Three Trou-aux-Biches boats tick “Pickup and Drop-off Included” on their listings:<\/p>\n The tick on the listing says pickup is part of the trip. It does not say how far the captain will drive for it, and from Belle Mare you are asking for a trip across the island and back, twice in a day. So treat it as something to confirm, not something to assume. Ask in so many words: “We are staying at a hotel in Belle Mare. Does your pickup reach us, and what time would you collect us?”<\/p>\n That second part matters. These boats start early. The listings show departure slots between 04:00 and 05:30 as of October 2026, because the best of the offshore fishing is in the first hours of light. A pickup from the east coast for a boat that leaves Trou-aux-Biches before dawn means a very early alarm. Some captains will offer a later start for guests who travel far; some will not, because the fish do not wait. Ask before you book, not the night before.<\/p>\n The north-west coast is the sheltered side of Mauritius. The south-east trade wind blows across the island most of the year, strongest in the southern winter from about June to September, and it hits the east and south-east coasts first. On a windy day the sea off Mahebourg outside the reef can be rough while the water off Trou-aux-Biches is still workable.<\/p>\n So if you are set on big game fishing, marlin, tuna, wahoo or dorado offshore, and you are travelling in the windy months, the north-west boats give you a better chance of going out at all. In the summer months, roughly November to April, the wind usually eases and the south-east becomes an easier choice. Our Mauritius fishing seasons guide<\/a> has the species month by month.<\/p>\n If the weather does close the harbour on your date, the captain decides on the morning, and the booking follows the policy on the listing. Our guide to a fishing trip cancelled for bad weather in Mauritius<\/a> covers what happens then, and the general rules are on the cancellation policies<\/a> page.<\/p>\n If you have children with you, or want a relaxed morning rather than a full day, book the lagoon trip in Mahebourg and take a taxi. You are back at the hotel for lunch.<\/p>\n If you want a GT on a popper, Mahebourg again: the south-east reef is where that trip lives.<\/p>\n If you want a full day offshore and pickup is the deciding factor, message one of the three Trou-aux-Biches boats above and get the pickup time in writing in the chat before you pay. Expect a long day, and pack accordingly: our what to bring on a Mauritius fishing charter<\/a> list helps.<\/p>\n One more thing to settle with any captain: on all of these listings the crew keeps the catch. That is normal in Mauritius, but if you hoped to take a fish back to your hotel kitchen, ask first. Our post on who keeps the fish on a Mauritius charter<\/a> explains how that usually works.<\/p>\n A captain can answer a pickup question in one reply if you give them what they need: the name of your hotel, the date, how many of you there are, and what kind of fishing you want. “Four of us, two children, staying in Belle Mare, a morning in the lagoon on the 14th, can you collect us or where do we meet?” gets a clear yes or no. A vague “do you do pickups?” gets a vague answer.<\/p>\n Start with the Mahebourg boats<\/a> if a short drive matters most, or the Trou-aux-Biches boats<\/a> if pickup and the sheltered coast do, and send that message from the listing.<\/p>\nThe Mahebourg option: closer, but no pickup listed<\/h2>\n
The north-west option: pickup included, long day<\/h2>\n
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Why the long drive can still be worth it<\/h2>\n
A simple way to decide from Belle Mare<\/h2>\n
What to put in your first message<\/h2>\n