Top 10 Marinas in Seychelles
The Seychelles is the Indian Ocean at its most dramatic and most serene. The inner islands — Mahé, Praslin, La Digue and their satellite islets — rise out of the deep in a cluster of 400-million-year-old granite boulders that plunge sheer into cobalt water. The outer coral atolls — Aldabra, Cosmoledo, Farquhar — are accessible only by bluewater passage and reward the effort with utter solitude. For sailors arriving from Madagascar, Mozambique, Maldives or East Africa, the Seychelles represents a pinnacle of the Indian Ocean circuit. Here are the ten finest places to anchor, moor and berth.
Eden Island Marina — Mahé
Eden Island Marina is the only full-service, purpose-built marina in the Seychelles and its centrepiece. Opened in 2007 on a reclaimed islet connected by a bridge to Mahé's eastern coast, it offers 149 berths ranging from 10 m to 70 m, with finger pontoons, shore power (240 V / 50 Hz), water, wifi and 24-hour security. Customs, immigration and port authority clearance can all be completed at the marina office. A marine engineering workshop, dive centre, restaurant and supermarket are on site. The walk across the bridge into Victoria takes about 25 minutes and passes Mahé's large market, where island-grown vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg are sold by the gram.
Victoria Harbour — Yacht Club des Seychelles
The Yacht Club des Seychelles, just north of Victoria Harbour, occupies a modest waterfront site with mooring buoys in the lagoon and a concrete jetty for short stays. The club bar is the gathering place for the island's small permanent sailing community and visiting bluewater boats. Club facilities include diesel, water and basic mechanical contacts. Victoria's main port authority clearance office is a five-minute walk, and the central market — one of the most fragrant in the Indian Ocean, redolent of turmeric, dried fish and tropical blooms — is just beyond that.
Beau Vallon Bay — Northern Mahé
Beau Vallon on the north-west coast of Mahé offers the island's best free anchorage. The bay is wide and sheltered from the south-east by the spine of the Morne Seychellois National Park, whose peak reaches 905 m. Holding is good in 4–10 m of sand. A modest dive shop on the beachfront rents cylinders and can direct sailors to the Brissare Rocks and Shark Bank dive sites. The beach itself is the most popular on Mahé, lined with giant takamaka trees.
Anse Royale — South-East Mahé
Anse Royale on the south-east coast catches the prevailing wind shadow of the island during the north-west monsoon (November to March), making it calmer in that season than any bay on the western coast. Depths of 3–8 m over white sand. The village has a small supermarket, a bakery and several Creole restaurants. The Marine Park Anse Forbans nearby protects a patch of coral that is excellent for snorkelling.
Praslin — Grand Anse Anchorage
Praslin is the second-largest island and home to the Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site sheltering the endemic coco de mer palm. The main anchorage at Grand Anse, on the west coast, lies in 4–8 m on sand and is the starting point for exploring Praslin's western beaches, including Anse Lazio — reliably rated among the ten most beautiful beaches on earth. Provisioning is available at the modest Anse Volbert village on the eastern side of the island.
Praslin — Anse Volbert (Côte d'Or)
The Côte d'Or lagoon at Anse Volbert is partly protected by St. Pierre islet and a fringing reef, making it the more sheltered of Praslin's two main anchorages. Water depth in the lagoon varies between 2 and 5 m; a dinghy dock at the small pier makes shore access straightforward. A line of beach hotels here will sell fuel to sailors by jerry can arrangement. The Curieuse Marine Park, accessible in 30 minutes by dinghy, protects a population of Aldabra giant tortoises in the island's mangroves.
La Digue — La Passe Anchorage
La Digue retains a character that feels decades removed from the rest of the world. The anchorage at La Passe, off the village pier, is in 3–6 m of open sand, well sheltered in the north-west monsoon. Ox carts still outnumber motor vehicles here. Anse Source d'Argent, protected by the Union Estate Marine Park, is universally considered one of the most photographed beaches on the planet — accessible by bicycle or on foot in 20 minutes from the anchorage.
Silhouette Island — Anse Mondon
Silhouette, 20 km north-west of Mahé, is the third-largest granitic island and almost entirely occupied by the Silhouette National Park. The anchorage at Anse Mondon on the south coast offers 4–7 m holding over sand and coral rubble. There is a single lodge on the island, which will sell provisions and ice to arriving sailors. The old cemetery and cinnamon plantation in the interior are worth a dinghy-and-walk expedition. Silhouette's forest canopy protects an endemic bird community including the Seychelles warbler and the Seychelles magpie-robin.
Farquhar Atoll — Outer Islands
Farquhar, 700 km south-west of Mahé, is a raised coral atoll accessible only by a bluewater passage of roughly four days from Mahé. Entry through the western pass requires careful chart study — depths change with cyclonic storm waves. Inside the lagoon, holding over coral sand is superb and the fishing grounds are world-class for giant trevally and bonefish. The atoll's few inhabitants maintain a small airstrip and a copra drying shed. Sailors who make the journey describe it as one of the defining passages of their lives.
Aldabra Atoll — UNESCO World Heritage
Aldabra, the world's largest raised coral atoll, lies 1 150 km south-west of Mahé and is accessible to visiting yachts under a strict quota managed by the Seychelles Islands Foundation. Passage-making time from Mahé is five to six days. The atoll protects 150 000 Aldabra giant tortoises — the largest wild tortoise population on earth — and its lagoon holds reef sharks, manta rays and hawksbill turtles in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. Permission must be obtained well in advance; applications are reviewed quarterly and spaces are highly limited.
Explore on the map
The Seychelles stretches across more than 1 000 km of the Indian Ocean, from the granite islets of the inner group to the remote atolls of Aldabra and Cosmoledo. The interactive map charts every anchorage, lagoon entry and mooring field. Use Seychelles on the map to plan your passage timing with the north-west and south-east monsoons, identify the best granite-island anchorages, and mark your waypoints for the outer atoll adventure.