Curieuse Marine National Park lies 1.2 kilometres north of Praslin's Côte d'Or, its 14.7 square kilometres of protected reef and mangrove forest established in 1979 as Seychelles' second marine reserve.
The island's name derives from the French schooner La Curieuse, which surveyed these waters in 1768, though human occupation dates to the 1770s when a leper colony operated here until 1965. Today the park shelters 300 Aldabra giant tortoises relocated from the southern atolls in the 1980s, alongside hawksbill turtle nesting sites monitored by the Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority. The conservation fee funds ranger patrols and reef restoration.
Snorkeling Seychelles Praslin centres on two primary zones. Curieuse's western bays offer shallow seagrass meadows where juvenile parrotfish and surgeonfish feed among granite boulders deposited 65 million years ago during the Gondwana breakup. The seabed gradient averages 1:15, visibility extends to 20 metres in calm season months from May to September, and water temperature holds between 26 and 28 degrees Celsius year-round. St. Pierre Island, a granite outcrop 400 metres offshore, rises 18 metres above sea level and plunges to vertical walls colonized by soft corals, sea fans, and aggregations of batfish that circle the southern face. The island's circumference measures 180 metres, navigable in a single snorkel circuit.
Praslin reef systems differ from Mahé's in sediment composition and tidal amplitude. Granite erosion produces coarse sand that settles quickly, maintaining water clarity even after monsoon rains. Spring tides reach 1.8 metres, exposing intertidal pools stocked with anemones and hermit crabs. The northwest monsoon from November to March brings plankton blooms that attract manta rays to outer reefs, though inner bay conditions remain calm. Boat operators depart Côte d'Or jetty between 09:00 and 12:00, the morning window ensuring glassy surface conditions before afternoon thermals generate chop. Transit time to Curieuse is 15 minutes, to St. Pierre 25 minutes, aboard fibreglass pirogues fitted with twin outboards.
Curieuse Island maintains two ranger stations and a restored colonial-era doctor's house, now a museum displaying medical instruments from the leper colony period. The mangrove boardwalk extending 500 metres inland opened in 2012, constructed from treated takamaka wood resistant to saltwater decay. Endemic coco de mer palms line the interior trails, their double-lobed nuts requiring six years to mature. Snorkeling tours incorporate 90 minutes ashore for tortoise observation and museum access, balancing underwater time with terrestrial ecology.
7 hr
