Snorkeling at Sister Islands Seychelles [Reviewed + Rated] 

We’re big fans of snorkeling, so I created a simple rating system to give readers a quick idea of what each location has to offer beneath the surface.

Please note that snorkeling conditions can change significantly with the seasons or even throughout the day. This is especially true in the Seychelles, where weather and ocean patterns shift noticeably.

We explored the waters there in early May, which is one of the prime times to snorkel. Based on my research, April, May, October, and November tend to offer the best experiences.

SeyVillas notes that April and November, in particular, stand out for their tranquil seas and crystal-clear visibility. Just keep in mind that those months can be quite warm, since the trade winds take a break then.

Please see my rating guide below.

OVERALL SNORKEL RATING KEY

🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿   =   World-class snorkeling and worth traveling just for the snorkeling alone!

🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿   =   Incredible snorkeling and should be on your list of top things to do!

🤿 🤿 🤿   =   Decent snorkeling and worth the effort!

🤿 🤿   =   Worth consideration if you are running out of things to do!

🤿   =   Not worth it!

The Sister Islands include Grande Soeur and Petite Soeur.

You have two main options for getting to Grande Soeur:

1. Through Le Château de Feuilles Hotel

Grande Soeur is a privately owned island managed by the charming Le Château de Feuilles, a boutique hotel with just seven rooms. If you’re staying there, they offer exclusive excursions to the island, typically available on Saturdays or Sundays.

2. By Boat Tour

Another way to reach the reef is by joining a boat tour. Several group tours head to the area, including Lizzy Boat Charter and Zico Boat Excursions, both departing from La Digue.

For a more relaxed and personalized experience, we went with Tranquility Boat Charter and really enjoyed it.

You can read our full review to learn more about that trip!

Right across from Grande Soeur is Petite Soeur, which is also accessible only by boat tour

For the best snorkeling, head to the western side of Big Sister Island.

Head to the eastern side of Little Sister Island for the best snorkeling.

Since we’ve been snorkeling regularly since 2007, we invested in high-quality gear early on.

I highly advise bringing your own equipment!

Here are the exact snorkel masks and fins I bring along on our “snorkations.”

Getting in the water is simple, as your boat will anchor directly at the ideal snorkeling spot.

Big Sister Island Sightings

At Big Sister Island, the snorkeling took us into deeper waters with massive boulders, coral overhangs, and narrow crevices that felt like underwater canyons.

Always take a look beneath the overhangs. We found a small group of Bengal snappers relaxing in one of them.

We also saw plenty of scissortail sergeants, schools of bluestreak cleaner wrasses, and a few Moorish idols gliding through.

The best moment was spotting a turtle near the northern end. It popped up for a quick breath before disappearing again. We’ve come across a lot of turtles over the years, and it never gets old.

If turtles are your thing, I highly recommend checking out Tres Trapi in Aruba, Francis Bay and Maho Bay in St. John, and Salt Pier in Bonaire. Those spots have given us multiple turtle sightings on almost every visit!

I also had a very close encounter with a cute turtle at Anse Lazio, which you can access by the shore. No boat required! Be sure to check out this beautiful beach during your Seychelles stay!

Little Sister Island Sightings

At Little Sister Island, we got lucky and spotted a small blacktip reef shark. It cruised by quickly and didn’t stick around long.

When I first started snorkeling, seeing a shark made me nervous. Now I really enjoy it, especially when it’s a harmless species like nurse sharks or blacktip reef sharks. I would still have a heart attack though if I ever saw a tiger shark.

Some great places to see sharks are Shark Ray Alley in Belize (love nurse sharks aka the puppy dogs of the sea), the house reef at Outrigger in the Maldives, the Sharks & Rays Sandbar in Moorea, and Tiputa Pass in Rangiroa.

We also ran into some friendly batfish. Another fun surprise was a brightly-colored surge wrasse. At first glance, I thought it was a parrotfish due to its vivid colors.

Other fish we spotted included more scissortail sergeants, smallspotted darts, blue and lined surgeonfish, black triggerfish, and a striking bluefin trevally.

Just a heads-up: the snorkeling in the Seychelles doesn’t quite reach the level of top-tier spots like the Maldives, French Polynesia, Belize, or Indonesia. 

Still, there are some nice areas worth checking out, and the Sister Islands are one of them!

It’s a spot worth seeing, and Tranquility Boat Charter offers a fantastic way to explore it along with other top sites like Felicite Island and Anse Lazio.

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Questions about our snorkeling experience at the Sister Islands?

Let me know in the comments below!