Recently Viewed
Sao Vicente: Snorkel with Sea Turtles - Unforgettable Marine Encounter
Experience the unique sensation of snorkeling alongside sea turtles and interacting with ocean wildlife - a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Experience the unique sensation of snorkeling alongside sea turtles and interacting with ocean wildlife - a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Duration:
1 hour
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Dive-Tribe Dive Center Sao Pedro - Be picked up from your hotel in Mindelo and head to São Pedro. Upon arrival, take a short boat ride to the area where you will find the turtles and start your amazing snorkeling experience with the turtles, lasting around 1 hour. Surprise yourself with a unique contact with sea creatures and create memories that…
- Dive-Tribe Dive Center Sao Pedro - Be picked up from your hotel in Mindelo and head to São Pedro. Upon arrival, take a short boat ride to the area where you will find the turtles and start your amazing snorkeling experience with the turtles, lasting around 1 hour. Surprise yourself with a unique contact with sea creatures and create memories that last forever. After that, you will be transferred to your accommodation in Mindelo, where your tour will end.

What's Included
- Guide/Driver
- Liability insurance
- Snorkeling equipment (masks and fins)
- Boat Ride
- Transportation
- Life jackets on board
- Pickup and drop-off at your accommodation
- Guide/Driver
- Liability insurance
- Snorkeling equipment (masks and fins)
- Boat Ride
- Transportation
- Life jackets on board
- Pickup and drop-off at your accommodation
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(27 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Miriam
Dec 25, 2024
Snorkeling experience with sea turtles - Everything worked out great. Snorkeling was great. It had a little too many snorkeling groups on site. Learn more about Cap Verde from the guide👍
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sherwin_k
Nov 23, 2024
Authentic Island experience - Not for pampered tourists. Loved snorkeling with turtles…. We had our own gear, which was much easier and better quality than what was provided.
Review provided by Viator
Kathleenm_d
Nov 5, 2024
By country tours were great-not to be missed. - Maira David and Miguel from Bu Country tours were fantastic. Friendly, courteous and informative they were wonderful. This is a lifetime experience not to be missed. It is not strenuous-you simply float by the boat and the turtles are all around you. We had five random size green turtles that were absolutely beautiful stay with us the entire time. The turtles are not aggressive at all and many times you brush up against them. They are truly beautiful creatures. Don’t miss this while in Mindelo.
Review provided by Viator
Cosugs
Oct 19, 2024
Top organization - We went on an island tour on Sal and S. Vicente. In addition, a snorkeling trip with turtles and two hikes on S. Antao. The excursions were perfectly organized, the guides were very friendly and the drivers helpful and experienced. We recommend BU Tours gladly.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Zebulon63
Jan 28, 2025
Unique experience, with reservations - Beautiful diving experience with mask and snorkel among sea turtles.
The driver and guide picked us up as planned and on time at our accommodation we were 4 people in all for the transfer.
Arriving in Sao Pedro, we completed a fishing boat (total 8 people + 2 fishermen). The departure requires climbing in the boat with water up to the waist and the help of fishermen. Fortunately, despite a strong easterly wind, the bay is very sheltered and there was little wave, only a little current.
Moored a good hundred meters from the beach, one of the fishermen briefed us (French / English). Masks and snorkels in good condition were at our disposal. The boat was also equipped with some lifejackets, but no one used them. Fishermen threw pieces of fish into the water, which attracted several turtles, and we spent at least 45 minutes swimming with them. The water was quite cloudy but you could see the turtles several meters away, and we even saw a ray passing at the bottom of the water (just under 10 meters deep). Two other boats in the vicinity were doing the same thing, and it was possible to approach them to take advantage of the presence of more turtles, and in our case a large school of fish that was also there. Turtles are not wild and you really swim close to them, you even have to hold back from touching them (according to the instructions given). It's really a unique experience.
Security is medium: only a few lifejackets available, several nearby boats leaving or arriving without paying much attention to swimmers. Fishermen do not particularly watch their swimmers, and the guide stays on the beach. In the end, they just make sure they get the same number of people back as they did when they arrived. The docking on the beach on the return is a bit sporty but all the fishermen present help to make it go well.
In short, a unique experience, reserved for good swimmers and aware of the risks. Personally, I wouldn't go with kids except for motivated teenagers who could swim well. For added safety it is better to swim in groups of two or three because there is no real supervision.
A wooden ladder made it easy to get back on the boat.
It is also possible to stay on the boat for those who would not like to go swimming (this was the case of a lady in our group).
It should be noted that locals wait for tourists on the beach to rinse their feet before getting back into the vehicles. Provide a tip for this service all useful.
Finally, it is up to everyone to see the ethical extent to which we accept the idea of encouraging in some way the exploitation of animals which are normally migratory but have become settled as a result of this activity...
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Franzjosefh558
Jan 3, 2025
Nice, but unfortunately too short - It was a great trip. 5 turtles seen. We were about 30 minutes in the water, could have been longer. The guys were all super nice, no stress just
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christianbarnab_2024
Sep 13, 2024
Sao Vicente Excursion - We absolutely loved this excursion! Swimming with the turtles is an incredible experience. Our guide Nelson was really nice and friendly.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tenthlisten
Sep 10, 2024
Beautiful Experience with the Turtles - My guide Maira was excellent. Her English was great and I was picked up on time (the bus arrived early) from my guesthouse. We went to San Pedro and joined other people waiting to take the excursion from the turtle house. About 45 - 60 minutes is spent with the turtles.
One has the choice to remain in the boat or to snorkel. I do not have strong swimming skills, so I chose to spend most of my time in the boat photographing the turtles. Maira was kind and empathetic to my lack of swimming skills. She gently encouraged me to go into the water and offered to join me, but was also supportive when I quickly wanted to return to the boat. We were given snorkeling equipment and life jackets, although we had to share the life jackets as not enough were available. A ladder was also not available to go in and out of the boat, although I was told that there would be one on board. These oversights were the result of poor planning and the excursion would have been safer with enough life jackets and a ladder.
I would recommend this excursion because the turtles are impressive and the BU Country Tours staff was great, but more attention to safety would be an area of improvement.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Angelopsychsa
Nov 13, 2024
Rip off - rude 'tour guides'. - DONT pay anyone to see these turtles. You can swim to them off the beach if you can handle the harassment and veiled threats from 'tour guides'. Don't even bother.
If you feel guilty for having $ or Euros donate to Simabo the dog rescue place on Mindelo. These places rip you off.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
N8210ouirenet
Oct 29, 2024
Total disaster - A real circus where they don’t respect the animal at all, they take you on a barge to the point where the turtles are, the locals are the ones who have the business set up there and all the companies are the ones who pay them a percentage to take tourists to the dive spot, which by the way, is about 50 m from the shore. You arrive and in our case the guide of the company we hired explains very well that they should not touch or burden the turtles, things that I liked because they seemed to respect quite a lot. When I got there it was horrible, 3 barges, two of them with foreigners chasing, touching and harassing the turtles, but the worst was the third, where the same locals threw themselves on the turtles, screaming, splashing, people who in fear and anxiety threw themselves into the water and formed a brutal scandal. Barges that came in with more people and almost passed over you. Anyway a real chaos, that the only thing that if it is true is that you see the turtles 100 percent and they pass very close, but make no mistake, I doubt that they like the regrettable spectacle offered by humans, they are only there because they constantly feed them to get close, they are incredible animals that the shame is that no one there respects them correctly. If you want to live a beautiful and respectful interaction with the animal this is not the place, from here you leave completely altered and in my case, with anger, to see how the tourists go completely from the directions of the guide and do not stop touching and harassing the turtles and nobody does anything.
Review provided by Tripadvisor