Map › Saint-Gilles / West Coast › La Saline-les-Bains (Trou d'Eau)
Spot · tier 2 · Réunion
La Saline-les-Bains (Trou d'Eau)
La Saline-les-Bains sits on Réunion's dry, leeward west coast in the Saint-Paul commune, and its Trou d'Eau area is a shallow lagoon protected by the offshore fringing reef — roughly 2 m deep on windy days, per the spot brief. Because it stays inside the reef, it avoids the outside-reef shark-risk restrictions that affect nearby wave spots, making it one of the more approachable learning and freeride/freestyle venues on this coast.
beginnerflat waterfreestylefreeride
Wind
| season notes | West coast Réunion is shielded by the island's central mountains from the moist trade-wind flow that dominates the windward east coast, per general island climate description. |
|---|---|
| wind name | trade winds (alizés) |
Water
| type | lagoon |
|---|---|
| tides | Lagoon depth is tide-dependent; can get very shallow over the reef flat at low tide |
| standing depth | Roughly 2 m at typical riding conditions, reported as good for beginners |
Levels
| beginner | yes |
|---|---|
| intermediate | yes |
| advanced | no |
| notes | Protected lagoon inside the reef makes this the go-to learning and freeride/freestyle spot on this stretch of coast. |
Launch & crowd
| vibe | Popular family/tourist beach lagoon in the Saint-Gilles area |
|---|
Monthly wind statistics
Station: Saint-Paul (weatherspark.com (NASA MERRA-2 reanalysis climatology), ~12 km) — Windfinder.com 429'd on every attempt (session-wide issue, see fuwairit note). Same Saint-Paul weatherspark station used for the nearby Boucan Canot spot (both on Reunion's west coast); La Saline-les-Bains is ~12 km south of Saint-Paul town. See boucan-canot-reunion notes re: easterly trade-wind direction being a coarse regional signal that likely does not capture west-coast local/thermal wind effects at this spot. No Beaufort-probability or per-month wind-speed table available, so avg_knots/prob_ge_4bft_pct left null.
| Month | Wind ≥4 Bft | Avg kn | Dir | Air °C | Water °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | —% | — | E | 27.2 | 27.8 |
| Feb | —% | — | E | 27.2 | 27.8 |
| Mar | —% | — | E | 26.7 | 27.8 |
| Apr | —% | — | E | 25.6 | 27.2 |
| May | —% | — | E | 23.9 | 26.1 |
| Jun | —% | — | E | 22.2 | 25 |
| Jul | —% | — | E | 21.7 | 23.9 |
| Aug | —% | — | E | 21.7 | 23.3 |
| Sep | —% | — | E | 22.2 | 23.3 |
| Oct | —% | — | E | 23.3 | 23.9 |
| Nov | —% | — | E | 25 | 25.6 |
| Dec | —% | — | E | 26.1 | 26.7 |
Hazards
- Coral reef and shallow patches, especially at low tide
- Swimmers and other lagoon users to share space with
- Reef pass current where the lagoon drains
Travel basics
| airport | RUN Roland Garros (Saint-Denis) |
|---|---|
| accommodation | Saint-Gilles-les-Bains area |
Nearby: Boucan Canot
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikivoyage.org