The pedalo in Saly is the most relaxed way to take to the sea: you hire a pedalo on the beach for 30 minutes or 1 hour, and pedal with family or friends, with no effort or special skill.

A pedalo on the beach at Saly

The offer is simple: one beach activity, two durations. The 30-minute hire is enough for a lap of the bay, the one-hour hire leaves time to move a little way from the shore and turn back without hurrying.

The pedalo stands apart from the resort’s other water activities through what it does not ask of you. No paddling technique or balance to learn as with paddleboarding, no speed to control as on a jet ski: you sit, you pedal, and you watch the coast slide by. That makes it an activity for families or groups, which everyone can follow at their own pace, including children with an adult.

If you live in Dakar and come down to the Petite Côte for a weekend, the pedalo is the beach activity that needs no preparation, to slip in between two swims. If you are staying in the resort, it is a gentle way to see the resort from the sea.

Saly, a beach of the Petite Côte

Saly-Portudal stretches about 80 km south of Dakar, on a sheltered coast. The resort was born in the 1980s, from a project by the State and the private sector that turned a former Serer fishing town into an international destination. Today it has more than 10,000 beds, spread across club hotels, private residences and villas. The Saly page covers a stay there in detail, and the Petite Côte gives the wider setting of the coastline.

After the pedalo

For a change of pace, the resort offers other ways to take to the sea: jet skiing for speed, towed water sports for gliding, and paddle and kayak for a quieter outing. Away from the water, the Somone lagoon and the Bandia Reserve make an easy day.