THE MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO

...is a huge unpopulated group of islands and reefs off the coast of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Our live-aboard visits both Thailand and Mergui on the same itinerary on our nine-day trip. The main obstacle the area has to conventional diving is the distances between dive sites. Our nine-day circuit including Thailand and Mergui, will cover over 1,000 kilometers. Obviously, day-trips are not and will never be, practical for exploring the area. We offer a five day trip which concentrates on this area.

Thailand's Similan Islands are technically the very tip of the Mergui Archipelago, and while the Similans have become one of the world's most famous dive destinations, Burma's dive sites still remain largely unvisited.   To go diving in Burma is real adventure diving -  there's not another ship to be seen during the whole live-aboard trip, except for the occasional friendly Burmese sea gypsies, and we have every dive site to ourselves.  Burmese diving is also exploratory diving - conditions change continually, so visibility can't be guaranteed as with the Similans.  But Burma's dive sites are teeming with an  incredible variety of sharks, rays and smaller fish and reef invertebrates, many of which are not found in Thai waters. The craggy beauty of the limestone karsts or islands that make up Mergui, and the unique sense of peace and solitude during the trip are great reasons to go.

If you want to see fish and invertebrates not found anywhere else on the face of the earth, and one of the last uninhabited archipelagos in the world, then this is the right place.

Diverse diving environments

There are four types of diving environments in the archipelago: shallow, inshore fringing island reefs where visibility is often poor but the diversity of marine life is unsurpassed; offshore fringing reefs where the visibility is considerably better, and the coral much healthier; pinnacles and small rocky islands which rise from the depths and attract larger marine life such as sharks and rays; and banks which rise up from depths of over 300 meters and attract different types of marine life altogether. All in all, the Mergui Archipelago contains some of the most diverse and interesting marine ecosystems in the world.

The Islands

Some of the more interesting dive sites in the archipelago are described below, taking a general south to north route. Keep in mind that these are just a few of the sites that you could visit on our liveaboard cruise.

Western Rocky Island

This limestone island features beautiful underwater terrain, including a tunnel – often full of large tawny nurse sharks – which traverses the island about 20 meters down. The island is more like a series of pinnacles rather than one big rock and the soft limestone makes for crevices offering shelter for a wide variety of sea creatures. Some of the marine life you may see here include mantas, gray reef and spinner sharks, and eagle rays in the open water next to the island, while leopard sharks and spotted rays lie on the bottom. On and around the rocks, spiny lobster, cowrie shells, feather stars, anemones and an assortment of crabs abound. Reef fish include blue-ringed angelfish, moray-eels, snappers, frogfish, and ghost pipefish.

Fan Forest Pinnacle

This site is just a few miles north of Western Rocky. The pinnacle rises from a depth well beyond the limits of recreational divers, to about 5-meters below the surface. It features huge orange sea fans, black coral, and large barrel sponges. The potential for spotting larger fish is excellent, but even if you do not, the dive site is very dramatic and the fish life excellent, including groupers or potato cod at the deeper depths.

Three Islets (Shark Cave Island)

One of the most extraordinary dive sites, these three rocks that rise out of the sea from depths of 40-meters or more harbors some of the best marine life in the archipelago. Huge schools of fusilier and silversides surround you upon entering the water. The sandy base of the islands reveals unusual anemones and starfish, while the walls are covered with orange cup corals, whip corals, and green tubastrea coral. It is one of the better areas to see harlequin shrimp and ghost pipe fish.

One of the key dive sites at Three Islets is known as "In Through The Out Door", a spectacular underwater canyon that has hiding-holes for nurse sharks and huge stingrays before opening out onto the reef proper.  Night diving is also excellent here, and doing 2 or 3 dives at the Islets is not uncommon.

North Twin Island

Although there are several interesting dive sites surrounding this island, the most beautiful area lies to the west, several hundred meters from the island itself. It’s almost a separate pinnacle rather than being part of the island. Here you will find large, colorful sea fans and beautiful soft corals that have attached themselves to the rocky substrate. It’s a very striking dive and generally the water is clearer here than on other sites in the south.

North Twin Plateau

Located just northwest of North Twin, this large plateau starts at around six-meters and carries on down to between 24 and 30-meters. It’s quite a large dive site, and it’s best to start in the deeper areas and find an interesting vein to explore as you move towards the surface. Lots of large sea fans make this look similar to many of the West Coast dives in the Similan Islands. The clear water helps this comparison. Barracuda and rainbow runners cruise the outer edges of the reef, and sandbar sharks have been sighted here.

High Rock

Famous for the single tree perched defiantly on top of this tall, narrow outcrop, High Rock is another signature Burma site.   Its high sides and craggy surface provides a perfect habitat for a whole plethora of fish life, along with some of the biggest and ugliest stonefish around and exquisite seahorses blending into the coral. Sea snakes and morays can be seen sidewinding across the rocky reef as they go hunting.

The Mergui Archipelago has something for everyone, and although the dive sites here can often lean towards the advanced, even intermediate divers will love the place as long as the dive sites are picked carefully.