Mergui Archipelago, located in southernmost part of Myanmar (Burma), comprises over 800 beautiful islands. Due to its virtual isolation, the island and surrounding seas are alive with an amazing diversity of flora & fauna and very beautiful underwater scenes and marine life. Just north of the Surin Islands, an imaginary line divides Thai waters from Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago. Also known as the Myeik (Mergui) Archipelago, this immense area covers approximately 36,000 sq km (14,000 sq miles).

Diving here is still in its infancy, as the entire region has been off-limits to outsiders since the late 1940s. The archipelago was opened for tourism in 1997, yet much of the area remains unexplored. The islands are similar to their Thai counterparts, eg. Phuket, Surin with rugged, high-profile, limestone and granite topography. One obvious difference, aside from the sheer number of islands, is their unspoilt terrestrial scenery.

Among those islands are various mangroves, wild life, caves, lagoons fresh water falls and rivers in the forest. Dense bush and rainforest cover most areas above the high-tide line, while vast stretches of mangroves and magnificent mile-long white-sand beaches are interspersed with rocky headlands, tidal creeks and a few freshwater rivers. The only human inhabitants in the area are Mokens or Salone Sea gypsies. They live on boats during dry season and remain on land during rainy season. They still practice the same fishing and boat building techniques used for generation.