Since its opening in the late 90s, very few places around the world can offer a feeling of true underwater adventure that is on par with Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago. Although gradually gaining popularity, most likely you will be the only divers on a particular dive spot in this large and remote area. Big advantage of the tour is absence of crowds, which allows you to dive at your own pace and spend as much time to enjoy the underwater life, as you wish.
In the morning from 7:00 a.m., we will first clear immigration formalities at Ranong (Thailand) and Kawthaung (Myanmar) border crossings, then all set to cruise out towards the islands. Today between 14:00 p.m. and 18:30 p.m. we will have one or two exploratory dives at High Rock or Rocky Island areas.
High Rock, which lies just 25 km away from Kawthaung will be out first dive. It is a mix of steep drops and gentle rocky reefs around a small island. The depth varies from 18 to 25 m, with plenty of soft corals and cup corals particularly in the deeper parts. The sheer volume of fish life at High Rock hits you as soon as you descend. Blue line snapper form huge schools that obscure the reef wall from view. Glassfish are equally numerous, as are gold-striped fuseliers and yellow tail barracuda. Striped soldier fish and squirrel fish congregate together in the many cracks and crevices, and barrel sponges dominate the seabed with common lion fish sheltering from the currents inside the rims.
The walls of riff feature orange and green cup corals and a small overhang. There's a huge variety of invertebrates here such as lobster, hermit crabs, zigzag clams, black diadema urchins, oysters and squid. Yellow-margin, fimbriated, giant and white-eyed moray eels can all be seen in abundance. Parts of the wall are draped in old nets of the Mergui fishermen, which are now encrusted in corals, but scuba divers should be wary of entanglement. The nets are a favourite residence of yellow tigertail seahorses that like to wrap their tail around the nets.
The above itinerary is an example of an average cruise. The Captain and the Cruise Leader will decide the best course of action based on weather conditions at the specific time of each trip.
Today from 07:00 a.m. till 18:00 p.m. we will explore 4 dives if the Black Rock, which is one of most spectacular dive sites in the Mergui archipelago. It is a small islet with steep banks all around, and with a wall on its west and south west sides. Black Rock is many divers' preferred spot in the Mergui Archipelago, with spectacular passes of Whitetips, Silvertips, Blacktips, Gray reef sharks, Bull sharks, Eagle and Manta rays. There are beautiful soft coral formations in the deeper areas.
Black Rock acts as a natural fish magnet and is just as famous for its incredible schools of mobula rays. Then there's the majestic encounters with manta rays and eagle rays soaring above and around you off the deep north western corner, and huge marble stingrays and leopard sharks on the sandy bottom.
Diving down on to the boulder slopes to the south you'll find sprawling carpets of brown disc anemones and purple soft corals. Soft corals are most dense in the deeper south west sections corner of Black Rock. This colourful area includes orange cup corals, feather stars, gorgonian sea fans, and tiger striped anemones that cover the large boulders. Spotted hawkfish can be found in the sea fans. Black spotted pufferfish seem too lazy to swim here, preferring to just rest on a rock ledge. Blue ringed angelfish swim around the rocks. This is a good spot for seeing reef sharks or even bull sharks.
Head to the shallower eastern section for mantis shrimp, red swimmer crabs and large hermit crabs. Moray eels including zebra and white mouthed morays can be seen plus a large number of cowrie shells. Also dotted on the rocks are the unusual white hairy urchins.
Explore the wall for blue, yellow, green and orange soft tube corals, and the banks for hunting big-eye trevally, pompano and banded sea snakes. Rainbow runners pass by in fast moving schools, whereas long fin batfish pass at a more leisurely pace.
Please do take note that currents can be strong and terminally downward, particularly on the deeper sides of the islet. Moving beyond the shelter of the rocks on the island's east and west tips can make it very hard to get back to the site again. However if you stay close to the rocks this doesn't have to be a difficult dive.
On this day between 07:00 a.m till 18:00 p.m. we will visit 4 dives in locations around Shark Cave, North Twin, Stewart Island.
Our first stop, Shark Cave is among the top Mergui Archipelago diving sites. It is made up of 3 small islets, the centre islet being the largest at 100 m wide. In sharp contrast to the bare rocks that identify this site at the surface, Shark Cave will surprise you with its abundance of marine life.
The ragged cave entrance is on the north west corner of the islet, and is 5 to 16 m deep. Often found guarding the entrance are several long-fin trevally and silver sweetlips. The tunnel's ceiling is covered in beautiful marigold cup corals, and the floors with yellow sponges. Here you may also find some large rock lobsters. Groups of white tip reef might also make a surprising appearance. However the site is a lovely one even when sharks are absent, as is more likely the case these days. A torch is recommended in the tunnel area to see into the deeper crevices.
The reef on the north east side of the islet is rugged with black and white featherstars, and green tube corals and cup corals. Black and white banded sea snakes and black-blotched fantail rays hunt over the reef, as well as yellow ornate or harlequin ghost pipefish and tigertail seahorses.
The southwest wall bottoms at 30 m and has many fine crevices crammed full of life - Durban dancing shrimps and red and white banded boxer shrimps, mantis shrimps, sea slugs, cowries and an amazing amount of moray eels. There are swirling clouds of glassfish drift and dance over the reef. If you're really lucky, you could see the feeding habits of cuttlefish.
In the cracks in the wall are hidden nocturnal grey bamboo sharks, a small species about half a metre in length, as well as rock lobsters and frogfish. Under rocks at the bottom of the walls, mantis shrimp, seahorses and ghost pipefish can be found. If you are lucky you may spot whitetip reef sharks and small nurse sharks occasionally. This reef is full of scorpionfish, some small and well camouflaged, and some huge specimens almost half a meter long.
Waters around North Twin Island are visited by many of Mergui's pelagic fish such as Bull sharks, rainbow runners, and eagle rays. Manta rays also pay a visit here. Currents can be strong, and visibility is usually excellent.
The dive site is made up of large granite boulders similar to those in Thailand's Similan Islands and offers the best of many diving opportunities around North Twin Island. Many swim-throughs offer the opportunity to explore this site from a new angle over and over again as, depending on the time of day, the light shines at new angles through the little tunnels.
The boulders are carpeted in purple soft corals and spiny sea urchins. Ember parrotfish, powder blue surgeon fish and blue-ringed angelfish swim between the rocks. Cuttlefish can often be seen in the shallower areas and hawksbill turtles are common, especially on morning dives when they can be found resting under rocky ledges.
Another common encounter here are the many different moray eels, including banded morays and even the occasional honeycomb moray.
At Stewart Island many large swim-throughs that are filled with large schools of snappers and fusiliers. Be aware of the strong surge and currents that can be present when you attempt the cross over.
The walls are covered in clams and sponges, making for a vibrant and enchanting scene. The wall is peppered with many caverns in which you could find juvenile nurse sharks, little crabs and all sorts of shrimps, including boxer shrimp and Durban dancer shrimps scuttling this way and that. Around the sandy bottom at about 25 m, look out for rays on the sandy floor.
Between 07:00 a.m. and 18:00 p.m. these will be four dives on our fourth day, beginning with morning dive at North Rock; followed by Fan Forest Pinnacle and concluded with two more dives at Western Rocky.
Northern Rocky is located 1 km to the west of the spectacular MacLeod island. This limestone rock resembles a ship's sail as you approach from the north. It is a rocky wall dive with jumbled boulders spreading outwards at deeper depths, down to around 35 m. The dive site is abundant in orange fan corals and cup corals that cover much of the wall. Gorgonian seafans are also numerous, crinoids clinging to them, and hawkfish residing on them.
Entry is normally on the exposed western side, close to the wall. The area at edge of the boulders at the bottom of the reef is home to bent-stick pipefish which can be found in the sand and rubble. They are often together in pairs and look, at first glance, just like the sea whips that they stay close to. Stingrays can also be found buried in the sand. Under the rocky ledges it's possible to see marble rays as well as nurse sharks. Other fish life here includes blue-ringed angelfish, oriental sweetlips and parrotfish. In the shallow areas nudibranchs are found all over the rocks as are bearded scorpionfish.
Currents and surge can be strong at Northern Rocky and visibility can drop to no more than 5m at times here but when conditions are suitable, crabs, shrimps and moray eels can be spotted all over the wall.
Our next site, Western Rocky is is the southernmost dive site of the Mergui Archipelago. It offers a sloping reef, great wall diving and several surrounding pinnacles. A tunnel leads right through the island, with lots of crayfish and usually some large sleeping nurse sharks. Western rocky is one of Myanmar’s best spots for shark sightings. Encounters with Whitetips, Gray reef sharks, Blacktips or even Bull sharks are fairly common.
This will be our final day, with two of the remaining dives taking place at Western Rocky between 07:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
Continue diving at Western Rocky - a site that offers you an overwhelming choice of walls and reefs, pinnacles and an impressive passage through the centre of the island. It is a small barren island, with two smaller islets to the east which can be reached underwater from the main island or dived as a separate dive.
Descending on the southern wall there is a large cavern, on the western side of which is a large archway swim-though or window, through which sunlight streams. The cavern walls and ceiling are covered in zigzag clams, encrusting sponges and spinous sponges. Shrimps, crabs and lobster are numerous in the crevices and common lion fish are also present.
Just to the east of the cavern is the entrance to a tunnel that runs right through the centre of the island and exits on the northern side, allowing scuba divers to see daylight for the whole 30 m through the tunnel.
There is a large chamber inside but as the tunnel reaches the northern side it gradually narrows so that divers must progress in single file. The maximum depth in the tunnel is 24 m and it splits into two exit passages. A torch is needed to see into the darker ledges of the tunnel.
The tunnel is a prime example of how the marine life of Mergui prospers when out of the reach of fishermen. Everything inside the cave is big, most notably gigantic lobster and very fat nurse sharks. One nurse shark, about 3 m long with a very wide body, may make it impossible for divers to continue through the tunnel, instead having to turn around and exiting the way that they entered.
If you exit the tunnel on the north side the prettiest section of the dive site is to the left, on the western tip of the island. Here anemones and pore corals proliferate with a myriad of fish life, including thousands of glassfish being hunted by trevally. Moray eels are common and banded sea snakes can be seen.
The south side of Western Rocky is a wall dive with gorgonian sea fans, feather stars and sea whips protruding from the wall. There are some small rocks a short swim away from the wall, in deeper water where white tip reef sharks can be found.
The south wall also makes an excellent night dive. Red finger soft coral and orange cup coral provide the colour. Brown spiny lobsters and painted rock lobster are more numerous here than at any other Burma dive site and are often seen out of their crevices displaying their full length. Long haired hermit crabs, scaled hermit and giant crabs, plus sponge and decorator crabs are all present, as are wandering cowries and, if you are eagle-eyed, anglerfish.
There are few small pinnacles to the east of the main island. These islets are worth a dive on their own or, in good visibility and when currents allow, can be reached from the eastern tip of the main island. Cuttlefish are common here as are big reef squid. Bearded scorpionfish are everywhere as are twin-spot lionfish and various moray eels including yellow margined, white-eyed and spot-faced morays. Pelagics like jacks, mackerel and chevron barracuda patrol the blue waters.
Currents permitting, it is possible to swim all the way around throughout this dive, but you can also find shelter from the current, if needed, and still have plenty of reef to explore. At the end of the dive just ascend to 5m, deploy your surface marker and drift along as you watch out for larger pelagics in the Mergui blue water, such as tuna or even a large ray.
By 16:00 p.m. we will return to Kawthaung, check in immigration office on Myanmar side and cross to Thailand if your onward flight is from Ranong. Otherwise, continue your travel in Myanmar.
