Meeting time in Smiling Seahorse Dive Shop at 12.00 p.m. where we will have time to try equipment before we go to our boat MV Smiling Seahorse. Before departure comes the Thai emigration on board and will stamp us out of Thailand. Then the boat will take us to Kawthoung where we will get our visa for Burma and permit to visit the archipelago. Officer will come onboard to control that all the papers are in order. Then it's departure: We will do a little ceremony to launch the trip and present the crew at sunset before having dinner.
The first day will be in an area rich in macro life visiting High Rock or rocky point where we can often spot rays and cobias as well as a lot of small stuff hiding in the coral. Its a good day to test your eyes! Here we can find all the special things like Pipefish, Pineapple Fish, Frogfish, Sea Horses and many different species of Nudibranchs. We will also show you one of the dive sites we recently discovered with a tunnel often inhabited by the soft giants nurse sharks and do the night dive around Spanish garden, which we named that way because of the many Spanish dancers resident.
We will spend the day around Shark Cave, with 3 dive sites to explore after second dive we will find a bounty beach where we can get some sand between our toes.
If you're lucky: Manta Ray, Eagle Ray, Whale Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Nurse Shark and big blotched sting ray…
Even if you are unlucky with the big stuff: Ghost pipe fish, harlequin shrimps, frog fish, seahorse and gorgeous coral everywhere.
For the night dive, you can pick your favorite of these three dive sites and you are sure to have an awesome time. Shrimps are everywhere your eyes look and we often spot Spanish dancers and other big nudibranch here too.
Today we're diving around North Twin. Our furtherst point on this cruise which usually offer the best visibility and the highest chance for pelagic. Chance to see Manta Ray, Eagle Ray, Whale Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Nurse Shark, Zebra Shark and giant Sea Fans..
The first dive will be around Seafan forest a gorgeous site with giant seafan like nowhere else on one side and purple vibrant soft corab on the overs. We have seen up to 4 whales sharks at the same time on this site so we might stay for another dive here if they are around or we will do the next 3 dives around Western Rocky which is also absolutely amazing.
One of the highlights is a tunnel that goes all the way through the island inhabited by many lobsters.
We have spotted here various shark species (Bowmouth Guitar Fish, Whale Shark, reefsharks) and often have resident Harlequin Shrimps, frogfishs and Sea Horses and a lot of shrimp and crab species are represented…
The last dive goes into a volcano where a group of black tip sharks likes to hang around, it is also a site rich in macro life. Here the question is not if you will see a seahorse, the question is how many? up to 10 per dive if you have good eyes as well as rare species such as shaded bat fish, comet long fins or pinneaple fish.
After the last dive we will head back toward Kawthoung where there will be opportunity to explore the market or enjoy the smiling seahorse's hospitality with a beer in the local pub. Once we got our passports back by the Burmese authorities, we will sail back to Thailand where we get a new visa stamp. (30 days for G8 countries passport holders, 14 days for the others getting visa on arrival)
