South East Asian Trips

If you were to ask a sample of dive guides working in the Andaman Sea, which scuba destination they thought was the best in the region, the Mergui Archipelago or Thailand's top diving destination the Similan Islands, 75% of respondents would say the Mergui, and maybe 25% the Similans. However, about half would probably say they didn't know because they have never been to Burma! Myanmar is that kind of place. Read on for details of the dive sites you can explore from our Burma liveaboard cruises.

Ingo Siewert with gorgonian fan, Rocky Peaks, Burma

Comprising some 800 islands north and east of Burma Banks, the Mergui Archipelago is the secret jewel in the Andaman Sea. Some islands have huge boulders, soft corals and sea fans. Others offer wall diving, caverns, tunnels and drop-offs. All have remained relatively untouched by the passage of time these last fifty years, and they maintain a out-of-this-world mystique of years gone by. When voyaging on a Burma diving liveaboard you really can forget your worries, on a journey of discovery, unhurried by time and untroubled by others, as you explore these fascinating and secluded islands.

At dive sites such as Shark Cave residents and visitors include grey reef, bull, nurse and whale sharks. Black Rock has schools of mobula (devil) rays and manta rays are frequently seen. The Mergui Archipelago, however, is equally attractive to macro enthusiasts and underwater photographers, with plentiful frogfish, ghost pipefish, ribbon eels, as well as masses of crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs, cowries and shrimps.

Burma has exploratory frontier diving in pristine environments, with new sites being discovered all the time. One of the main attractions is that you never know just what you might see!