Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard in Myanmar (formerly Burma)
If you’re into diving the less explored dive sites of the world, which are off-the-beaten-track, you’ll definitely want to jump aboard a Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard.
A Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard is the only way to dive the Mergui Archipelago which remains one of the planet’s most unspoiled dive destinations. The islands are still largely undiscovered by tourists and are inhabited by Moken people. Dive from February to May to see mantas and whale sharks.
The best way to dive Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Myanmar liveaboards using the following window:
Table of Myanmar liveaboards
This list of Myanmar liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.
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The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.
Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.
These islands are still largely undiscovered by tourists, so if you want to scuba dive in a remove and still largely uncharted waters, Myeik (or Mergui) Archipelago is the place to go.
Where is the Mergui Archipelago: Known as Myeik Archipelago or Myeik Kyunzu?
The Mergui Archipelago is off the southern west coast of Myanmar. Where Myanmar is also known as Burma.
The official name of the country was changed to Myanmar in 1989 by the military government. It’s full name is the ‘Republic of the Union of Myanma.’ But certain countries like the UK, Canada and the United States often still refer to it as Burma.
But for the rest of this article, I will refer to it as Myanmar, as this is the correct name as far as the country itself is concerned. In terms of geography Myanmar is bordered by:
The Mergui Archipelago lies off the west coast of the Malay peninsular towards the northern end nearest to where the peninsular meets the rest of Indochina.
These islands are in the Andaman sea, which is east of the Bay of Bengal.
The Mergui Archipelago Islands are referred to as the Pashu Islands by the Malay inhabitants, which are referred locally as Pashu.
There are over 800 islands in total in the Mergui Archipelago, which was only opened up to tourism in 1997.
Mergui Archipelago how to get there
The best way to get to Mergui Archipelago is via Thailand. First fly to Phuket which is lies south of Mergui and then transfer by flight to Ranong. Which is the best starting point for scuba diving Mergui Archipelago. Mergui Archipelago dive liveaboards depart from Ranong or Kawthaung ports.
Best weather to visit the Mergui Archipelago for scuba diving liveaboard trip
The Mergui Archipelago lies in tropical waters, where the temperatures are consistently warm. The average temperature is 30°C (86 °F)
From May to July there are strong onshore winds and a larger swell. There are occasional hurricanes in the Mergui from May to June. The rainy season is from July to October.
What to see in the Mergui Archipelago when scuba diving from a liveaboard dive boat
Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard map – image courtesy of Liveaboard.com
Scuba diving Burma Banks and the Mergui Archipelago is a great spot if you like the big stuff. When I say the big stuff, I mean the large pelagics. You are more or less guaranteed sharks, rays (including manta rays) and the occasional whale sharks.
If you scuba dive Burma Banks and Mergui Archipelago, you will be one of a few lucky scuba divers that have.
The Burma Banks scuba diving
The Burma Banks is one of the most renowned dive sites in Southeast Asia. The huge Burma Banks are located on the west side of the Mergui Archipelago around 125 miles (200km) off the coast of Myanmar.
These banks are huge flat-topped sea mounts which are at a depth of 15 metres (50 feet). At the edges of the Burma Banks the sea plunges to a depth of around 300 metres (984 feet).
There are six of these large submerged mountains, which are named:
Heckford Bank.
Coral Bank.
Big Bank.
Silvertip Bank.
Rainbow Bank.
Roe Bank.
Currents on the Burma Banks tend to be strong. This means Burma Banks diving is for intermediate to experienced scuba divers only, as drift dives tend to be the norm.
Heckford Bank and Silvertip Bank dive sites
Heckford Bank is the western most bank of all. It’s also the deepest. Heckford Bank begins at about 20 metres (66 feet) of water and is one of the best places to spot sharks.
The other bank that offers the best shark spotting opportunity is Silvertip Bank. Here you’ll likely see the silvertip sharks, as well as the tawny sharks.
Other sharks that are also seen in this area of the Burma Banks include:
Shark sightings on the Burma Banks is almost guaranteed.
The other impressive visitor to the region includes manta rays. Plus one of my favourites, eagle rays.
In addition to cartilaginous fish of the shark family, you may also see potato cod, grouper, red snapper and surgeon fish.
The depth of Silvertip Bank ranges from 15 metres (50 feet) to 40 metres (131 feet) towards the southern tip. The profile of this bank is more diverse than the other banks.
This means the sea life there is much greater. You’ll not only get to scuba dive with sharks, but there are also octopus, great barracuda, potato cod, red snapper and moray eels.
The Burma Banks are still relative virgin dive territory, as only a small number of liveaboard dive boats visit the area.
Black Rock and Shark Cave dive sites
Another great dive sites for seeing sharks on the Mergui Archipelago is Black Rock. Here you are likely encounter whitetip reef sharks, grey reef sharks and black tip reef sharks.
But if you like shark encounters, Shark Cave is a great spot to see nurse sharks too.
Level of scuba diver experience required for Mergui Archipelago scuba diving
The best Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard comparison chart notes:
1. The exchange rate used for GBP to USD 1.36 and GBP to Euro 1.12.
2. The 'Cost per day' column will make it easy to sort these Mergui Archipelago liveaboards by cost, but these prices may vary when you visit to book. The prices listed are a cost guide and were correct at the time of compiling this table.
3. Under review rating '0.0' means no rating received at the time of compiling the table.
4. To scroll on desktop select table and use arrow keys. On touch screen including mobile devices scroll the table using the screen.
5. Min dive certification: OW = Open Water Diver. AOW = Advanced Open Water Diver.MV Deep Andaman Queen liveaboard dive boat – image courtesy of Liveaboard.com
At a glance the MV Deep Andaman Queen liveaboard dive boat offers the following features:
Recommended to wear basic skin protection or a 3mm wetsuit.
There are hot water showers for rinsing off after each dive.
All cabins have an en-suite bathroom , air conditioning, TV and DVD plus a free minibar in the master cabin.
There’s always plenty of tasty food on board, which features a variety of Thai Burmese and international/European cuisine served buffet style. There’s a pre-breakfast before each morning dive. Then main breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.
Price includes fruit, soft drinks, drinking water, tea and coffee with biscuits.
Alcoholic drinks such as beer, spirits and cocktails are an extra charge.
Best to fly internationally to Phuket airport and the boat departs from Khao Lak.
I hope you enjoyed this article about Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically about Mergui Archipelago diving liveaboard), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba diving (and snorkeling) for you to read and learn about these fabulous sports.
Have fun and be safe!
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
