Diving
Some of the worlds top diving sites are located in Southern Myanmar in the Myeik (Mergui Archipelago) region.
Black Rock
Probably the most spectacular site with the most potential for big stuff in the archipelago, Black Rock is a rocky island approximately 100-meters long.
Here is the closest you’ll come to having a true wall dive, with depths to over 60-meters and a dramatic drop off in most areas. Depending on your intended dive profile and related to your qualification, EAN28 - EAN32 are the preferred diving gases for this dive.
Some of the fish you will see here include black-spotted pufferfish, spotted hawkfish, scorpionfish, and blue-ringed angelfish. If you are a moray eel fan, then this is your dive site. Many unusual and rarely seen morays are common, including extra-large common green, zebra, and fimbriated and white-eyed morays. Octopus and cuttlefish can be found here, the latter easy to photograph.
Great Swinton Islands / North Twin Island
There is a large underwater plateau located close to the North Twin Island. The top of the reef has an average depth of 5-15m, with large mating cuttle fish and the highlight here are the Manta rays that visit this place many times with there graceful displays.
On the deeper side of this dive site there are big boulders dropping down to 40m where you usually find a large population of black spotted stingrays sleeping on the sandy bottom. Depending on your intended dive profile and related to your qualification, EAN28 - EAN32 are the preferred diving gases for this dive.
An underwater pinnacle is located close to North Twin Island. The shallowest point of this pinnacle is around 12m and continues down to over 60 meters. As you descend down the slopping reef which has been dynamited you will find a huge amount of sea fans swaying in the usually strong currents. At around 25 meters you can find large Indian nurse sharks sleeping in the overhangs, which makes it perfect to dive with an EAN36 or even EAN38. A look out in to the blue can be rewarding with large dog tooth tunas circling above.
The Burma Banks A series of sea mounts that rise up from over 300 meters to just below the surface. Depths average 15 - 22 meters on the flat areas on top, dropping off slowly on the edges. Some banks have a more dramatic drop off than others, but nowhere will you find a vertical wall. Diving here requires careful planning, as the currents are often strong and unpredictable. Guided drift dives are common, usually starting on the edge of the bank in 35-meters of water where divers stare out in the blue looking for large silvertip-, nurse- or grey reef sharks. If the sharks don’t happen to be around, the dogtooth tuna, Spanish mackerel and jack fish that patrol the reef edges will delight you. The coral is in very good shape in many places, but this varies from year to year depending on storm activity and other environmental factors. Depending on your intended dive profile and related to your qualification, EAN28 - EAN32 are the preferred diving gases for this dive. Western Rocky Island This limestone island features beautiful underwater terrain, including a tunnel, often full of large tawny nurse sharks,which traverses the island about 20-meters down so that it is perfect to dive with an EAN36 or even EAN38. The island is more like a series of pinnacles rather than one big rock and the soft limestone makes for crevices offering shelter for a wide variety of sea creatures. Some of the marine life you will see here include mantas, gray reef and spinner sharks, and eagle rays in the open water next to the island, while leopard sharks and spotted rays lie on the bottom. On and around the rocks, spiny lobster, cowrie shells, feather stars, anemones and an assortment of crabs abound. Reef fish include blue-ringed angelfish, moray-eels, snappers, frogfish, and ghost pipefish.
