A liveaboard trip in Myanmar means having the opportunity to dive and cruise far from the average tourist's beaten track. The Burma Banks and the Mergui Archipelago promise encounters with big pelagics, sharks and rays, healthy reefs with a lot of marine life, and the pioneering spirit of travelling to areas where few others go. The archipelago lay untouched for years and has only been visited since 1997.
Burma liveaboard diving consists chiefly of sites peppering the 800 or so islands of the Mergui Archipelago where you can enjoy a variety of different underwater scenes: walls, caverns and tunnels, as well as huge pinnacles and boulders covered with soft corals and gorgonian sea fans. Further offshore, the legendary Burma Banks are a series of huge flat-topped underwater seamounts that rise up from the ocean depths almost to the sea's surface.
Fish sightings you can expect include armies of barracuda, dogtooth tuna, batfish, unicornfish and trevallies, and also manta rays and the awesome whale shark, grey reef and whitetip reef sharks. The macro life is spectacular and includes ghostpipefish, frogfish and cuttlefish, as well as countless types of shrimps, crabs and nudibranchs.
The southern Mergui Archipelago runs parallel to the shared Myanmar-Thai peninsula and forms part of the Andaman Sea. With a lack of world demand for Burmese fisheries, the waters are less exploited and richer than most, with little industrial fishing taking place. The archipelago provides a new frontier for liveaboard exploration in a fascinating, out-of-this-world environment. If you want to get away from the crowds to remote pristine sites where a vast range of creatures, both large and small, await, then a Burma liveaboard safari is for you.
Since the premier dive sitesare spread over a large area, and there are no resorts which allow divers to see all these sites, we recommend a liveaboard diving safari as the best option to explore Burma. Check out your options here:
While many know of the wonders of the Andaman Sea on the west coast of Thailand, few venture further north into the Mergui Archipelago. It's here that you can cruise hundreds of unexplored islands and dive at uncrowded sites undisturbed by the passage of time and the tourist masses of neighbouring Thailand. Liveaboards may visit the Burma Banks and some of the top sites of the archipelago, such as Black Rock and Shark Cave.
Black Rock is one of the best dive sites for shark encounters. You can see whitetips, grey reef, and black-tip reef sharks, both here and at the Burma Banks, where you may also spot mighty potato groupers, large red snappers and powder blue surgeonfish. Shark Cave is best known for its resident and docile nurse sharks, but there is much more to this site than the name suggests. Banded sea kraits, cuttlefish and harlequin ghost pipefish head the list of smaller but no less exciting creatures regularly seen here.
The Southern Mergui Archipelago is known for dives with both an array of sharks and pelagic fish, including eagle rays and whale sharks. But it's also known for a lot of the smaller stuff too, which hide in the crevices of the walls and overhangs that are typical of Myanmar's underwater topography. Some of the other dive sites that liveaboards visit in the south are Rocky Peaks, Great Swinton, North and South Twin islands, Stewart and McCarthy islands, and Western Rocky. [More details on these dive sites: Burma].
Liveaboard charters run for between 4 to 7 nights in duration. The distances involved in these expeditions make them more expensive than those in Thailand. Some of the sites are quite deep and the region is remote. For these reasons, scuba divers are expected to be relatively experienced.
> [More details: South Myanmar Trips]At Tower Rock you can hang in front of huge towering walls and watch as several manta rays glide and perform their entrancing dance in front of a spellbound you. Little Torres Island is a good dive site for appreciating the vibrancy of the corals here where there are healthy specimens of table coral, mosaic coral and red whip coral to name a few. The corals are all surrounded by healthy reef life as well as leopard sharks and sting rays on the sea bed nearby.
In recent years macro enthusiasts have begun to sing the praises of this region and it is now a popular liveaboard diving destination for underwater photographers who come to study subjects such as the numerous frogfish and ribbon eels, as well as the huge numbers of crustaceans in Burmese waters including lobsters, crabs, shrimps and cowries. Some of the dive sites that you'll visit in the north are Lampi Island, Salet Galet, Hayes Island, Nearchus & Chevalier Rock, Freak Island and West Canister.
Cruises typically run for 7 nights. Northern Burma has a much more pioneer feel to it than those trips which take in just the southern section of the Mergui Archipelago, with fewer boats going there. Some extended liveaboard cruises visit both the north and south Mergui areas.
> [More details: Northern Mergui Archipelago Trips]A number of the Burma liveaboards above run trips that visit the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock (the best sites in Thailand), and also continue north into Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago. The 2 destinations complement each other superbly. The Similans feature huge underwater boulders, and a vast array of sea life can be seen on these trips, including frequent sightings of whale sharks at Richelieu Rock, manta rays at Koh Bon, leopard sharks and turtles. The dive sites in Burma are different in that they tend to feature wall diving, caverns, tunnels and drop-offs. Combination tours allow you to experience the very best of the Andaman Sea on one single cruise. [More details on these dive sites: Richelieu Rock, Similan Islands].
These safaris are usually about a week long. There will be a short enforced delay at some point in order for you to complete immigration formalities.
> [More details: Thailand & Myanmar Trips]
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Myanmar has a tropical, hot and humid climate throughout the year, though it can get chilly in the mountainous north. The dry and cool season runs from November to February; March to May is also dry but very hot. The rainy season runs from May to October with the wettest month being October.
The Burma scuba diving season on liveaboards in the Mergui Archipelago is restricted to the dry season only, so we recommend visiting between November and late April, when the seas are at their calmest and visibility highest. The sea temperature is warmest (30°C) around February and coolest (26°C) in October.
February to May sees the greatest number of visits from whale sharks and manta rays.
Learn more about seasonal variations at the sites on our specialised Burma diving page.
Thailand will be your starting point for your liveaboard trip to Myanmar, departing from either Phuket, Khao Lak or Ranong. Ports are detailed for every trip in the 'Departures & Prices' section in each of our liveaboard boat pages. They will also be sent to you during the inquiry and booking process.
Most commonly, you will board your boat in the Thai port of Ranong or you will be transferred overland from Phuket to your departure point at Khao Lak. For more details visit our How to Get to Thailand section.
For liveaboard departures from Ranong, you can choose to join your dive boat either by minibus from Phuket, or you can fly direct to Ranong, on the Thai side of the Myanmar border. Ranong departures do not usually include any transfers. Bangkok Airways operate flights from Bangkok to Ranong. Then take a taxi from Ranong Airport to Ranong Garden Hotel (Ranong), where you will be picked up.
If you are already in Myanmar, you can be picked up and dropped off in the Kawthuang area, the gateway to Mergui and where the liveaboards make immigration checks at the beginning and end of each trip.
We recommend you consider insurance to cover health, diving and travel activities, including trip cancellation. See our insurance programme for a competitive price:
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For additional information about travelling in Myanmar, check out our FAQs page.
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