Myanmar or South Andaman

[poifromthebag]

I did Similan (Richelieu) with Smiling Seahorse and loved it. Richelieu was probably the best I've experienced in my life. I'm normally boat diving off Hawaiian islands.

Now I'm trying to decide between the Myanmar itinerary, South Andaman (Koh Lipe), or change focus to Philippines.

This would be my second LOB of my life, and I'm a recreational diver who wants to go for the leisure. I'm not a photographer, but I carry a gopro to share my experience with my family/friends. I'd love to see whale sharks and manta but understand it's more of a lucky chance. For Myanmar, I'd probably go with Seahorse again. But it looks like they don't go all the way down to Koh Lipe. I believe the better months are Oct - Feb so aiming for something during that time; but not set in stone.

What's your recommendation for the clueless?

 

[Centrals]

I did Similan (Richelieu) with Smiling Seahorse and loved it. Richelieu was probably the best I've experienced in my life. I'm normally boat diving off Hawaiian islands.

Now I'm trying to decide between the Myanmar itinerary, South Andaman (Koh Lipe), or change focus to Philippines.

This would be my second LOB of my life, and I'm a recreational diver who wants to go for the leisure. I'm not a photographer, but I carry a gopro to share my experience with my family/friends. I'd love to see whale sharks and manta but understand it's more of a lucky chance. For Myanmar, I'd probably go with Seahorse again. But it looks like they don't go all the way down to Koh Lipe. I believe the better months are Oct - Feb so aiming for something during that time; but not set in stone.

What's your recommendation for the clueless?

There should be a trip report coming soon from @Barmaglot who has been recently to Mergui Archipelago on Smiling Seahorse.
There are LoB covering North and South Andaman in one trip(8-9 days).
Better month is Jan - Mar.
The conditions in Andaman Sea has been pretty awful this season.

Tubattaha in Philippines is only available from mid Mar to early June on LoB and the best time is between mid Apr to mid May.
I was diving at Southern Leyte in Philippines(last month) and the resort also arranged special snorkelling trip for whlaeshark. The successful rate is pretty impressive, 4 trips were arranged during my stay and every time the happy snorkellers came back with several sighting.

 

[poifromthebag]

There should be a trip report coming soon from @Barmaglot who has been recently to Mergui Archipelago on Smiling Seahorse.
There are LoB covering North and South Andaman in one trip(8-9 days).
Better month is Jan - Mar.
The conditions in Andaman Sea has been pretty awful this season.

Tubattaha in Philippines is only available from mid Mar to early June on LoB and the best time is between mid Apr to mid May.
I was diving at Southern Leyte in Philippines(last month) and the resort also arranged special snorkelling trip for whlaeshark. The successful rate is pretty impressive, 4 trips were arranged during my stay and every time the happy snorkellers came back with several sighting.

Thank you for the very helpful info

I was wondering what exactly is different about the Burma sites compared to Similan and Barmaglot's trip report really helped answer that.

Trip Report - The Smiling Seahorse Mergui Archipelago (Myanmar)

While this was my tenth trip on The Smiling Seahorse over the past four seasons, it was the first to Myanmar, so I figured I'd share some of the peculiarities of this particular route. The Smiling Seahorse is a liveaboard, designed and operated by a French couple, Franck and Camille, built in...

scubaboard.com

Sounds like I'm going to miss this year's Tubattaha window. I really appreciate the info though.