Mergui Archipelago liveaboard recommendations

[scubashooter]

Why are you considering the Mergui? The diving there has deteriorated over the last 5 years. Silver tips are a rarity now and the odd nurse shark is as good as it gets. Coral is still good in many places but fish bombing has taken its toll on many sites. It is definitely on the Mergui of the early 90s.
Also, on the political front, you are paying $150 park fee to a military regime which uses children as labor and military.
If you must go, I suggest the Aqua One over the Ocean Rover. Better boat, crew and food. For middle budget, I would say Fai Yah or Colonna if they still go.
I have been on all the boats I've mentioned more than a few times except for the Fai Yah (only once).

 

[buksida]

Why are you considering the Mergui? The diving there has deteriorated over the last 5 years. Silver tips are a rarity now and the odd nurse shark is as good as it gets. Coral is still good in many places but fish bombing has taken its toll on many sites. It is definitely on the Mergui of the early 90s.
Also, on the political front, you are paying $150 park fee to a military regime which uses children as labor and military.
If you must go, I suggest the Aqua One over the Ocean Rover. Better boat, crew and food. For middle budget, I would say Fai Yah or Colonna if they still go.
I have been on all the boats I've mentioned more than a few times except for the Fai Yah (only once).

Where else would you suggest? If the diving has deteriorated over the past 5 years imagine what it will be like in the next five years, I want to see it while it is still good. I cant see there being much that compares to Mergui in Thailand (though I could be wrong on this).

On a political front foreigners cannot get away with not paying the governments extortionate fees, it happens in every country in Southeast Asia, the Burmese are just like kids with a new toy called tourism. I am only just getting in to places in Thailand for the local price, and thats after living here, paying taxes and contributing to the economy but still being treated as a tourist for the last five years. In Thailand foreigners pay ten times more than locals to a corrupt political regime.

 

[scubashooter]

I would suggest you go to the Indian Andaman islands. The diving there is much better and more frontier and fewer people have been. It's just been more open the last year. Of course the sharks have also been hunted there as well. But there are a few very nice manta sites with great viz and the coral is very pristine... even after the tsunami.
I too live in Thailand part of the year and suffer the same indignities of paying more as an expat. I accept this in many instances like boat rides etc but not at dive ops. Btw the "corruption" is very normal in many parts of asia, it is a cultural thing.
In Myanmar, the military regime has a long record of human rights abuses on children. Of course this has nothing to do with you but I personally would not give 1 cent to the regime, even if the diving was still great (which it is not anymore).

 

[JenM]

Where else would you suggest? If the diving has deteriorated over the past 5 years imagine what it will be like in the next five years, I want to see it while it is still good. I cant see there being much that compares to Mergui in Thailand (though I could be wrong on this).

We were on the Ocean Rover last December. We loved it and I think that Burma is definitely worth diving (leaving aside political considerations). In fact, overall, we enjoyed the diving in Burma more than in the Similans. When you are comparing different boats going to Burma, you should look at whether they go to the Burma Banks. I think Ocean Rover might be the only one going there right now because it is way out of the way and takes alot of extra gas to get out there. The day we spent on the Banks was definitely the highlight of our trip.

Also, don't worry about being in a crowd in Burma. There are never very many boats there so you will have the dive sites to yourself. However, do be prepared for dynamite fishing. We heard several bombs going off quite close by while we were diving and it scared the bejesus out of us. I agree with you, it might not be as good as it was, but it is still worth visiting and at the rate they are dynamiting there's no telling whether there will be anything left 5 years from now.

As for other destinations, it all depends on what you like. While we really enjoyed our trip, we probably won't go back to either Thailand or Burma anytime soon. We preferred the diving in Indonesia and are headed back there for our 2nd trip next week (yahoo!), because we prefer macro/muck diving and weird creatures and that's the place to find both them and beautiful reefs/coral.

 

[ssra30]

I think Burma is still a great place to dive. Political reason to dive or not to dive there aside, there are so much to see there. Granted shark sighting is not nearly as good as it used to be but that's not the reason for me to go there.
I went to Burma the last 2 years in February. We saw a whale shark at Black Rock 2 years ago and there were mantas there this past February. Missed a whale shark that was sighted on the trip after us. There were so much macro stuffs to see there. The only place in Thailand that came close to Western Rocky, Sharkcave/OK Rock is Richeliue but with very very few divers instead of over a hundred like Richeliue. If you can talk the boat into going up to Tower Rock, it is well worth the effort. Viz at Tower Rock was horrible but there were schooling devil rays everywhere and you can just hang out and wait for them to swim by.
I have already booked a trip back to Burma again next February!

 

[scubashooter]

That is precisely what I am saying. It's good but not fantastic, and definitely rapidly deteriorating. The health of the corals and fishlife is better in the Indian Andaman than anywhere in Burma Banks in my humble opinion.
Why go to a place where only a few sites are good and not a place where frontier diving and pristine reefs are the game? You pay $100+ dollars in site fees but at least it's semi protected (no fish blasting) and if you are lucky, you get to see elephants swimming between islands(But don't pay the locals to do it as a show as it's really tough on the elephants and they sometimes whip and hook the animals into the water. Got pretty bloody when they shot this documentary when I was there, Terrible!)
It's better than supporting the burmese regime, in my mind.
Just another way of thinking. I suppose it really depends on what kind of diving you like.
The Indian Andamans have sites with dozens of mantas visible from the surface, pristine coral that is as good or better with better fishlife than the Mergui (including Burma banks). Watching the Mergui deteriorate is disheartening and the political aspect was the last straw for me.

 

[The Hamburger]

Corruption is endemic worldwide including UK & US. I should know

As far a not going to Burma for political reasons , I guess people will stop going to Florida , The Red Sea , East Africa........ the list is endless

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the M/Y Anggun...I was on this boat in November and it is definately 5 star. Actually at the end of our trip, we gave the owner a new shirt that had 6 stars! The Anggun is in the same price range as the Aqua One and Ocean Rover. I loved this boat and wouldn't think of going on any other to Burma. The Thai crew were 100% on their game, the food was out of this world and the boat was extremely comfortable. The diving was excellent, while it is true we didn't see any Silvertips at the Burma Banks, it was still a VERY beautiful site and should be seen.

 

[Taxgeek]

I enjoyed the Faah Yai this past January. I would second (or third, or whatever ) what people are saying about sharks - don't go to Mergui for sharks. But the diving was amazing - saw a whale shark - I have a photo taken from the top deck of the Faah Yai and it shows the whale shark near the surface and the railing of the boat in the same shot - it was amazing. We saw like 7 mantas at Black Rock too.

The hard coral in Burma was what really amazed me. I had only seen Palauan and Carribean coral before - the only word for them is microscopic, compared to Burma. Brain corals the size of a small house. (I'm not kidding). Mushroom corals (what are they really called? I have no idea) the size of houses were common, esp at the Banks.

Our trip was special because I did a 2 week kayaking/snorkeling trip with Wilderness Travel (on the Faah Yai, special charter) just before the diving trip, so we got to snorkel alot of the pristine little bays tucked in amongst the islands. The coral there was the most amazing thing I've seen, ever. Made the lettuce coral garden at Ulong Channel in Palau look like a tiny little scrap of nothing. Every kind of coral, beautiful, pristine, and HUGE.

Also don't go to Mergui for the viz - the reason the coral grows so well is there's lots of food in the water! ;-) But there was enough viz to keep me oohing and aahing for a total of 17 days, between the snorkeling and the diving.

The Faah Yai itself is simple but extremely well kept and very comfortable. Waaaay better than our local CA dive boats. Staterooms have A/C, salon doesn't. The crew is extremely friendly, Sunan's food is superb. I would go on the Faah Yai again if there weren't so many other great destinations waiting.

Ok, done raving. I didn't really have any preconceptions, so I wasn't disapointed with the lack of sharks. I thought it was great, and that's right after a trip to Yap and Palau the year before.

I'm very interested to learn about the Indian Andaman Islands - I didn't know those were open. Off to go do some research!

Cheers.
Taxgeek

 

[buksida]

Taxgeek, thanks for the great report there, Fah Yai is the one we went with after all. Trip is in November .... cant wait!