Burma and the Mergui Archipelago Dive Sites
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Burma Banks
The Burma Banks are the most famous Burma diving destination, and they rise to within fifteen metres of the Andaman Sea surface, before plunging back down into the surrounding 300 metres deep waters. These open ocean sea mounts attract large pelagics and schooling fish from the surrounding waters. Adrenaline-rich drift dives is what Burma Banks diving is all about, and shark encounters are virtually guaranteed. Two to three metre nurse sharks are frequently seen, with occasional silvertip shark sightings - you can never be quite sure what you might find here.
Other residents and visitors in the Mergui Archipelago include grey reef, white tip and whale sharks. Schools of mobula rays and manta rays are also frequently seen. Burma diving is equally attractive to macro enthusiasts too, with plentiful nudibranchs, clown frogfish, ghost pipefish, ribbon eels, as well as masses of lobsters, crabs, and shrimps - in fact, these's far more diversity here than in the more popular Thailand dive destinations.
Myanmar diving is exploratory frontier diving with regular discoveries of new sites. One of the main attractions here is to dive into the unknown. It will appeal if you want to escape the mass commercialism of nearby Thailand - those without a spirit of adventure need not apply! |
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