Recent Experience with MV Andaman Diva Liveaboard

[Laval]

Here is a link to my video about diving in Andaman Sea with SY Diva Andaman in March of this year. I will post a more detailed report about this trip later this week.

 

[Laval]

I dont agree. The Mergui Archipelago is extremely colorful. Soft corals of all colors and so many different seafans. I have been to Bali, Pulau Weg, Bunaken and Gorontalo but never to the very east. But I jut came back from Myanmar and wrote a trip report here https://www.scubaboard.com/community/posts/8615399/

Hi kassj0peja, Just out of curiosity, have you dived in Raja Ampat?

 

[kassj0peja]

No, from the mentioned indonesian destinations only Bali and Sulawesi. Of course I am aware of the quality of Raja or Alor. But I was in Malpelo and would definately go back to destinations with less sharks. I just wanted to say that the Mergui Archipelago is a great and colorful destinations. I have never seen more soft corals and sea fans. And I like the isolated character. I did a few hundred dives there and only once saw another boat at the same dive site. Around Boulder Island, where I was this year, we even went to dive sites nobody ever dived before. And also on Diva Andaman a few years ago we followed rumors of a submerged pinnacle a mile or so south of Western Rocky and with the sonar we found it. It was a great dive site great topography, diverse marine life including some massive marbled sting rays. Besides the Mergui Archipelago I only felt this "exploration character" at Condor Reef in Cambodia and HTMS Phra Thong in Thailand.

 

[Laval]

I agree that Mergui Archipelago is a nice dive destination, and that you would not see many (if any) dive boats over there, but there are a lot of fishing boats around. I spent only five days diving at Mergui Archipelago, and my experience with Raja Ampat is limited to only two trips (Misool and Dampier Strait) for total of 4 weeks. In my humble opinion, diving at Raja Ampat (especially at Dampier Strait) is at a different level, and I was overwhelmed by the beauty of diving at Raja Ampat. I should mention that Dampier Strait is busier with divers, and it has definitely lost its "exploration character". At the same time, there is no fishing boats at all.

 

[String]

I dont agree. The Mergui Archipelago is extremely colorful. Soft corals of all colors and so many different seafans. I have been to Bali, Pulau Weg, Bunaken and Gorontalo but never to the very east. But I jut came back from Myanmar and wrote a trip report here https://www.scubaboard.com/community/posts/8615399/

Id agree but only in part.
Some places in Mergui do have some of the most colouful soft corals ive seen (No hard, its all been dynamited or dragged by nets obviously). It really is colourful.



*HOWEVER* in Mergui the visibility is generally pants - a few metres at most on some sites. You very rarely get lucky and see it better but generally expect most of the dives to be in 3-7m of murky green water so its often hard to see the colours. You certainly wont get the sunlight filtering through lighting up the whole reef as you get in other places very often.
In addition what you wont get in Mergui are big fish or big schools of fish. Its all been completely fished out and continues to be so every single day. The relatively short distance to Thailand and the massive difference in fish stocks is a fantastic example of why marine parks are needed!

We did not see as many mantas as we expected - only six (three - at South Twin and three - at Tachai pinnacle).

That's significantly better than you'd actually expect on a trip.

As a rough guide, ive done 32 days in Mergui this season and had 2 days of Mantas. Last season was 40 days and had mantas on 3 days (all at the same dive site on the same trip, none after that) so they arent as common as claimed.
If you dive the Twins and Black Rock you *might* see them but more often than not, you wont.

 

[Laval]

I took a look at your photos and was very impressed. They are fantastic.