Burma Dive Sites

Twin Island (South Twin And North Twin)

It is another home of batfish, groupers and several nurse sharks. Although there are several interesting dive sites surrounding this island, the most beautiful area lies to the west, several hundred meters from the island itself. Here you will find large, colorful sea fans and beautiful soft corals that have attached themselves to the rocky substrate. It's a very striking dive and generally the water is more clear here than on other sites in the south.

Depth: 10 - 40m
Visibility: 20 - 40m
Currents: Can be strong

Burma Banks

There are no islands here, the Burma Banks, located about 80 nautical miles west of Kawthaung, are a series of seamounts that rise up from over 300-meters to just below the surface. Depths average 15-22 meters on the flat areas on top, dropping off slowly on the edges. Some banks have a more dramatic drop off than others, but nowhere will you find a vertical wall. Diving here requires careful planning, as the currents are often strong and unpredictable. Guided drift dives are the norm, usually starting on the edge of the bank in 35-meters of water where divers stare out in the blue looking for large silvertip sharks. Commonly growing to just over two-meters in length, these sharks are full-bodied, fascinating animals easily identified by the white trailing edges on their pectoral fins and caudal, or tail fins. Normally quite curious, but not aggressive, these sharks will closely approach the diver making for incredible photo opportunities. The nurse sharks, black tips and gray reef sharks are usually found.

If the sharks are not currently around, the dogtooth tuna, Spanish mackerel and jack fish that patrol the reef edges will delight you. The coral is in very good shape in many places, but this varies from year to year depending on storm activity and other environmental factors.

Depth: 10 - 28 m
Visibility: 10 - 30 m
Currents: Moderate

Fan Forest Pinnacle

This site is just a few miles north of Western Rocky. The pinnacle rises from a depth well beyond the limits of recreational divers, to about 5-meters below the surface. It features huge orange sea fans, black coral, and large barrel sponges. The potential for spotting larger fish is excellent, the dive site is very dramatic and the fish life excellent, including groupers or potato cod and leopard sharks at the deeper depths.

Depth: 10 - 50m
Visibility: 20 - 50m
Currents: Can be strong

Western Rocky Island

It is the one of the best dive site in Mergui archipelago. This limestone island features beautiful underwater terrain, including a tunnel�often full of large tawny nurse sharks�which traverses the island about 20-meters down. The island is more like a series of pinnacles rather than one big rock and the soft limestone makes for crevices offering shelter for a wide variety of sea creatures. Some of the marine lives you will see here include mantas, gray reef and spinner sharks, and eagle rays in the open water next to the island, while leopard sharks and spotted rays lie on the bottom. On and around the rocks, spiny lobster, cowries shells, feather stars, anemones and an assortment of crabs abound. Reef fish include blue-ringed angelfish, moray-eels, snappers, frogfish, and ghost pipefish.

Depth: 10 - 40m
Visibility: 10 - 30m
Currents: Can be strong

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