Raja Laut

View Mergui Archipelago dive map

Dive site name: Freak Island

Freak Island is a dive site to observe small creatures and is excellent for macro photographers. It's a relaxing dive with good visibility and usually with weak currents. This tiny island is around 6 kilometers east of West Canister. Smaller creatures reside here such as pipefish, anemone shrimps, nudibranch and even octopus. Plenty of coral, fans and anemones cover the rocks and fish life is diverse. Freak Island it's a good day or night dive.

With usually clear water, the boulders with sea fans and soft corals make powerful topography, while the hard corals are healthy and colorful. The small tree covered island descends 30m below the surface, and the rocks are carpeted with seafans, feather stars, soft corals, hard corals and anemones. More unusual marine life includes ornate ghost pipefish, harlequin shrimps, angler fish, yellow tigertail seahorse and stonefish. Various species of moray eel, including giant and white-eyed are common as are scorpion fish and lionfish. Sweetlips, pufferfish, parrotfish and triggerfish are numerous. Octopus can often be seen hiding on the reef.

Dive site name: West Canister

Located far north in the Mergui Archipelago, West Canister is out of range for many of the Burma liveaboard trips, but if you like big fish its worth making the trip here. The West Canister is a very small island. It's isolated and offers a rich variety of marine life. This beautiful rock is densely decorated by various types of hard and soft corals. A very interesting dive with lots to see and explore. Strong currents and its depth makes this dive suitable for advanced divers.

A pinnacle in the middle of the small bay is the best place to dive. It is often visited by manta rays in search of a clean at the station here. The granite rock drops to over 40 metres and is covered in red, pink and purple soft corals. Bigger visitors such as barracuda, jacks and rainbow runners exceeding a meter in length frequent this spot.

Dive site name: Tower Rock

It's not difficult to see where this dive site gets its name from. Below the surface, it is just as spectacular with grand walls and boulders to explore. The wall itself features small green branch corals, with lots of holes and crags forming protective lairs for crayfish and other small invertebrate Solitary. Juvenile Blue ring and Emperor Angelfish can be seen fluttering around. There can be a lot of wave actions here and the roar of the water crashing into the caverns and caves above the surface echoes around the site.

Larger visitors include Manta Rays and Mobular Rays (Devil Rays). Black tip reef sharks and white tip reef sharks can also be seen. Moray eels are numerous as are bearded scorpion fish. Schools of snapper, fusilier and glass fish are always on the move.

Dive site name: Little Torres Islands

A series of islands came under the name Little Torres. The diving here offers some of the smaller animals and a kaleidoscope of colours from the hundreds of coral types in abundance. Be aware of the water column, as weaver sharks, bull sharks and grays reefs sharks sometimes patrol the area.

A fabulous night dive-site close to the shore among boulders will show you a festival of colours. Hard and soft coral absolutely intact. Small life and the paradise for shell (cowrie, coneshell). The Crustacean is abundant like also squid and cuttlefish. There is also a good chance of seeing black banded sea snakes here.

The day deep dive leads you to "Seafan forest", a kind of touch-and-go to a 40 meter depth sea fan area. Living among them are the lionfish, Moorish idol, wrasse. A cowrie dive site, more precisely with the egg cowrie or "Ovula ovum", covered with a black mantel. Bottom dweller rays like bowmouth guitarfish have been occasionally spotted.

Dive site name: Black Rock

Black Rock is considered one of the premier dive sites in the Mergui Archipelago. The island itself is like a set of steps dropping down to over 70 meters deep. This is an exposed dive site in open seas a long way from anywhere else and therefore, acts as a natural magnet for marine life. A spectacular wall dive can be made here and sightings of whale sharks have been reported. Whether you dive the east or the west side of the rock may depend on the time of the day, to take advantage of the sunlight. When currents are strong it may not be possible to pass around the north and south ends of the island. Currents on the island tips can act like a washing machine and often flow downwards.

There are also silvertips, grey reef sharks, possibly manta rays and some huge barracuda lurking in the depths. Other pelagic visitors are giant, chevron, and pick handle barracuda plus trevally and pompano. If you are a moray eel fan, then this is your dive site. Many unusual and rarely seen morays are common, including extra-large common green, zebra, and fimbriated and white-eyed morays. Octopus and cuttlefish can be found here, the latter easy to photograph.

Dive site name: North Twin

This rock formation has a beautiful mountain covered with soft and hard corals, gorgonians and sponges of all shapes, colors and sizes and is home to a wide variety of marine life. Strong currents and deep water make this dive suitable only for experienced divers. The maximum depth is 40m, and the visibility ranges from 10m to above 40m and water temperature between 25ºC and 28ºC.

The highlight is a ridge or plateau to the south and a pinnacle to the north. The ridge is covered in soft coral and sea fans, which is fabulous for night diving. Lobsters, crustaceas, spanish dancer, small caves and occasionally nurse sharks.

Dive site name: South Twin

South Twin is a kilometer long island with a couple of bays on its southern side. This site has an excellent topography. Here you will find many encrusted blocks with corals, protuberances, canals and arches to explore. A very interesting dive with abundant marine life. In the deeper areas, the granite boulders are covered in disc anemones and purple soft coral as well as sea fans and feather stars. White tip reef sharks and tawny nurse sharks can be seen under rocky ledges. Other Marine life here includes the elusive ribbon eel. However, you need to look carefully for these little creatures are very shy. South Twin Island is also a popular spot for night dives and has two sheltered bays on the south side.

Dive site name: Three Islets / Three Stooges

Three Islets or Three Stooges consists of one small island and two large rocks, all of which rise above the surface. Each could be considered a separate site; there is no way to see them all on a single dive, or even a full day of diving. All three are perfectly suited for multilevel profiles, with thriving marine life from the bottom to the surface. Underwater, the combination of unusual topography and a tremendous variety of creatures makes this one of the best dive sites in the Mergui Archipelago.

Nearly every square meter is riddled with crevices that provide shelter and hold fasts for an enormous volume of fish and invertebrate life. Aside from the marine life, another outstanding feature is a large canyon on the north end of the main island where you can encounter up to a dozen semi-resident grey reef sharks. Past the canyon on the right, you will find an opening to a tunnel that runs completely through the island and exits on the east side at about 15m. Be sure not to disturb the several huge tawny nurse sharks that sometimes rest within the crevices as you pass through.

Dive site name: High Rock

A mix of steep drops and gentle reefs around a small island, known as High Rock. The depth is only 18 - 25m with plenty of soft coral and cup coral, especially in the deeper parts. Seahorses are commonly found hanging on remnants of fishing nets, while other critters are also found hiding in the corals. The site is only about 35 miles from Kawthaung and is often dived on the last day of a trip. Marine life thrives here, with dense growths of orange cup coral covering many of the deeper rocks and vertical walls. Below 21 m, huge green tubastrea coral and large black-coral bushes dominate the seascape, complemented by red harp gorgonians, pastel-green rope sponges and feather stars of most every color. High Rock also offers a chance to encounter camouflage experts like harlequin ghost pipe fish and frogfish and sea horses

High Rock lies 500, to the south of Quion Island. It is a small islet with a single tree, and has a wall on its north and east sides, and a rocky reef on its south and west.The walls feature common lionfish, bearded scorpion fish, orange and green cup corals and a small overhang. High Rock lies 500m to the south of Quion Island. It is a small islet with a single tree, and has a wall on its north and east sides, and a rocky reef on its south and west.

The walls feature common lionfish, breaded scorpion fish, orange and green cup corals and a small overhang. Look into the crags and you may be surprised to see Indian Ocean nurse sharks snoozing the day away. Gold-striped fusiliers sweep over the seafans, whilst flute mouths stalk their prey.

Dive site name: Western Rocky Island

The highlight at this rock is a huge arch and a penetrating cave/tunnel creating a passage through the island to the other side, where sometimes a huge nurse shark is acting like a watch dog, he should not be pushed away, like we have seen now on many occasions by divers from other boats where this is obviously is not emphasizes enough during the dive briefing given. There is a second cave at the east side, providing shelter for many crustaceans. The shallow part surrounding the rock boasts colorful soft corals, creating an impression of taking a bath in a rainbow. Nudibranches are there to watch as well.

Western Rocky is home to hundreds of painted spiny lobsters, and some playful nurse sharks, cuttlefish and big reef squid are common and giant fusiliers sweep over the reef, made up of large flower corals and yellow feather stars. The wall is covered with soft purple tree corals and is hosted to bearded scorpion fish, spot-faced moray eels and white-eyed morays.

Western Rocky Pinnacle - this is around 20 kms north of the island and has many huge seafans at depth, also home to larger visiting pelagic who hang out along the ridges and canyons. Currents can be strong out here so tides must be observed.