Snorkeling Burma’s Mergui archipelago

For a list of our Burma snorkeling liveaboards have a look here.

Snorkeling Burma is now easier than ever thanks to several liveaboard boats that cruise around the beautiful Mergui Archipelago. Burma (or Myanmar as it has been officially called since 1989) is just beginning to open up as a destination for adventurous tourists. It is still largely undiscovered and the country has so much to offer along it’s coastline including sailing, snorkeling and scuba diving around the hundreds of islands that make up the Mergui archipelago.

We currently offer five liveaboard boats with cruises in Burma. Four of those boats are registered in Thailand and that’s where they start and end their trips. We also have one boat that starts in Kawthaung. Some of  the boats sail up to Burma from Phuket with snorkeling and diving stops in Thai waters along the way. Other boats start at Ranong, on the border with Burma where they take care of immigration procedures. One of our boats starts in Kawthaung in Burma which is advantageous for those travelers who want to travel within Burma by land before or after their cruise.

We have snorkeling Burma dive boats that snorkelers can join with. These are best suited to snorkelers with a diving partner. If you have no interest in scuba diving then these liveaboards are not ideal because they are primarily focused on doing four dives per day which leaves little time for island exploration. A better option is a non diving boat like SY Cataleya sailing catamaran which runs charter trips to Burma in February and March. Boats like this offer a lot more than just snorkeling including kayaking, visiting deserted beaches and meeting local communities.

There are over 800 islands in Burma’s Mergui archipelago so the options for exploring are huge.  One of the best things about a Burma snorkeling cruise is the lack of other boats, you may not encounter another vessel apart from local fishing boats. You will be pretty much cut off from the World for the duration of your cruise with no internet or phone reception most of the time, Burma is the perfect place to go and switch off from civilization.