MOBULA RAYS in Burma!

Liveaboard trip 18/11 – 27/11 2007

Thailand - Burma

Mermaid I

This was the first Burma Safari of the season, and we were all excited about what we would encounter. We started off in the Similan Islands, with a beautiful dive at Anita’s Reef. Continuing to Koh Bon, we saw two Leopard sharks, chilling out at the sandy bottom just outside the west ridge. Further north, at Koh Tachai, we were greeted by a friendly 4-meter Manta ray. A good start of the season, indeed!

Next morning we dived the famous Richelieu Rock. As always, plenty to see here; schooling Chevron barracudas, zillions of yellow snappers, White-eyed moray eels, six different kinds of clownfish, nice nudibranchs and several Tigertail seahorses, including one little baby, only 2 cm long. Very cute!

After the border crossing into Burma, we steamed up to High Rock, a tiny, rocky outcrop, with a solitary tree on top that somehow manages to survive there. Down below, we had a big school of Yellow-tail barracudas, several Banded seasnakes and a pink frogfish.

Next stop was Three Islets; a number (three, to be more precise…) of tiny islands, known for very good marine life. There were mating cuttlefish everywhere, Devil scorpionfish, tons of moray eels and Bend Stick pipefish as well as rare nudbranchs in the shallows. The nightdive here is one of the best in the Andaman Sea; just swimming along the wall, looking at the fantastic corals, is worth the dive! But we also came across a number of huge sponge crabs, carrying big chunks of yellow sponges on their backs. Good camouflage, but not very practical if you ask me…

The following day started with a couple of dives at Black Rock. We saw White-tip sharks, Grey reef sharks and an enormous Marble ray, complete with its own set of cobias.

On the way up to Tower Rock, there were manta rays, devil rays and mobulas rays around the boat. We went in snorkelling, and some of the guests got great photos of the rays!

At Tower Rock, way, way up north in the Mergui Archipelago, we were lucky enough to see a school of around 20 Mobula rays passing by!

Western Rocky, one of my favorites in Burma, was excellent as usual. There is a cave going from one side of the island to the other, full with lobsters. The exit, this time, was completely blocked by an enormous nurseshark, 3.5 meters long. Impressive! There were also Grey reef sharks, batfish, rare blue hermit carbs and barracudas. At the nightdive here, we saw three Spanish Dancers, Decorator crabs, Sponge crabs and hunting moray eels.

The final dives of this safari were in the Similan Islands. Pretty soft corals at East of Eden, and a very scenic dive at Boulder City, with a couple of Leopard sharks, ended this trip.

PJ Widestrand

Video-Pro
Mermaid I

Liveaboard trips to Thailand, Burma, Bali - Komodo and Andaman Islands.