Smiling Seahorse Itinerary
Burma - Mergui Archipelago (Ranong)7 days / 6 nights
About Smiling Seahorse
- Comfort and dive adventures onboard a purpose-built liveaboard vessel
- Exciting safaris exploring the best dive sites in Thailand and Myanmar
- Outstanding facilities for divers and underwater photographers
- Incredible encounters with mantas, macro, and everything in between
The Smiling Seahorse liveaboard is a recently constructed dive safari boat offering liveaboard adventures in Thailand and Myanmar's Andaman Sea. You'll enjoy easy diving and smooth sailing from this spacious and stable vessel, complete with comfortable cabins and common areas, outstanding facilities for scuba divers, and a fun social atmosphere. Plus, impeccable service from the crew, happy to help with whatever you might need. This vessel offers some of Thailand’s best diving itineraries as well as a camera room, making it a top pick among underwater photographers and dedicated scuba divers.
Itinerary details
Length of trip 7 days / 6 nights
Number of dives 21
Experience Advanced Open Water - Minimum 20 dives
Insurance Required
Highlights
- Circular week-long itinerary venturing to Black Rock
- Exceptional typography and visibility at South Twin Island
- Meet resident nurse sharks at Shark Cave
- Encounter manta rays at Black Rock
- Chance to spot manta rays and eagle rays of North Twin
- Possible whale shark encounters at Western Rocky
- Seek the rare Bowmouth guitarfish at Western Rocky
- Night dives included
Day 1:
Meeting and check-in at the dive centre between 10:00-12:00. At 14:00 we will head to the immigration office to get the necessary exit stamps from Thailand and then make our way to board the magnificent MV Smiling Seahorse. Upon crossing the border into Myanmar, immigration officers will board in Kawthaung and do the necessary border crossing screening. Once the paperwork is completed, we will head out to sea! At sunset we will hold a ceremony to launch our voyage. Then it will be time for your first scrumptious meal before being rocked to sleep by the waves.
Day 2:
Wake up to the friendly call of the ocean as we start the cruise with a day at South Twin Island. Sitting in the outskirts of the Mergui Archipelago, this dive site is quite scenic with consistent crystal visibility and a topography of huge granite boulders. We have even been lucky enough to start the voyage off in style with a guest appearance from a majestic manta ray. Macro lovers will also be treated to chances of ghost pipefish, seahorses and frogfish! We end the first day of diving with a night dive searching for pygmy squid, candy crabs, cowries and nudibranchs!
Day 3:
4 dives around the very special Shark Cave. Here there are chances to see eagle rays, grey reef sharks, nurse sharks sleeping in their cave, blotched sting rays, frogfish, leaffish, spearing mantis shrimp and many more. Beautiful coral also makes this a very colourful dive site. In the afternoon we will find a beach where we can get some sand between our toes and we might also pass by a local fishermen village.
Day 4:
After a night of crossing, we will reach Black Rock, a small rock out in the open sea. Here we are hoping for the big stuff like sharks and rays and whatever is passing. This is the place to go for "Manta Festival" with manta rays coming in dozens from everywhere (no guarantee of course, but they are pretty common). The conditions this far in the open sea are a bit more challenging and currents make it a different style of diving to other areas of Mergui. This is probably the best dive site in Myanmar and is still seldom visited by divers.
Day 5:
Still quite far offshore we will spend the fifth day of the cruise at North Twin for more chances to cross paths with larger pelagic fish and megafauna. We love this dive site for the massive schools of tuna, barracuda and trevally out in the blue, as well as the wealth of tiny critters hiding among the giant sea fans and soft corals. There is also a sand patch where we can sometimes find sleeping zebra sharks!
Day 6:
The sixth day will be spent in the neighbourhood of Western Rocky. The first two dives of the day will be spent exploring the scenery of Seafan Forest. The magnificent corals attract many schools of fish and the shelter of the topography is a favourite place of ours to search for stonefish. The last two dives of the day will be around the main island and islets of Western Rocky. Here we will also have a night dive where we can see a vibrant mosaic of yellow soft coral polyps blooming in the darkness. Spanish dancers and all types of crustaceans can be observed here.
Day 7:
The last dive goes into a volcano where a group of blacktip reef sharks likes to hang around. This is also a special site where we can find seahorses and rare tropical fish like the longfin comet, the shaded batfish or the pineapple fish. After the last dive we will go back to Kawthaung where there will be an opportunity for some souvenir shopping and a refreshing local beer. Once we get our passports back from the Burmese authorities, we will head back to Thailand where we get a new entry stamp. We will arrive back at Ranong to disembark at around 17:00.
Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics and local regulations.
Transfer details
Departure
02:00pm
Bodin Pier, Ranong
Ranong Airport: UNN
Return
06:00pm
Bodin Pier, Ranong
Ranong Airport: UNN
Choose your trip
20
Dec
2026
Burma - Mergui Archipelago (Ranong)
7 days / 6 nights
•
21 dives
from $2,053 /guest
Sold out
20Dec 26
Burma - Mergui Archipelago (Ranong)
7D / 6N
•
21 dives
from $2,053 /guest
Sold out
Current availability and prices: https://www.zubludiving.com/itineraries/smiling-seahorse/itn-2303280257071-burma-mergui-archipelago-ranong-