As I woke to the sounds of gunfire, thoughts of far eastern piracy flashed through my sleepy brain. Fortunately, before diving for cover under my bunk, I recalled the Thai custom of letting off fire-crackers on the bow of a boat as an offering to Buddha before sailing. I relaxed with the pleasant realisation that we were departing for the Andaman Sea to some of the best diving that Thailand offers.
I was aboard the Seraph, a beautifully restored schooner which was rescued from the reefs of the Andaman where she ran aground in 1991. Mark Harwood of South East Asia Divers bought her as an insurance write-off then re-caulked and repaired the hull before towing her to Phuket. Here she was restored to her original sail design of a gaff-rigged schooner and had luxuries such as air-conditioning fitted. Now she is dedicated to adventurous diving and was creaking gently as we headed towards our first destination, the Similan Islands some 60 miles away.
This collection of nine islands was declared a Marine National Park in 1982 as protection from the ravages of over-fishing and dynamiting. On the eastern shores, which are sheltered from the summer monsoon winds, there are reefs constructed entirely from coral. However, most of them are made up of hard and soft corals adhering to massive boulders or outcrops of granite.
Bird Rock, off Similan Island 7, is typical of the area, with many huge boulders on the seabed forming tunnels, swim-throughs, deep gullies and caves. I found areas of lush, healthy hard and soft corals and sea fans, especially in the gullies and tunnels. Some of the rocks had almost sheer walls falling to 30m where there were some very large barrel sponges. There were plenty of reef-fish in evidence with shoals of fusiliers, unicorn surgeons and groups of harlequin sweetlips.
I spent most of my dive around the barrel sponges searching in vain for frogfish, only to find the rest of the group gathered around a striking orange example in just 10m of water, posing nicely on a plate coral. His colour did not blend perfectly with his background, but he was nevertheless convinced enough of his camouflage to allow me to make a very close approach for photographs.
About half a mile west of Similan Island 2 is an open-water site called Boulders which, unsurprisingly, comprises a series of massive granite boulders on a rocky/sandy seabed. Swimming down we spotted a leopard shark resting on the sand at 27m.
The walls of the huge boulders were covered with dozens of huge gorgonias and trees of deep green tubastrea corals. Reaching one of the plateaux at 15m I was attracted by the attacking movements of a shoal of jacks targeting a dense shoal of glassfish by a large table coral. Under the glassfish was a group of about 18 lionfish ranging from juvenile to adults resting or languidly hunting. As I focused in, I realised that there were at least half a dozen bearded scorpionfish among the coral rubble. This made getting a low angle on the scene a little more interesting! Elsewhere most species of reef-fish were darting about in ones and twos and occasional shoals of Spanish mackerel and chevron barracuda swam past. There were some soft corals here but otherwise the site was dominated by table, plate, mushroom and brain corals. The current can often be quite strong, so don't forget your safety sausage!
The Surin islands lie 60km north of the Similans, just a few kilometres from the border with Burma. This area is again a Marine National Park and consists of five granite islands and two rocky islets. The larger islands are covered in lush primary rain forest and also have extensive areas of mangroves in their sheltered bays. The shallow-water coral reefs are in better condition here than in the Similans, particularly at Koh Torinla, which has a magnificent staghorn reef.
A series of submerged pinnacles and plateaux close to Surin is known as Koh Tachai. We found one pinnacle which was set apart from the more dived area marked out by mooring buoys. Here we descended to a seabed at 21m strewn with large boulders with very impressive sea-fans and soft corals all feeding in the stiff current. Sheer walls loomed around the large granite pinnacle, also festooned with fans, soft corals and plate corals.
This pinnacle is obviously less dived than others as the top of the rock is in excellent condition and is covered in large brain and mushroom corals, with masses of purple soft corals and several different types of large gorgonia. There were hundreds of reef-fish here: large dusky sweetlips, blue-lined snappers, silversides, chromis, Spanish mackerel, the odd marauding jack and shoals of garfish. Macro life was also particularly rich, with great swathes of tubeworms on the hard corals and all sorts of symbiotic life in the anemones and sea fans.
A few miles south of Koh Tachai is Koh Bon, another large limestone rocky island. The location is known for repeated encounters with manta rays, so my dive here was filled with high hopes. Visibility was good at 25-30m as we dropped on top of the submerged ridge. Almost immediately a shadow passed over us as an enormous manta cruised above. It circled only once, but for the next 40 minutes I hung close to the ridge watching out for the clouds of plankton which often bring hungry manta rays. Below me large shoals of silversides and glassfish were being hunted by jacks and snappers in the early morning light.
Eventually a dense cloud of plankton approached the ridge and I could detect flashes of white on its perimeter. The shape of the manta slowly emerged but I was horrified to see another diver with a camera swimming fast towards the animal. This proved not to be the right approach and the manta banked away almost immediately. I decided to move into the cloud of plankton in the hope that it would return, only to discover that much of it was of the stinging variety - Thai mantas obviously enjoy their spicy food! The manta finally reappeared on the edge of the cloud, making repeated passes to scoop up the plankton soup. I focused rapidly and hoped the exposure was correct. Its attendant remora hopped constantly from the top to the underside of the animal as it changed attitude to gulp another mouthful. I realised eventually that I was drifting deeper with this graceful giant and air and time were running low. I had my last look as the manta continued to spiral around the plankton below me. It was a magical dive.
East of the Surin Islands, close to the Burmese border, is Richelieu Rock, renowned for its whale shark encounters. Chatting with several dive guides in Patong before I left gave me the impression that if the whale sharks and mantas didn't show then Richelieu Rock had nothing else to offer. The reality wasn't quite as stark as that and, while we saw nothing big during our dives, the site was interesting, particularly for photographers.
We arrived to find remarkably good visibility and virtually no current. Unfortunately those are the wrong conditions for whale sharks, which like plankton and strong currents, and we didn't see any.
The macro life here is excellent. You do of course have to close your mind to the prospect of missing something big swimming by while you are concentrating on the reef ahead, but my experience was that the other divers in the group would make enough noise if something worthwhile turned up!
Some of the best coral reefs in the area were at Koh Torinla. The reefs are shallow (2-20m) and comprise mostly hard staghorns, brain, plate and mushroom corals gently sloping from the surface and ending at a flat sandy bottom where rays and leopard sharks are often seen. There is profuse reef-fish life including shoals of fusiliers, batfish, chromis, sergeant- majors, fusiliers, juvenile barracuda, snappers, glassy sweepers and baitfish. The impression is of constant movement and activity. Even in the shallows we saw several small blacktip sharks, wahoo and large turtles ambling by.
We also dived at night here, under our mooring. The skipper secured some discarded fish heads to enable us to "get closer to the sharks"! This method was extremely effective, although I'm not sure who got the bigger shock when the sharks and a couple of large morays made a boisterous appearance.
The reef night-life, particularly at the macro end of the scale, was absorbing and the entire reef had a surreal feel to it as we explored under a bright, rising moon.
The diving at these locations offers endless variety and an itinerary could be tailored to suit the interests of a particular group. The extreme northern and southern sites have become well-known for the reliable sightings of whale sharks and there are now several operators offering whale shark safaris between March and May. There are of course no guarantees in this world. In two weeks I didn't see a single whale shark but of course those on many other boats did! Luck has to be on your side, but we did see many large pelagics and the encounters with manta rays were extremely memorable.
THAILAND FACTFILE
GETTING THERE: Thai International (0171 499 9113) flies direct to Bangkok with connections to Phuket. Most major airlines have non-direct routes to Bangkok.
DIVING: Many operators specialise in the Andaman Sea. Contact the Tourism Authority for details.
WHEN TO GO: November to April offers the best diving conditions. The plankton blooms from March to May provide a good chance of seeing mantas and whale sharks.
ACCOMMODATION: There is plenty on shore if needed. Consult a travel guide such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.
FURTHER INFORMATION: Tourism Authority of Thailand (tel 0171 499 7679; fax 0171 629 5519; website www.tourism thailand.org).
Freddie Storheil was one of the first pioneers who offered live-aboard diving holidays in the Red Sea. A Norwegian who had sailed his British-built ketch Colona II round the world a couple of times, he based himself in Sharm el Sheikh together with another boat, a motor yacht called, appropriately, Colona III.
When Freddie lost Colona III through a fire on board, he got himself another motor yacht, Colona IV.
The live-aboard boat business certainly has its ups and downs, and when Freddie suffered the financial disaster of the loss of Colona IV in a freak storm outside Hurghada, he decided to decamp and set up anew in what was Indo-China.
Burma (or Myanmar as it is also known) has only recently opened its doors to tourism. Freddie, with Colona II, is one of the first on the scene around the Mergui islands and this is indicated by the fact that some of the locations have names like Colona Rocks and Freddie's Passage. And yes, we all ventured up Freddie's Passage during the course of the week's trip!
Colona II is a sailing yacht. We dived and sailed. However, accommodation within the skinny dimensions of such a vessel are not the same as on a broad-beamed motor vessel of the same length. One of the passengers expressed disappointment but I explained that if he wanted a lot of space below decks he would have to book with Dr Who and the Tardis next time!That said, six passengers and six crew were able to travel without too much discomfort and we soon learned to be economic with the space available.
The Burmese chef turned out excellent and varied meals from a tiny galley, with supplies that came from Phuket. These supplies were augmented by whatever was unlucky enough to take the bait we trawled between dive sites.
Freddie has been in this business for a very long time and Colona II has been well thought out to combine the requirements of diving within the limitations of a sailing vessel. For example, the compressors occupy a space below deck right up at the sharp end and a high-pressure line is fed to diving cylinders where they are secured ready for use at the aft deck.
The entry point for divers is quite high off the water and access back is via a ladder at the stern. Freddie has an inflatable for use as a pick-up boat, but his skill in handling the yacht meant that he was able to pick us up directly every time while I was there.
Burma seems to be a place trapped in the immediate post-WWII era. Apart from spectacular Buddhist temples and political statues, all finished in the same blaze of gold, Kaw Thaung - where the boat sails from - is an inauspicious port, busy with many wooden long-tailed boats.
Their method of propulsion is a small diesel engine equipped with a propeller on the end of a long shaft, which is positioned by the boat's driver in the water. Few of these engines seem equipped with any means of cooling and none have silencers. It makes Kaw Thaung a very noisy place.
The Mergui Islands in the Andaman Sea are inhabited by the Moken people. They are the sea-gypsies and use a similar means of transport to the town-dwellers of Kaw Thaung. It is ironic to see one of these boats motoring through what could be described as a natural paradise with the helmsman surrounded by a dense black cloud of diesel fumes.
Whole families, usually including many children, live in these cramped little boats. Freddie makes a point of taking sweets, biscuits and canned drinks to any sea-gipsy children that cross Colona II's path.
The beaches of the Mergui islands were idyllic. We walked on white sand which had no footprints save for those of crabs and the occasional wild pig. I kept an eye out for the odd Burmese python in the trees and admired the ariel skills of the white-bellied sea eagle.
It crossed my mind that this might be one of the last chances to see these islands in an untouched state. How long will it be before holiday bungalows and hotels spring up along their pristine shores? They simply invite the investment of the tourism industry.
There are many big and muddy rivers that discharge into the sea around Myanmar, including the many mouths of the Irrawaddy. On top of this the lush rain-forests of the Mergui islands are a result of a heavy monsoon season. The calm peaceful waters within the archipelago suffer from the run-off and visibility can be limited.
The underwater terrain is mainly boulders and rocky outcrops smothered with soft pink corals that benefit from the strong currents caused as the tide flows around the islands. There is a fairly large rise and fall of water and it could be said that it is not really a place for novice divers or those who don't like to work hard with their fins.
Many of the rocks are smothered in crinoids such as feather-stars - which could almost be renamed the corals of the Mergui. Some of these feather-stars can be seen moving quite swiftly and even dropping from rock faces to relocate on lower surfaces. On more than one occasion I found myself inadvertently adorned with a feather-star that had been swept by and settled on me while I was stationary taking a photograph.
Gorgonia flourish well in currents, and in places there are mountains of what look like giant cockscomb oyster shells, and extensive mats of anemones.
Often thought of as rather sedentary animals, long-spined sea urchins can also be seen hurrying around and several of us gained difficult-to-remove trophies when we made contact with their sharp spines, which had not been there a few moments before. Plenty of vinegar followed by a coating of oil seemed to be the solution.
There were lots of sharks. These were mainly whitetip reef , grey reef, and nurse sharks. Because of the currents, it was often possible to come across groups of them sleeping under overhangs and in caves. The same went for sting rays.
At Colona rocks we visited the regularly occupied sleeping accommodation of a bundle of nurse sharks, in a somewhat awkward-to-enter cave. Outside we swam through an armada of squid and saw an enormous octopus and some cuttlefish.
Because of the visibility, I fear that the Mergui Islands will never become a popular place for underwater photographers and suggest that if you bring a camera you make sure you are equipped for a multitude of macro subjects.
The water is gin clear once you get away to offshore sites such as Black Rock. This is a lonely place with a terrain of boulders and steep walls. I saw many sharks, moray eels, several different kinds of pufferfish, cuttlefish and enormous lobsters. I have to admit that there are a couple of lobsters fewer than before our visit but they were so big, two were enough.
Even further away from the Mergui Islands are the Burma Banks, a location well known for encounters with whale sharks and mantas.
What did I think of the location as a whole? Great sailing and exciting diving with lots of life, but no pretty corals and limited visibility. Freddie has certainly found a tropical island paradise but as he said: "We don't get many underwater photographers out here!"
BURMA FACTFILE
GETTING THERE: Fly to Bangkok and connect to Ra-nong with Bangkok Airways. Or fly direct (Thai) to Phuket and travel for 6 hours by minibus. Cross to Kaw Thaung by local boat.
DIVING: A permit is needed which is available on entry to the country. To include Black Rock and Burma Banks this costs US$135 - which must be in crisp, new dollars. Two passport photographs and a photocopy of your passport are needed.
WHEN TO GO: November to April to coincide with the north-easterly monsoon.
ACCOMMODATION: There is plenty on shore if needed, consult a travel guide such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.
FURTHER INFORMATION: Burmese Embassy (0171 629 4486 or website www.myanmar.com).
