Diving in Burma - What is the Real Truth
Burma has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons, with the sights of violent put-downs of peaceful protest and victims of Cyclone Naga being refused help by their own government placed highly on news channels world wide. For this reason, scuba diving travel to the country is not exactly at the top of most divers� agendas. But should it be?
For a moment let us forget the internal troubles of the country and concentrate on the diving. Put simply, there seem to be only two opinions on the diving in Burma�
1 : �The sites are destroyed�used to be beautiful�dynamite�no sharks like the books say there should be��
2 : �Beautiful reefs�untouched�no other dive boats�like Thailand used to be��
So who is right? Well, in a way both parties make valid and true points, but it can�t be summed up in a few short sentences. Pick up any guide book on scuba diving that includes Burma and yes, sharks and rays form a large part of the content, both pictures and text. Are the books correct? I think in all honesty, no, they�re wrong, but in fairness all these books were written by early pioneers of Burma scuba diving and they were correct at the time. Yes, the editions are updated, new information is added, but do the authors re-visit all the places in their books to do this? Very rarely. So in reality, books that are now above 1st edition and are more than 1 year from their original print date can be considered out of date and are more than likely to include plenty of �hearsay� about many things. And if nothing new is heard then the information will remain the same.
So if you�re looking at a Burma liveaboard cruise then surely asking the agent will give you the correct information? Well, not always the case, especially where burma map is concerned. Most of the boats heading into the Mergui Archipelago do so from Phuket, and Phuket is very �agent based�. Which means unless you are booking direct with the operator, then the person you are dealing with is unlikely to have dived in Burma recently, if at all. So what to do? For me, getting advice on diving destinations is best done by searching Google for articles, forums and websites or blogs that have current, up to date information. After all, wherever you go you will be spending large sums of money getting there, and does a few hours spent searching for information make sense? Of course. So here is my opinion of Burma, accurate and correct as of the 30 August 2008.
From diving around the Mergui Archipelago as far as Black Rock in the 2007-2008 season I would advise divers to go. There are several sites that are world class, and I would include Black Rock, Western Rocky, and Shark Cave in this category. Vast amounts of soft corals, hard corals, sea fans and the like are everywhere, and for the uninitiated the sites do not bear the hallmarks of dynamite damage. Also, there are no obvious signs of recent fishing damage such as caught nets or lines. This does not mean the sites are not fished, in fact fish numbers grew noticeably through the season so (as seems to be the case in the whole of South East Asia) if there are no dive boats, the fishermen probably take advantage. Dive sites around North Twin are also spectacular, with plenty of life everywhere.
Ok, some sites are not to everyone�s taste, with macro predominating on some sites, on the inner islands especially, and harsh currents around full burma map and half moon making the task of finding that macro very difficult. But what you will get on almost all dive sites, is the place to yourself. Only one dive was shared with another boat this season and this is an almost alien concept on liveaboard boats leaving from Phuket. Almost every trip there will be a chance to dive an unexplored dive site, and how often do you genuinely get to do that?
And what about the sharks? Are they there? Well, rumour has it that the Burma Banks are all but empty now, and having never been out there I can�t really comment. But as far as Mergui goes the answer is yes and no. No, they are not everywhere and you shouldn�t go to Burma if that�s what you want. But they are there, in fact over only 16 days diving between October and May last season there were White Tip Reef Sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, a Nurse Shark, Leopard Sharks and two Whale Sharks on the dives. Not a bad hit rate when you consider there were also Eagle Rays, Blotched Fantail Rays, and Manta Rays there as well. All this coupled together with the Sea Horses, Pipe Fish (Robust, Ornate Ghost, White Bend Stick among several others), Nudibranchs, Spanish Dancer, Lobsters, and Napoleons and Burma starts to sound very attractive doesn�t it?
Scuba diving in Burma is definitely worth it. Forget stories about being in the water as dynamiting is happening, in the last few years I know of nobody this has happened to. In fact from my time in burma map last season only three fishing boats were even seen from our boat, the fuel squeeze is hitting everyone! And as for the moralities of visiting Burma? This is down to you and your personal views, so go back to Google and search for more articles. But for me, the Burmese are a great people, and the more people I can show this to, the more people are there to voice an opinion to others and to help when the Burmese people need defending from their rulers the most.
