Black Rock dive site is an 80 metre wide island, and is a favourite of many divers that come diving Myanmar (Burma) in the Mergui Archipelago.
Black Rock is situated in a northwest to southeast position, with sheer banks all around, and there is a wall on the west and south west sides. Be prepared to have the dive of your life and keep your eyes open for White tip, Silver tip, and Black tip sharks.
Black Rock stands about 100 miles North West of the Thai-Burmese border town of Kawthaung, which is just across the river from Ranong -Thailand side. Most Diving Myanmar Liveaboard safaris start and end in Thailand.
The Vis here can be anything from 5 metres to 40 metres plus, you really never know. And currents can be completely slack or very strong, and they tend to run from North West to South East (and vice Versa). It is also advisable that there can be some strong upward and downward currents.
At Black Rock you can have some very special close encounters with Manta Rays, also Eagle Rays do the occasional fly-by, and if you can see the bottom clear enough you may even make the huge Marble Rays and Sleeping Leopard sharks that use the sandy bottom for their bed.
On the South side you can find some large boulders, amongst these giant rocks you will see large areas covered in Brown Disc Anemones and there are lots of beautiful Purple coloured Corals too.
In this area, you may also bump into a two metre Giant Barracuda, he generally ignores divers, -presumably they don’t taste too good. You can see him relaxing near the bottom, but if you look very closely you may see him at a cleaning station being pampered by the cleaner wrasses.
There are soft corals which are more densely populated in the deeper southern area of the dive site, and this beautiful coloured area includes orange cup corals, bizarre feather stars, and huge gorgonia sea fans.
For the fans of macro life they should look out for the rare Spotted Hawkish which can be found hiding out in the sea fans. You can find Black Spotted Puffer fish, they are usually just chilling out on the ledges and not straying too far at all.
Moray eels including Zebra, Honeycombed and White Mouthed Morays can be seen, you may even bump into a Giant Moray or Two. Also Blue Ringed Angelfish swim down near the edges of the outlaying rocks. This is a good spot for seeing different kinds of reef sharks and maybe if you are really lucky even Bull sharks.
Another great place to explore is the wall, if the desire takes you, for hunting big-eye Trevally, Pompano and Coral Banded Sea Snakes. Rainbow Runners out hunting pass by in fast moving aggressive schools looking for any unfortunate lonesome fish.
Please do take note that currents can be strong, particularly on the deeper sides of the site. Moving beyond the shelter of the rocks on the island’s east and west tips can make it very hard to get back to the site again. However, if you stay close to the rocks this doesn’t have to be a difficult dive.
Best way for Diving Myanmar is by Liveaboard such as Colona Liveaboards MV Giamani.
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