The Burma Banks are a chain of enormous underwater flat-topped pinnacles rising from the deep depths and lie approximately 180 kilometers (100 nautical miles) northwest of the Similan Islands.
The waters around the Burma Banks are over 300 meters deep and these spectacular pinnacles rise to, luckily for us, depths suitable for recreational scuba diving Myanmar.
The banks offer some exhilarating and exciting diving; however they are not suited for all levels of diving and are not for everyone. It is recommended that those coming to dive these waters have some dive experience of deeper diving and experience with currents too.
MV Giamani’s Liveaboard Burma diving tours are usually longer than the Thailand Similan Island liveaboards (four days four nights), the trips out to the Banks are often in for 7 days and nights of diving, though you may find a company or two catering for 4-5 day trips.
Thailand liveaboards sailing out to the Burma Banks tend to leave from Ranong, on the Thailand – Burma border, here all visitors (Divers, Divemasters and staff non-Burmese) must check in and go through customs.
There is also a special visa one must acquire before any diving can start and all must pay the fees to the Burmese Government, the cost of this is around 250 US cash – please contact us for any of the latest charges.
Myanmar (Burma) is a very special country and will leave a lasting imprint of the natural splendor of both above and below the water. Unfortunately, in years gone by much damage has been done to the reefs here from dynamite fishing and some areas of reef are simply not worth diving.
Yet the diving here is still exceptional there is an abundance of pelagic fish passing through these wild and electrifying dive sites.
Those divers that love macro diving will be in their element here as it is excellent for spotting small and rare fish and there are other critters that are rarely ever seen further south in the Similan Islands.
If it sharks you seek then you have come to the right place; the most common type of shark is the nurse shark this particular shark is a night feeder that grows to over 3 meters in length- they are quite docile, however touching is really not recommended at all.
There are Silver Tips here too, sometimes mistaken for White Tips, they are much bigger and can be a little more territorial than the smaller cousins.
Silver Tips can grow to 2.5 meters in length and are easily identified by the white trailing edge on their fins these fish are serious predators.
Grey Reef Sharks are seen here too, these sharks are to be admired and can seem to be swimming quite erratically at times, they are territorial yet leave divers alone, and they tend not to come too close to divers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.