February 2018. Took the bus from Yangon to Dawei, then onward to Myeik. Long ride. The Myeik Archipelago was the destination. I had wanted to see it for years.
Myanmar has changed since 2018, and the political situation now is more difficult. Many travellers will not go. I am not going to argue this either way. What I write here is what the Myeik Archipelago was when I went, and the practical information that will be useful if and when responsible travel becomes possible again.
[IMAGE: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1582967788606-a171c1080cb0?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop | A traditional Moken boat at anchor in the calm water of one of the Myeik Archipelago islands, with limestone karst formations in the background]
What it is
The Myeik Archipelago (sometimes spelled Mergui — the British colonial name) is a chain of around 800 islands in the Andaman Sea, off the southern Tanintharyi coast of Myanmar. Most are uninhabited. The few populated ones are home to the Moken — sea-nomadic people who have lived in this archipelago for thousands of years, traditionally on small handmade boats called kabang, moving between islands seasonally.
The archipelago was closed to foreign visitors until 1997. Even after opening, access was restricted by military permit until around 2012. As of the last time I was there, you could only enter the archipelago by liveaboard boat from Kawthaung at the southern tip of Myanmar — no day-trips, no shore base.
This restriction is part of why the archipelago is so remarkable. The reefs are intact. The islands have no infrastructure. You can sail for two days without seeing another boat. It is one of the few places left on Earth where a tropical island chain has been almost untouched by tourism.
How it works (practical)
The standard trip is a liveaboard boat from Kawthaung. Five to seven days, anchoring at different islands each night, with snorkelling or diving twice a day, and time on shore at uninhabited beaches. Most boats sleep 8-12 passengers. Small operations.
The town of Kawthaung sits on the Burmese side of the Pakchan estuary, opposite Ranong in Thailand. Many travellers reach it by crossing from Ranong on a Thai longtail boat. Costs about 50 baht for the river crossing.
You need a permit to enter the archipelago. The boat operator handles this. About $50 per person, valid for the duration of the trip.
The boat trips cost $1,500-2,500 per person for a week, all-inclusive. Not cheap. The cost reflects the small group size, the remoteness, and the permit fees.
I went on a sailing yacht with eight passengers. Four crew. Six days. About $1,800.
What you actually do
The days fall into a rhythm.
Wake at 6am. Coffee on deck. Anchor up. Sail or motor for an hour or two to the next island. Drop anchor in a sheltered bay.
Snorkel or dive before lunch. The reefs in the archipelago range from shallow gardens to deeper drop-offs. Visibility is variable — can be 25m on a good day, can be 10m in plankton-rich conditions. The fish density is the highlight. I saw schools of jacks, barracuda, occasional reef sharks, turtles, once a small group of dugong (sea cow) feeding on seagrass.
Lunch on deck. Short rest.
Afternoon: another dive or snorkel, or a beach walk on one of the uninhabited islands. Some islands have monkeys, hornbills, palm-and-jungle interiors you can hike for an hour. Others are just long white-sand beaches with nothing on them.
Sunset on deck. Dinner cooked by the boat chef.
Night dive sometimes. Some boats run them, some don't.
This repeats for as many days as your trip is.
The pace is slow. There is little to do that isn't water, food, sleep. This is the appeal.
The Moken
The Moken are the sea-nomadic people who have lived in this archipelago for thousands of years. Traditionally they spent most of the year on their kabang boats, coming ashore only in monsoon season. Their culture is built around the sea — they free-dive remarkably well, can stay underwater for several minutes, and have unusually good underwater vision (some studies have shown their eyes adapt for it).
The 2004 tsunami hit the Moken communities hard. They had folk knowledge that warned them — the elders recognized the receding tide as the warning sign — and most communities reached high ground in time. But fishing grounds were disrupted, boats were lost, and the recovery period pushed many Moken into more permanent shore-side settlements.
A few liveaboards include a brief, respectful visit to a Moken settlement on one of the islands. This is delicate. Tourism here can easily slip into cultural exploitation. The good operators have long-term relationships with specific Moken communities, contribute to school or medical funds, and arrange visits that the community itself manages. Ask about the operator's relationship with the Moken before booking.
What to bring
Bring: dive cert, your own dive computer, a 3mm wetsuit, reef-safe sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, polarised sunglasses, a torch, a refillable water bottle, a small dry-bag for camera, sea-sick tablets if prone, books.
Don't bring: hard luggage (cabins are small, soft duffel only), expensive electronics that can't survive humidity, drone (politically complicated in Myanmar — risk of confiscation), cash for the islands (there is nothing to buy on shore).
The boats provide all the diving equipment except your own mask if you prefer to bring one.
When to visit
The archipelago is sailable November through April. December-March is best — calm seas, warm water, dry skies. April is hot and the seas start picking up. May-October is monsoon — most operators don't sail then.
I went in February. Conditions perfect.
The current situation
I have to mention this. Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the political situation has been serious. Many countries have travel advisories warning against non-essential travel. Several liveaboard operators have suspended trips. Visitor permits have been harder to obtain. The Moken communities have been particularly affected by the disruption to the small economic flow that tourism provided.
Anyone considering this trip in the current period should research the situation carefully, check current government advisories, consider what their travel money is funding, and only go with operators who have transparent ethics and ongoing relationships with local communities.
I am not in a position to recommend going right now. The situation may change. When it does, the archipelago will still be there.
Combining the trip
For travellers reaching Kawthaung from Thailand, the natural extension is the Thai Andaman coast — Khao Lak, the Similan Islands, or the islands further south near Phuket. The Thailand country guide covers the southern routes. For tours in Myanmar when responsible travel becomes possible again, the archipelago will likely return as the headline marine destination.
Official sources
The Department of Hotels and Tourism Myanmar publishes current visa and permit rules. UNESCO has not formally inscribed the Myeik Archipelago as a World Heritage site but has flagged it as a candidate for marine biodiversity. The WWF Myanmar marine programme page covers the conservation context for the archipelago and the Andaman wider seas.
A note on the diving conditions
The diving in the archipelago is unlike most Asian destinations because of how few divers ever come here. Most popular reefs in Thailand or Indonesia have hundreds of divers a week. Here you might be the only diver on a reef for the entire season. The result is coral cover at densities you don't see elsewhere — undisturbed gorgonian fans the size of a person, soft coral so dense the hard coral underneath is hidden, fish populations that haven't learned to be wary of humans.
The downside is that the reefs here have not been mapped or surveyed in detail. Dive briefings are based on the captain's local knowledge rather than a published guide. You will dive sites that have no name. Some dives are exploratory in nature, with the divemaster leading and the rest of the group following. This is part of the appeal but requires a higher comfort level than typical resort diving.
Strong current is rare in the protected bays. The open-water sites at the edges of the archipelago can have stronger currents and swell. Open Water cert is the minimum; Advanced is recommended.
A small reflection
I went on this trip after a difficult winter at home in Osaka. My bicycle work had slowed. A friend had died unexpectedly. I needed something completely outside my normal routine. The archipelago provided that.
Six days at sea, no internet signal, no clock except sunrise and sunset, no choices except what to read between dives. The scale of it changes you for a while. I came back ready to work again. Not every trip needs to do that. But sometimes one does.
Last word
The Myeik Archipelago is one of the last untouched tropical island chains. Six days on a boat there changed how I think about reefs and what they used to look like before everything started going wrong. I hope responsible travel here becomes possible again. When it does, this is a trip worth saving for. Quiet morning. Easy ride. Worth seeing.
