Watch our video of the Mergui Archipelago

The eight hundred islands in the Mergui Archipelago are mainly limestone and granite with hills covered by thick green tropical forests. Some islands have sandy coves and bays while on others rocky cliffs drop directly to the sea. They are beautiful and mostly uninhabited. The best way to see them is by boat. In fact that’s the only way to see them.

The Andaman Explorer

We travelled on the Andaman Explorer, a classic 1960s motor yacht with eight cabins on three levels. Decorated with lots of marble and wood (although some of the ‘wood’ was actually wood-patterned veneer) the AE was definitely a luxurious way to cruise. Our cabin on the promenade deck had a bedroom with double bed and a spacious lounge area. The bathroom was in a corner of the lounge and was a reasonable size but the shower was tiny! There was absolutely no danger of falling over – there just wasn’t room! The cabins in different parts of the boat had different lay-outs so some of the other showers were apparently much larger.

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Mergui Archipelago activities

During the day we cruised the islands, stopping in the morning and afternoon to visit villages or to swim, snorkel or kayak at deserted golden sand beaches. The rear deck was half-roofed and open sided; on balmy evenings it was a delightful place to sip the cocktail of the day. All around were eerie fluorescent green squid boat lights and lightning flickered on the horizon. No thunder though and very little rain except on one memorable occasion (of which more later).

Fabulous food

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The meals prepared by head chef Pyae Phyo Aung and his assistants were outstanding. For lunch there were soup, salads and a choice of three mains including a vegetarian option, plus freshly baked bread and a dessert. Then another three choices of main for dinner. This was after our cocktails and canapes. And everything beautifully presented. It’s fortunate that we had opportunity to walk, swim and kayak every day or we’d all have been balloon shaped and rolled off the boat at the end of the cruise. Our two most memorable meals were both lunches.

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Picnic on the beach

One morning we cruised to Kyunn Pila island and went ashore to visit the village while one of our Zodiac-style RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) took off around the island to set up a picnic on the beach. The village looked picturesque with small wooden fishing boats anchored in the blue waters of the bay but the beach was littered with broken glass. This could have been washed ashore over the past few months because the villagers move to a different settlement on the other side of Kyunn Pila during the monsoon season to avoid high seas and stormy weather. They had only recently returned and were busy patching up houses and planting gardens. We walked very carefully back to the RIB. The picnic site was a lovely deserted stretch of golden sand with rocky outcrops at either end and a green forest covered hill behind. The crew had spread a tarpaulin on the ground, beneath an overhanging canopy of branches. We feasted on beefburgers with cheese, samosas, wontons, potato wedges and quiche followed by chocolate tarts and fruit for dessert. All delicious and washed down with wine, beer or soft drinks according to your taste.

Jungle trek across 115 Island

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Not all the islands of the archipelago have names but they all have numbers on the charts. We went ashore on 115 island for a jungle trek and most of the crew came with us. That was useful because the path we took, although previously used, had become overgrown. The sailors had to hack and slash through vegetation and hold up overhanging branches, many of them viciously spiked. The islands are home to unusual animals and birds – monkeys, pangolins, hornbills for example – but we were making so much noise we had no hope of seeing any. In fact the only wildlife we spotted was a hermit crab and even he was heading away from us as fast as he could move his claws. At the end of the trek we cooled off with a swim then returned to the ship for a well-earned lunch. And what an amazing meal it was. The head chef manned a buffet table on the rear deck and carved slices of Mandalay style crispy duck with shallot and honey jus; Fish encroute – oven baked puff pastry-wrapped butter fish with spinach cream and white wine lime beurre blanc; Baby pumpkin stuffed with Mediterranean roasted vegetables; a pizza and a variety of sauces. It looked wonderful and tasted just as good.

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Looking for wildlife

For all that watching wildlife is supposed to be one of the great joys of cruising through the Mergui Archipelago we saw very little. This is partly because whenever we went ashore the crew members who accompanied us played football or other noisy games until it was time to transport us back to the ship. That didn’t matter if we were in a village but on a remote shore there was no chance that shy creatures would come down to see what we were doing so we never got the chance to see what the shy creatures were up to.

Kayaking the mangroves

One of the best chances of spotting monkeys, birds and snakes was when we kayaked along a shallow river through mangrove forests in the marine national park on Lampi Island. Paddling deeper into the jungle past the sprawling root systems was a wonderfully tranquil experience and it was quiet enough to hear the creatures all around us, but they remained hidden from sight.

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A dark and stormy night

On one occasion, though, searching for wildlife became a bit more serious. We had RIBd to a remote island to watch for hornbills returning to roost after a day’s foraging for fruit. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and the birds must have already flown home so, as darkness fell our two RIBs headed back to the ship. It got darker and the wind and sea were both rising, lightning flashed, thunder crashed and the rain came down in sheets.

Out of fuel

Then our RIB ran out of fuel. The other boat came back and handed over a spare fuel can then two passengers, including me, crossed over. No crew moved back to replace us so the RIB now had nine people on board and Phil thought it looked overloaded so he stayed where he was. Our RIB powered away but the wind and waves increased, slowing us down, and every wave sent a spray of cold water over everyone.

Back to the boat

We could see the squid boat lights on the horizon and eventually spotted some yellow lights in the distance – the Andaman Explorer – but it didn’t seem to to get any closer. It took maybe an hour to cover a distance that took us twenty minutes on the way out. But the adventure wasn’t yet over.

Climbing a rope ladder

The swell was now so bad that we couldn’t tie up to the gangway. Instead, after a lot of discussion between those on deck and those down below, a rope ladder was lowered and one at a time we climbed aboard. While the RIB was rocking and rolling in the swell, we had to grasp hold of the rope sides, stand on one rung and then carefully step up onto the next and slide our hands up the rope. Fortunately the bosun came up behind each climber meaning that we didn’t have to worry about falling backwards. Once at the top waiting hands grabbed us and helped us climb over the rail, down onto a chair and then the deck. Safe at last, but still wet and cold.

The second RIB

Just as we’d all climbed aboard, Phil’s RIB showed up. They had run out of fuel for a second time, tried (in vain) to signal a squid boat using cell-phones as torches then been rescued by a guardian angel in the form of a Moken woman in a canoe. She came alongside and passed over a can of fuel then rowed away. The RIB then made its way back to the Andaman Explorer where the swell had now dropped sufficiently so that Phil was able to use the gangway. So we were all once again safe aboard but cold and wet. A hot shower and a cocktail never felt so good. There were many lessons to be learnt from this experience and changes were made to the crew operating procedures, some immediately.

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The Sea Gypsies

Once upon a time several thousand Moken, also known as Sea Gypsies, inhabited the Andaman coast, living for most of the year on their wooden boats but going ashore during the cyclone season. Now only a few hundred maintain the lifestyle of fishing and free-diving for sea slugs and pearl oysters to trade. The rest have been resettled in villages created by the government and many women have married Burmese men. All the Moken villagers we saw were very friendly, especially the children. But we were many years too late to see the traditional way of life

Permits

Special permits are needed to visit the Mergui (Myeik) Archipelago on a multi-day live aboard tour. The cruise tour company organises these but it takes up to a month to get them. Our original itinerary would have taken us to the town of Mergui (also known as Myeik) but the boat could not get permits for this so we got no further north than Lampi Island. The Myanmar navy patrols through the islands and checks visitor documentation although we didn’t see any naval ships on our travels.

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Cockscomb Island

The southern part of the archipelago is now quite accessible and there are day tours from both Kawthaung and Ranong (across the river in Thailand). Almost all the tours head to Cockscomb Island as did we near the end of our cruise. The island gets its name from the serrated limestone hills that completely enclose a heart-shaped lagoon. In fact it is sometimes called Emerald Heart Island. The lagoon is shallow and seen from above is (sometimes) a brilliant emerald green colour. Some local people climb the hills to hunt or collect bird eggs but for tourists the only way in is through a tunnel that cuts through the rock, very similar to the tunnels in some Halong Bay karst islands. The tunnel is only visible at low tide so the tours have a limited time to visit. There was a group at the entrance when we arrived so we travelled part way around the outside for a while and when we returned the tide was a bit lower and the tour boat had gone.

Inside the lagoon

We used the kayaks and paddled cautiously in – the tunnel roof was low and rocky. It’s a lovely little lagoon, totally enclosed except at low tide. The water inside is mostly shallow and you can see coral heads but they all appear to be dead. Maybe that’s because of global warming, maybe because of the large number of tourists. The sides of the surrounding cliffs are steep and vegetation-covered and there are no beaches. We paddled once around the lagoon then returned to the entrance where another tour boat had arrived. The new visitors wore bright orange life jackets and were jumping off the boat and making their way into the tunnel. They looked rather awkward – it’s not easy to swim in a life jacket.

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Epilogue

The best time to visit the Mergui Archipelago is between October and May (to avoid the monsoon) and the best way to see it is on a multi-day cruise. There are several of these available. Some are specifically for scuba divers while others offer swimming, snorkelling and kayaking as well as village visits. For example: https://www.thesmilingseahorse.com/diving-burma.html https://www.liveaboard.com/cruise/myanmar/mergui-archipelago https://islandsafarimergui.com However the Andaman Explorer is no longer one of these. We travelled in October 2018. The vessel arrived in Yangon on 20 June 2019. It was anchored in the Hlaing River for some time and is now in the Myanmar shipyard. The Mergui Archipelago cruise is no longer on the Pandaw website, nor are two proposed cruises (to the Andaman Islands and a coastal trip from Kawthaung to Yangon). This is a shame because we would have liked to do one or both of these expeditions.

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