1 to 2 Week Boat Trips to Uninhabited Tropical Islands
[In Depth Adventures] [SCUBA] [Snorkeling] [Trekking and Elephant Riding] [Sailing and Sea Canoeing] [Exploring and Education] [Birdwatching] [Culture] [Coral Reef Ecology Course]
On Feb. 10, 1997 we began to explore the 800 islands which lie just North of Thailand in Myanmar. The Mergui Archipelago is virtually uninhabited, and mainly unexplored. 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age, they were part of the mainland. They are covered with uncut rainforest and inhabited by a richness of wildlife, including crocodiles, tigers, elephants and rare birds.
This area has been entirely closed since WWII. The February 10 trip was the first tourist trip into the area in 50 years. We have guided a dozen adventures into this area since then. We found that there was no indigenous population except for one tiny sea gypsy village, and no fishing fleet plying the waters as there is in Thailand. As a result, we have seen enormous numbers of fish, including many marlin and sailfish, barracuda and fish in the sand and grass flats that are probably bonefish and permit. I am told by locals that there are many large tarpon also.
Before February of 1998, no one had ever fly fished this area. It was a complete unknown. There had been a tiny amount of deep sea fishing, but not enough to provide much more than enthusiasm. In February, 1998 we guided the first fly fishing and light tackle fishing exploration of the Mergui Archapelago. If you are a flyfisherman and wish to go on this trip, you will be among the elite few to have ever sport fished here.
Most of our trips successfully combine several activities. The Mergui in particular is a great place to combine snorkeling, birdwatching, scuba and fishing. We are diving in locations that have been dived only a few times, if at all. This is real exploration, real adventure. The coral in shallow bays is untouched and full of colorful tropical fish and other sea life. The water temperature is 88 degrees F. (not a typo!) We frequently see over 100 mantas at some locations, and one dive site is known for seven species of sharks. There are lobsters, turtles, dolphins, and huge schools of fish, because of the lack of commercial activity.
The beaches are full of shells, many of them unusual, such as Nautilus and Cone shells, and there are many miles of beach without a human footprint.
Note, that the fishing is going to be primarily salt water. We will be exploring the interior of some of the larger islands, such as Lampi which is 60 miles long, by taking inflatables up major rivers, and it is possible that there may be fishing on this part of the trip.
The birdwatching and photographic opportunities, both on the open water, at the shore and inland are unparalleled. We have seen 100,000 crested terns fishing at one time, Beach Thick-knees, four species of Hornbill and Nicobar Pigeons, as well as parrots, monkeys, and wild boar.
There are likely to be guests who are divers, others who are fishermen, and still others who are snorkelers and beachcombers; our itinerary will provide excellent opportunities for everyone to enjoy their particular interests. You are welcome to participate in any of these activities. We are PADI instructors, as well as naturalists, and arrangements can be made for open water certification courses. Equipment can be rented for all activities, except flyfishing, for which you must bring your own.
Our comfortable sailing vessel will accomodate 8 guests. We require 6 to go, but so far, in 10 years, have never had to cancel a trip, yet. We have a second identical boat which allows us to take groups up to 16 people
Reservations are on a FIRST COME FIRST SERVED basis. If you decide to go, you should notify us quickly; a deposit is required. The balance is due 30 days before the trip. If the trip is cancelled by us your deposit will be returned in full.
The Myanmar government may restrict our area of access, or change its policy without notice.
Costs range from $200 to $250 U.S. per day including food and activities plus $120 per trip for the Myanmar gov't. We tailor trips to meet your dreams in line with what you can afford. Soft drinks and alcoholic beverages are sold by the crew, but you can purchase them (less expensively) on shore before leaving and they will be available in a large ice chest for you. Airfare, hotel accommodations and food on land are also your expense, but we will help you to get the kind of accommodations and to pursue the kinds of terrestrial activities you wish.
Please contact us with any questions or concerns.
Contact In Depth Adventures: indepth@loxinfo.co.th
for further information about your personalized adventure.
Thailand (Sept-April): Phone (66-76) 383-105/Fax (66-76) 383-106
U.S. (May-August): Phone (1-707) 443-1755/Fax (1-707)444-8574
ISLAND EXPLORATION
At the frenetic, colorful waterfront at Ranong, Thailand there are longtails full of rice, boxes, sacks and people. Fishing boats line the river on both sides, with bigger freighters from all over Asia at anchor in deeper water. We board a waiting longtail boat, motoring out across the broad Pokchan River to Kawthong, Myanmar, where we board our sailboat, a beautiful ketch, with our guests. While the guests have a glass of wine and stow their luggage, I unpack my traveling biology library. The hills on three sides have dozens of shrines and chedis; there is a continual glint of gold and flash of glass against the dry season dull, dark green.. The bioluminescence, harbor sounds of horns and motors and the sing-song amplified wail of prayers from the mosque on the hill above us swirls around us. When Mr. Mojo arrived, we light firecrackers for good luck, as is customary at the beginning of each voyage, and cast off, headed West, out of the harbor, into a new moon and the Mergui Archipelago.
Than Kyun is about 2km across and has several bays and rivers and at least half a dozen wrecks on the southern beaches. It lies at 98degrees, 1minute East Longitude, 9 degrees, 46 minutes North Latitude. We reach it by sailing through the Mawken Passage, appropriately named for the northern sea gypsy vessels that ply this area. It is a good spot to spend a quiet day snorkeling and beach combing, bird watching and enjoying wandering shores that have no one else’s footprints. It is here I found a shrine to a sea gypsy fisherman, decorated with flowers and candles and offerings from the sea. His portrait had been painted on a mirror which sat upon the altar. The whole structure is about a meter square, sitting on short posts above the sandy edge of the beach where the foliage begins. It was entirely constructed from drift wood parts of wrecks, some of it charred. While we watch from down at the other end of the beach, a Mawken longtail beaches near the shrine and one of the sea gypsy men strides directly and purposefully to it, climbing the little ladder, he spends a few moments in its entry. He may have put the fresh flowers there.
There are flowering hibiscus trees, Hibiscus tiliaceus, on the edge of the beach. They have beautifully swirled yellow flowers which turn reddish as the day progresses and fall off at dusk. They have big, heart-shaped leaves--altogether a splendid shrub. There are all kinds of shells, tiny slippers, long, tapered turatella, cowries and giant clamshells. Drongos, Vernal Hanging Parrots and White-bellied Sea Eagles fly around and above us, and Ghost Crabs scuttle across the white sand, nearly invisible.
The next morning we sail further West to Western Rocky for our first dives. This is a large rock, about 50 meters long and half that wide. It is the largest of a short string of five rocks notable for a natural tunnel that pierces it about 24 meters down, in which Nurse Sharks, Ginglymostoma cirratum, sleep in piles. I have seen eight snoozing near the western exit, in an enlarged room. Several 2-3 meter long sharks are in a heap against a wall. Last season, 1997-98, the water was pretty cold, 26 degrees C.= 79degrees F., and full of plankton, giving it a yellowish cast. In the shadows daisy corals "bloom", each polyp extending six golden yellow tentacles. Purple Short-spined Sea Urchins, purplish-pink soft corals, and crimson encrusting sponges cover the sides of the rock. Yellow and green wrasses, red Soldier fish, silver Fusiliers with blue splashes along their sides and groupers in earth tones swim near by. This year the water is very clear, with visibility exceeding 35 meters (100ft) in most areas, and much warmer—29-31degrees C. or 84-88 F.
After a gentle dive, we sail to Great Swinton Island arriving about 8:30 with a yellow crescent moon not yet set, and sea gypsies in a couple boats and around a bonfire on the beach, singing and laughing, but quieter after we drop anchor. 20cm long Needlefish marked with brown checkerboard and small Big Fin Reef Squid, Sepioteuthis lessoniana, with brown spots and sky-blue fins swim to the surface, attracted by the lights from our ketch.
"Oriental Pied Hornbills, Anthrococeros albirostris, (possibly the Southern race). They were in a tall tree half way up a steep scarp, hidden behind the plate-size leaves. Two and three at a time they swooped down, almost vertically, necks extended, until they were almost level with the brush, pulled out and glided, rising into another, shorter and more distant tree. One of the orchids here is in bloom. The tiny purple flowers rise in a group from a short stem that extends from a nine inch long, fluted pseudobulb, for which the Thais have named it the Toothbrush (Bang See Fun) Orchid, Dendrobium secundum. Bulbuls, crows, White-bellied Sea Eagles and Pacific Reef-Egrets in dark gray dress are everywhere. Back on board for breakfast I watched two Plain-pouched Hornbills, Rhyticeros subruficollis, which the bird book describes as "little known. . . rare." The boy-naturalist in me is agog.
We sailed North stopping for a swim at Cassarina Point. Hidden in the trees on the high bar were sea gypsy camps for drying and smoking fish and midden piles of conch, clam, melo and murex. We motored on, and moored for the evening in the bay. We went ashore for sunset, to walk or run along the four or five kilometer beach, ours the only human footprints. Aaron found a Nautilus shell and some beautiful conchs. We saw big ducks at dusk, probably White-winged Ducks, Cairina scutulata, that flew out of the darkening river mouth and turned North, flying low along the shore line against a red sky.
The next morning we decide to dive some of the many unnamed rocks and then head for the top end of Lampi Island. The water is very clear around the rocks. This dive is usually quite beautiful, with a very interesting range of fish and invertebrates. We frequently see at least six Blotched Fan-tail Rays, with wingspans up to 2 meters.
The range of hard and soft corals are enough to keep us occupied; as well, there are also several kinds of sea urchins, some with fat spines, others with long, needle spines, others with spines only a few millimeters long. Anemones are varied and common and have commensal Clark's Anemone and Skunk Anemone fish in them. I often encounter a school of large barracuda here; they are not yet used to divers and swim around us, circling, circling, curious and wary. Mackerel and pompano, in silver scales, and dark purple surgeon fish go on about their fishy business, paying us no attention. Moorish Idols, black and yellow and exotic, and emerald jeweled wrasses, straight from Tiffany's, glide along the edges of the reef here.
West of Lampi is Clara Island which offers beautiful diving. We have frequently seen pods of Bottle-nosed Dolphins near here and turtles, which use this island as a "nesting" area, are fairly common. Diving here is usually best along the West and South coasts. On my last dive here I noted: 3-5 lb. lobsters were here and there, and a huge, 2 foot-long Stonefish hung on a basket sponge, trying to look invisible. There was a beautiful array of crinoids, feather stars in brilliant yellow, or white and black, three kinds of nudibranchs with patterns of sky blue, gold and white, pale and dark green with purple spots. Daisy corals had their polyps extended so that the whole wall appeared to be in yellow bloom against crimson, purple and peach encrusting sponges. A large octopus, its head bigger than a basketball, pulled scallops from the wall while we watched. It changed colors and patterns from black and white to cinnamon to sandy and dark brown. It was very knobby with complex papillae all over its body. It dug away sand and tossed shells over its shoulder, looking for things to eat.
On some of the longer trips we go North to Black Rock. It lies West of the Sisters Islands. Only the Torres are further West in the Mergui Archipelago. The water is usually glassy and dark blue; often with no wind, not a ripple except where schools of small fish fed just below the surface. This is a good spot to see mantas. On one trip there were Mantas everywhere! Mantas leaped, erupting from white foam, gliding above the sea on ten and twelve foot wings. Mantas swam around us, just under the surface. Wingtips stuck up from the water like shark fins on all sides. This is also a good place to watch sharks: Dusky, Bull, White-tipped Reef, Leopard, Nurse and others. The sides of the rock here are as colorful as Clara's with the bonus of purple and white filigreed soft corals. You can see a smooth red octopus skitter down a rock at our approach turn magenta and scuttle into a hole, and there are even four kinds of Morays, including a beautiful Fimbriated Moray, Gymnothorax fimbriatus, bright greenish yellow with small black spots and mascara blue eye rings. (I just looked up "fimbriate" Webster says it means "fringed.")
It is time to relax on deck in the sun and watched flying fish and needlefish on the surface. The Salet Galet lies ahead, one of the most entrancing places I have ever been. Lampi is shaped like a huge, upside-down, italicized L with Wa-Ale Kyun separated from its western end by a 2 km long, sinuous, narrow passage. This passage is the Salet Galet. It is easy to miss from either end, looking like a deep bay. My favorite place to anchor is in green water near the North end, the open sea visible through a slot in the descending hills. The jungle descends, full of wildlife, to the water's edge.
There are family groups of Crab-eating Macaques, Macaca irus aurea, according to U Tun Yin, Wild Animals of Burma, on the beaches and in the trees, feeding and playing and watching us curiously. Pairs of Tenasserim Wild Pigs, Sus scrofa jubatus, usually look for food with the monkeys, who act as lookouts. They will watch us for only a few moments from the waters edge, a few meters away, then wheel around and trot into the jungle. Great Hornbills and Wreathed Hornbills are common overhead to their roosting trees from their feeding grounds, and Vernal Hanging Parrots, Pacific Reef Herons and Brahminy Kites are everywhere as red sunset slides into crystal dusk. There are grassy and sandy shallow flats here that look to be excellent for saltwater fly fishing.
The next morning we sail South out of the Salet Galet into the silent, glassy bay formed in the elbow of Lampi. Sailfish with brilliant blue backs jump and feed on surface fish here, and, for 20 minutes, we once watched a pair mating next to the boat. One can frequently see meter-long Black-tipped Reef Sharks feeding on a school of fry, competing with the Brahminy Kites and White-bellied Sea Eagles. Sea Gypsy fishing boats, low and barely sea worthy, work along this shore. These are Mawken Chao Lei from Pulau Nala, just South of Lampi, where the government maintains a village where diesel and medicine are distributed. The village of fifty huts is supervised by a Buddhist monk, previously an army officer. The Myanmar government is concerned about arms being smuggled to the Karon rebels, and tries to keep a handle on it here.
In mid-morning we arrive in the bay where an unnamed river sweeps in from deep in the island. Adam shows us wild elephant tracks on the beach. They came out of a muddy watercourse, walked to the shore and returned. Probably around dawn. He watched a binturang, a very large civet with a long bushy tail, walk slowly along a branch. We look at footprints the must be either a large croc or a huge monitor. As the tide begins to rise and enter the river, we don jungle clothes and either climb into the dinghy or the kayaks with our binoculars and water bottles to explore the interior. We slide silently along around and over sand bars where Blue-spotted Rays rest on the bottom, past coastal flats lined with shore birds, and into the low tangle of mangroves. Here, we begin to see land crabs, several kinds of kingfishers and Dollarbirds. After a kilometer or so, the short brushy mangroves give way to 20m tall mangroves with straight trunks that I have only seen on Lampi. Orchids and ferns covered the branches and lianas hang like snakes in the gloom. We watch a 3m black King Cobra slither off a fallen tree trunk and up the bank, and more wild pigs stare at us from between the arching mangrove roots. Up several kilometers we have come upon illegal, small time teak logging. We found a spot where posts and planks, possibly teak, had been cut from a log. The lumber was so heavy it sank in the still water. It was roped together in rafts, awaiting a tow down river after it had dried.
We must go in about five kilometers before running out of navigable water. It is here, away from the mangroves, that we see pairs of Orange-breasted Trogons, Harpactes oreskios, that flew among the low trees on the river bank. The male has a green head, brilliant golden breast, black and white wavy barring on his wing coverts and a cinnamon back. The female has a yellower, paler breast, and grayer head and back. Not a rare bird, but an astonishing one to see in the afternoon light. They typically perch quietly, hardly moving, a few feet apart.
On the way down, Bill and Lin stopped us. They had discovered tiger tracks on the river bar. We could see where the tiger, a big one according to the tracks, accompanied by a cub, stalked a wild boar. The boar's prints, at first placid, but then digging hard as it ran, were overtaken by the tiger's. The sand was scattered and the brush broken where the tiger killed it. Across the shallows we could see the smooth track where it had been dragged up the bank into the deep, dark jungle. A Little Heron, Butorides striatus, not as stocky as the Black-crowned Night-Heron found here and in No. Cal., watched us apprehensively from the water at the far end of the sand bar. Yellow Wagtails, Motacilla flava, followed us down river, like ouzels, dipping for insects along the rocks in our wake. A family of Crab-eating Macaques watched from the bank, holding the young ones' hands, then scrambled into the trees as we got close. There are many bird sounds—hoots, bells, clanks and gobbles—I can't identify.
Butterflies, many blue and black, orange and white, or yellow flutter over the river. A large black and yellow spider has built a web to catch them. The only human sounds are ours.
Back in the bay, our ship waits for us. A sea eagle swings overhead, looking for handouts, and sailfish jump nearby. The wind usually blows from the Northeast so we can sail SSW, red, white and blue spinnaker blousing beyond the bowsprit. Several Spanish Mackerel jump near the boat—straight up and straight down, 20 pounds of fish 20 feet in the air. Orange sunset reflecting from their silver sides.
The wind usually dies at dusk, but picks up from the East around 8PM. We drop anchor at Kawthong a few hours later. Clearing customs in both countries is usually accomplished without a hitch, after which we reboard our minivan and head back to Phuket.
Contact In Depth Adventures: indepth@loxinfo.co.th for further information about our scheduled trips or your personalized adventure.
.US Phone or Fax: (707) 443-1755
Thailand Fax: (66-76) 263-286
During the summer months Robert may be reached in Eureka, California by telephone at 707-443-1755; phone number in Thailand is 66-76-383-105 or worldwide by email at indepth@loxinfo.co.th
Mailing address: P.O. Box 27, Eureka, CA 95502.