Just a couple of nautical miles east and north of Western Rocky lies her sister. Northern Rocky is covered with bird guano and one of the better places to spot sea birds. The main rock is very shallow and not really dive-able, but just off the main island is an underwater pinnacle shaped like a small loaf of bread. You may swim around this pinnacle at different depths and end up in the shallows to end your dive. When visibility is good then this dive is fantastic as it’s beautiful, and a very popular manta cleaning station.

Often the first or the last dive of a trip, Shark Lagoon is located near the Thai border and is the closest good dive site to Kawthaung, our port of entry and exit. This island as seen from the air is more lagoon than island with one large shallow area which is connected by a short overhang to the open ocean. At high tide, you have to enter by ducking down, holding your breath or using your regulator. At low tide you may just swim inside.

Inside the lagoon you may remove your BCD and weight belt and swim around. It’s quite large and to swim from end to end would take most people 30 minutes or more. There is a sandy bottom with sparse coral growth and the view up to the jungle covered cliffs is spectacular. It would be a good bird watching area if one had the time to spend a few hours in the lagoon with a kayak.

We start the dive by swimming out of the lagoon where we find a wall which drops to around 30 meters or so. If the current is running, it’s a nice drift dive that takes you around the island. If the current is not running the dive is better as then you may swim slowly along the wall and look for the highlight of the dive, tigertail seahorses. Your guide will help point them out.

Otherwise, the wall is covered with barrel and other sponges, whip corals, and soft and hard corals. Look to the crevices for every kind of critter you could imagine. It’s one of the best critter or macro dives in the archipelago.

Far offshore of the Mergui Archipelago lie a series of submerged mountaintops that are collectively known as the Burma Banks, a name given to the area by dive shop owners back in the late 1980s. You won’t see this name on any chart. Surrounded by open sea in all directions, these remote, widely separated reefs were first dived in the early 1990s. Prior to this time, these seamounts were known to exist, yet nautical charts did not accurately represent their positions. After an extensive series of exploratory trips by several Phuket-based liveaboards equipped with the then new GPS devices, a total of five sandy banks were eventually located, four of which were dived regularly: Roe Bank, Rainbow Reef, Big Bank and Silvertip Bank. We dived this area before we had permission to visit the Mergui Archipelago proper as these banks are located in international waters. Permission to dive Mergui Archipelago itself didn’t come until 1997.

The majority of dive-able areas at the banks are fairly flat, broad plateaus, typically about one kilometer in diameter. The shallowest depths are 21 to 24 meters, making for short bottom times but Nitrox gives us longer dives. Silvertip Bank is usually the last stop as much of the reef reaches within 15 meters of the surface. Unfortunately there are no walls here, only slightly sloping sand banks. At Silvertip, however, there are two good sloping drop-offs, one on each side of the bank, with good coral growth in shallow water. If currents are just right you may start deeper and swim shallow. The water surrounding all the banks is quite deep, averaging 250-300 meters.

Marine life at the banks is healthy and abundant in most areas, although the diversity of species does not compare with the inshore areas. Most have a high percentage of live coral, but there are also areas of dead coral and rubble, probably caused by southwest storms or crown of thorns. Even these areas have interesting features, however, as there are many huge, ancient coral bommies scattered across the reef top, some of which have formed bizarre and intriguing shapes. Hard corals are the norm unlike our dives in the archipelago. Most other types of marine invertebrates are found here as well, although the banks will probably never be known as a great place for critters. Reef fish include many varieties found in other regions, although fewer species are represented. Because of their proximity to deep water, the banks are an excellent place to see open-water predators like rainbow runners, bonito, and husky dogtooth tuna.

In spite of the features mentioned above, the main reason most people went to the Burma Banks was to see sharks. Altogether, at least nine species have been seen here, including rare encounters with tigers and scalloped hammerheads. Unfortunately, shark fishing in the early 2000s got most of the silvertips and nurse sharks which were very common at one time. As of this writing in 2018, reports are good regarding new sightings of juvenile sharks. If this trend continues, the Burma Banks may come back to their former diving glory.

Diving at the Banks is nearly always exciting and rewarding, but it is not for everyone. This is real open-ocean diving–no sheltered anchorages or islands to hide behind, just open sea in all directions making supervision a priority for safe diver picks ups, especially as the weather can change for the worse during the dive. Although surface conditions may be glassy calm, it can also be very rough, especially when choppy seas are caused by wind opposing current. Most sites are quite deep, and strong, changeable currents are very common. Not all boats dive the banks, though the area is becoming more attractive again lately mostly due to the curiosity of new operators. It’s a long overnight journey and if conditions are not ideal, it’s a disappointing day and two very long nights.