Chartering a Boat in the Mergui Archipelago
We traveled to Myanmar from Thailand November 2017 and charted (what turned out to be a) a private boat to cruise the Mergui Archipelago for five days and four nights. Read more about our adventure below.
Getting there:
We flew into Phuket from Singapore, and drove from Phuket to Ranong, Thailand to cross the Thailand/Mynamar border via boat. If you can fly into Ranong, this would be my recommendation, as the drive from Phuket is about 4 hours.
Once in Ranong, you want to get to the immigration port. There was some confusion as to where to go, as different people/maps said different things. This google location is the correct spot. After a brief interaction with the Thai immigration officers, we were whisked off to a boat landing, full of Thai and Burmese getting on and off prop boats. It was chaotic. We were hurried in to a departing boat (I stupidly had worn a skirt). Trying to balance on the slick stones, carrying our suitcases, and getting into a narrow boat full of people was no easy task.
After crossing the Kra Buri river (takes about 30-45 minutes including stopping a few times for passport checks), you arrive at the dock in Kawthaung. There will be about 50 people there waiting to offer you a taxi or escort you to the immigration office which is a short walk from the pier. You can try to find the office yourself or just let one of the locals help you with the expectation of a small tip (we chose the latter).
At the immigration office, the process took about an hour but eventually they told us they would phone Island Safari to pick us up. Kawthaung is a small town so the operator arrived about five minutes later. They took us to the Island Safari office and informed us we would be the only guests on our 5 day/4 night cruise (the boat has five guest cabins). We were actually mildly disappointed by this news as we were hoping to have some characters on board with us the next few days. They hinted at Myanmar’s recent headlines regarding the Rohingya crisis as having affected their tourism.
The manager arranged a taxi to take us to our lodging, The Victoria Cliff Hotel, where we would proceed to have a very crazy night.
The next morning we arrived back at the pier to board our awaiting vessel and meet the crew of the Sea Gypsy
The crew consisted of six men (yes, I would be the only female on board for the next five days): the captain, the chef, the technician, and three deck hands. Unfortunately, only the captain spoke English well, so our interactions with the rest of the crew were mostly smiles and gestures.
We departed the pier with several onlookers (aka local children) waving us off on our adventure.
The first day mostly consisted of getting out to the islands. We unpacked our belongings in our top floor, open-air cabin before situating ourselves on the sundeck for the remained of the cruise. Just before sunset we arrived at our first island and it. was. breathtaking. The island was completely uninhabited by humans and we were the only (tourist) boat for as far as the eye could see. We loaded up onto kayaks and made our way to the beach.
Our captain accompanied us to the island and explained that the island, while not home to humans, IS home to monitor lizards. We didn’t see the actual lizards but their huge foot prints were everywhere.
We headed back to the boat that evening in pure bliss. The next four days and four nights we were going to be completely detached from the rest of the world: no phones, no internet, no distractions, just sailing to some of the most remote islands in the world with my husband (and our six new best friends).
I won’t go through a day by day itinerary, as Island Safari does a very good job of laying out what to expect on their website.
However, I will leave you with photos that highlight the trip. Essentially, you can fill in the blanks with kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, snorkeling, reading books, and eating delicious meals.
This is how we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner aboard the Sea Gypsy. All our meals were fresh, healthy, and bottomless.
We told the captain we wanted a bit of exercise.. so we kayaked from one island to another on our second day. It was maaaybe a bit more intense than we had anticipated (however, also gorgeous and wonderful etc etc)
A walk (read: turned into pretty intense hike) through the jungle.
Our jungle hike ended on a remote beach… that happened to be full of Moken village kids! It was Saturday so their teacher had brought them to this beach to swim. It was would be an understatement to say they were excited to swim with us (I’m not being sarcastic, despite the fact none of them are smiling in this photo, haha). The Moken are nomads, native to the Andaman Islands. They are regarded as excellent fishermen.
Kayaking through a mangrove
We took the dinghy to a nearby fishing boat and purchased some tuna for sashimi
Most of these boats actually catch squid, which is done at night using bright green lights that function as bait. When we would lay down in bed each evening, it would be pitch black except the stars overhead and little green lights dotting the sea.
Suffice to say, we felt honored to explore these remote islands. It was truly wonderful. I’m hesitant to call it a “once in a lifetime experience” because I truly hope we will make it back there again someday.
Details:
5 days/ 4 nights, food and drink (except alcohol) included: $1,100/person
The boat has 5 open air cabins and sleeps up to 10 guests. Two cabins are on top level, 3 cabins are on middle level. We had a top level cabin. (Note that the cabins are separated by curtains, so if there had been a full boat, there wouldn’t be much privacy)
Questions? Comments? Anything I didn’t cover that you would like to know? Please feel free to ask!
