Short Breaks
South China Morning Post Magazine
(Hong Kong, 1999)

MERGUI, BURMA: The Mergui archipelago – 800 islands trickling down from Burma over 30,000 square kilometers of the Andaman Sea – is to wanderlust what Viagra is to sex.  It’s the sort of the place that makes you want to grab your passport, a wad of cash, and just go.

For half a century Mergui was put off-limits by a suspicious government based in Rangoon, and nobody but fishermen and sea gypsies sailed past the pristine beaches and mangrove forests, or explored the islands’ hidden trails and creeks. Then, after numerous requests from foreign tour operators the powers-that-be relented, although to start with they insisted that a naval vessel accompany each visiting boat.  Such piffling regulations have now been dispensed with, and the Mergui is wide open for exploration.

With few inhabitants, and being well away from major towns, pollution is minimal.  It’s not so much the deserted beach that’s a rarity as one with somebody else on it.  And the chance of somebody trying to sell you a “My Mum Sailed the Mergui Archipelago and all She Bought Me was This Lousy Tee-shirt” type of souvenir is non-existent.  It’s all the things a lot of other places promise but so often fail to deliver.

The splendid mini-odyssey begins in Ranong, Thailand; then you cross the Pakchan River by long-tailed boat to Kawthoung in Burma, and board the 51-foot Gaea.  The ketch-rigged trimaran - with four double berths and a five-strong international crew – sets sail for the Mergui the same evening, and at dawn drops anchor at Crescent Bay for a morning spent snorkeling and relaxing.

This first sight of the Mergui is but a taste of what’s to come.  Some of the islands are steeply forested, while others are mere granite outcrops with a topknot of greenery.  Wild boar, civets, monkeys, buffalo and giant monitor lizards roam the interior of the larger islets, and there are rumors – but as yet no positive sightings – of tigers and elephants.  The coral reefs below the waves are rich in marine life and unscarred by dynamiting or dragging anchors.  And the cries of blue herons, hornbills, sea eagles, kites and flashing green parakeets are the only noise to disturb this totally pacific island idyll.

After lunch, the Gaea sets sail for Pulau Laviaung for further exploring and swimming, and then that evening moors near the Moken or sea-gypsy village on Pulau Nala.  Hardy and independent seafarers, the gypsies are curious about, if a little shy towards, their visitors, but after 50 years in isolation are still welcoming.

And so the pattern of the days and nights is set. Cruising from island to island, swimming, toasting on deck, paddling up the islands’ rivers in kayaks or rubber dinghies, eating supper with no light other than the glare from the barbecue and the immense covering of stars. The last day in the Andaman Sea brings the Gaea to Cavern, McCarthy and Stewart islands, where divers can indulge themselves among the coral reefs.  Liveaboards used to be mainly directed at this underwater fraternity, but the liberation of the Mergui’s 40-score islands has granted a whole new mode of travel in a marine world that really is unspoiled.

How to get there:

The cruise departure point is Ranong, which can be reached either by air via Bangkok, or by air and road via Phuket.  Both routes require an overnight stay.  Economy return airfare starts at around HK$3,000.  A six-night cruise with SEAL costs US$ 1,056 (HK$ 8,184) and includes on-board accommodation, meals, visa, transfer from Phuket and sightseeing trips.