Fan Forest Liveaboard Diving

Liveaboard Diving in Fan Forest

What To Expect On a Fan Forest Pinnacle Liveaboard

Divers on a Fan Forest Pinnacle liveaboard can easily guess what's in store for them at this beautiful dive site. This very colorful dive site, in the Mergui archipelago, is basically north to the south ridge. The pinnacle is covered with a tremendous number of huge, undamaged orange fan corals and Gorgonian Sea Fans, most of which are below 30m. The fan corals are very healthy and support a large variety of marine life, making a Fan Forest Pinnacle liveaboard worthwhile. The pinnacle starts at 5m and drops away into the depths, and the reason Fan Forest Pinnacle is sometimes referred to as Rocky Peaks. This Myanmar Liveaboard safari to Fan Forest Pinnacle offers a good site for multilevel dive profiles, although the shallowest portions are rather barren. Although part of the east side of the pinnacle was unfortunately damaged badly by fishermen in 2007 the dive site is still fantastic.

Myanmar’s liveaboard safaris offer an easy dive here letting their divers descend to the deepest part of their profile and slowly circle the rock upwards. Currents can be strong on occasions, making it impossible to get right around the pinnacle. Visibility ranges from 10m to over 40m. The potential for spotting larger fish is excellent, the dive site has a lot of variety on coral, sponges, and smaller fish life.

What You Can See at Fan Forest Pinnacle

A liveaboard to Fan Forest Pinnacle assures a visit to one of the most colorful diving sites in Mergui archipelago, with its incredible density of orange-rose giant sea fans around which the lionfishes can hunt.

On the top of the pinnacle, you will find a garden of magnificent sea anemones, housing several species of anemonefish, feather stars, cowries, hawkfish, ornate ghost pipefish, yellow striped seahorses and harlequin shrimps. In the shallower parts of the reef have a good look for octopus and cuttlefish around the hard and soft corals. The eastern edge of the ridge is often offering a resting place for leopard sharks. And around the pinnacle, it is possible to encounter large numbers of rainbow runners, unicornfish, surgeonfish, and schooling bannerfish. The sea fans also provide shelter for juvenile snapper, so there will always be common lionfish and bearded scorpionfish around taking advantage. Schools of fish swim all around, including snapper, trevally, butterflyfish, wrasse, and soldierfish. Oriental sweetlips and blue-ringed angelfish are always present and all kinds of moray eels are also numerous. Whitetip reef sharks, marbled stingray, and grey reef sharks can be spotted on the deeper reef edges. Don’t forget to take a glance once in a while in the blue water or you’ll miss out on barracudas, trevally, and occasional visits from passing manta rays and eagle rays during migration.

Getting To Fan Forest Pinnacle

The best way to get to Fan Forest Pinnacle is on a Myanmar Liveaboard safari from Phuket, Khao Lak and Ranong in Thailand.

Bangkok Airways operate direct flight from Bangkok to Ranong, on the Thai side of the Myanmar border. Then you can take a taxi from Ranong Airport to the port of departure. Yangon International Airport is the main hub for domestic flights. Local airlines include Air Bagan and Myanmar National Airlines. It's cheaper and easier to book domestic flights via agencies once you are in Myanmar. There are no international car-rental agencies, most travel agencies in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan, as well as guesthouses and hotels elsewhere can arrange cars and drivers.