On the 13th of November, we are still reporting about our dive trip in Mergui Archipelago. Today we visit 4 dive sites around shark cave and it deserves its name today: 2 massive nurse shark are happily sleeping in its bowels! they are between 2 and 3 meters long and we pass next to them to get to the other side of the cave, this is exciting!!!
And for those who didn't have enough, 2 big blotched sting rays were also there!!!
what a dive! we had to do it again at night and everyone was still there, lazily resting on the sandy bottom.

We go again to Burma and for the first day of this trip 3: 6 days/5 nights around the south of Burma archipelago
we dive high rock, steward island, tower rock and spanish garden, our secret spot to find spanish dancers on every dive!
this must be a reproduction center because we can see their eggs quite often there and the spanish dancers come out in the evening for the ball.
During the day we also spotted a ghost pipe fish, first one of the season, yeah!

in the morning we are also lucky to see a pod of dolphin hunting in the bay, I love them, even if they run away when we dive!!!

Burma has some incredible dive sites, on the 7th of November 2012, MV Thai sea and The Smiling Seahorse's team was visiting Seafan forest and North Rock in the south of Burma's Archipelago also knwn as Mergui.

On this beautiful day we spotted many large schools amongst which baracudas and snapers. We also saw an octopus, blue spotted sting rays, Porcelein crabs, squat shrimps, beautiful nudis

6th of November:
Diving in the Mergui Archipelago is pretty awesome and we feel lucky to be here!

This is a day by day trip report of our diving expeditions in Myanmar:
On the 6th of November, we did 4 Dives around Western Rocky and its pinnacles.The major highlight of the day was a massive blotched sting ray about 2 meters large without counting the tail really huge!!!
We also saw Jenkins Sting ray easily recognizable by its shape and the long size of its tail.
Too bad I scared it away with my scooter before Franck could snap a picture, which is why I didn't use his picture of a running stingray but it is as big as the one above.

Do you want to go diving and encounter our fantastic sting rays? contact us

For more diving stories, check the other blog posts!
Cheers! Camille

November 5th 2012
Myanmar diving expedition report: 

4 dives on the way and at Western rocky
dive 1: 7h10, 32m, 42 min, New dive site
dive 2: 11h14, 33m, 45 min, Western Rocky
dive 3: 15h38, 26m, 42 min,  Western rocky
Dive 4: 19h12, 22m, 40 min, Western Rocky


Beside the usual coral reef fishes which we encounter every time we dive in Myanmar. We saw a group of cuttle fish, big file fish and many types of crabs amongst which sponge crabs and spider crabs also called decorator crabs because of the way they use pieces of colorful coral and sponges to dress up.

You can see more pictures about this trip on our facebook album :  
First trip to Burma: awesomeness!!!

4th of November 2012

First trip of the season, we were indeed very excited and I even had the time to write a blog post about it! Check it out there.

This is the start of a trip 2: 5 days/ 4 nights around the South of Mergui Archipelago onboard MV thai Sea.

On this first day we do one dive at Volcano, a very special dive site. Sadly this time we do not see the black tip reef sharks living inside the volcano but the view outside and the corals vista are worth the sight.

check out the other post for more diving reports

Woww! I haven't written a blog post since January!!! Incredible how fast the season went. I must say we have been quite busy lately. It is now low season, the boat is parked, equipment stored or sent for servicing and we are getting a much deserved break!
Don't be mistaken we already miss diving and look forward to the new season.
In the mean time, I though about a little project, something I have wanted to do during the high season but really didn't have time to do...
I've decided to post our log book on this blog so you guys can see what we see on a regular basis on our dive cruises.
Sadly I don't have pictures of every creature we see but I'll try to post what I have and use some pictures taken by others.
I hope this will inspire you and that we'll see you soon!
Check out our calendar for next season's liveaboard schedule and book now!

Mantas have arrived and we are very excited about it!
Because lets be honest, mantas are awesome!!!
Check out our latest pictures below, more on our facebook page

Tired of seeing them through your screen? Come join one of our next cruises! Its perfect time for Manta sighting! We saw 4 on the last trip...

-          Only 30 CM below the surface, your drum flex inward and you should feel pressure in your ear (you feel about the same when landing in a plane)

-          About 1 Metre below the surface, your eardrum swell up and mucus starts to enter your Eustachian canals making equalization difficult. Your ear nerves are stretched and you start to feel pain.

-          At 2 meters deep, your ears tissues begin to tear causing inflammation which might last for up to a week. Equalization is pretty much impossible as pressure forces soft tissues together shutting the canals ends.

-          At 3 meters deep, blood and mucous is sucked from surrounding tissues to fill your middle Ear, this is called Middle Ear Barothrauma. Pain decreases and you feel like water came filled up your ear. Don’t try to get the water out, no way, it will be reabsorbed by tissues within a week.  This is if you are lucky…

-          If you aren’t… At 4 meters, your eardrums may break. And water from the outside fill up your middle ear. This might cause vertigo, especially if the water around you is cold as the brain doesn’t know how to interpret this unbalance between your two ears. If you blow too hard to equalize, you also may rupture the round window membrane between your middle and inner ear, this is called inner ear barotrauma and may cause temporary or permanent hearing loss…

Ok, as you see things go very quickly and you realize that equalizing in necessary. Open up your Eustachain tubes and let the air flow in from your throat.

Be careful, you just emptied your BCD and you are subject to negative buoyancy! You don’t need to make any effort to fall like rocks without even noticing that you are going down. If you are going down with a line or against a wall, its pretty easy to see if you are going down, if you are going in open water, look at you gage.

The most common way of equalizing, tauch during PADI open water is Valsava Maneuver: pinch your nose and blow gently, increased pressure in your throat will automatically open your canals. This might be more difficult if it is not done early enough as increased pressure around you will lock the passage.

To avoid problem using this technic, don’t blow to hard, don’t maintain the pressure for more than 5 seconds and if you still can’t equalize, go up a bit until canals unlock.

Other methods to practice and combine:

-          Swallow while pinching your nose. This will activate the muscles below the tubes and pull them open while air compressed by your tongue goes in.

-          Bring  your jaw forward and down : like a yawn (be careful to keep a good seal around your reg if you don’t want salt water in your mouth) moving your jaw from side tto side might help

You can use each technic alone, alternate or together. With practice, some divers manage to keep their canals opened while descending, which lowers greatly the stress on its ear while diving.

If you keep your nostrils pinched, you will also feel a mask squeeze, letting some air through your nose fill your mask will be enough to avoid it.

You should equalize as often as needed (more often than you feel the need for).

When going down, don’t wait to feel pressure in your ears to equalize as pressure only make it more difficult. If it is blocked, don’t force it, it’s the best way to break something. Keep steady (don’t let yourself sink any deeper!), go slightly up to unlock your canals and try again. If you can’t equalize, you can’t go down! Take your time… Listen to the “pop” or “click” when your tubes are opened.

When you reach the bottom depth, equalize once more as you may not feel a small pressure unbalance but it might still hurt your ear with time.

Tips: It is easier for some divers to descend feet first with your head above. Looking up also helps as it tend to open the Eustachian canals. If one technic doesn’t work, try to use another or combine two (swallow while blowing your nose or yawn while blowing your nose). Be careful of mucous, which can block your tubes:  don’t dive with a congestion (cold), keep your mask clear of water, avoid tobacco, alcohol and dairy if you are prone to ear problem while diving. Equalizing at the surface before descending might help. Chewing a gum before your dive might also help.

When you ascend, the air in your middle Ear expends and must exit the same way (through your Eustachian canals. This usually goes without you even noticing and doesn’t require any action from you.

If you feel pressure in your ear or sinuses while ascending from your dive, you are experiencing a reverse block. A reverse block is caused by mucus preventing air bubbles in your middle ear, tissues or sinuses from escaping our body.

DOs and DON’Ts in case of reverse block

Be careful, while you feel about the same pain as with a normal block (going down), this problem is about the opposite so DON’T: go up to release pressure: go down! Don’t blow your nose as it will only increase the air pressure in your middle ear and increase the pain/ damage.

DO: Yawning or swallowing technics can help but if it doesn’t, stay still and take your time. Slow down your ascent. As long as you have air in your tank, no need to force the way. The last 10 meters will be the hardest so go slow. You can even try to go down a bit to lower the pressure (and pain) and let the air goes out slowly.

Again the most important is to take your time, some reverse block take 10-15 minutes to clear, but at low depth, you should have enough air to stay that long so relax and try to enjoy your extended dive…

How to avoid reverse block: don’t dive with a cold or sinuses problems and if you use a decongestant, make sure the effect will not wear off during your dive.

Happy Diving!
The Smiling Seahorse

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