Diving liveaboard in Thailand and Myanmar
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        • Burma's best dive sites
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  • ABOUT
    • Our Boat >
      • DELICIOUS FOOD
    • Diving in Thailand in 2024-2025
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    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • Marine life in Mergui Archipelago
    • Dive Courses >
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    • Khao Sok National Park
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    • 10 things to do around Ranong
  • PROMO
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      • 8D Special Marine Bio with Gavin Miller - 10 Nov 2025
      • 8D Whale shark expedition - 20 March 2026 - North and South
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Another wonderful cruise in Mergui Archipelago

30/1/2016

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Black Rock in a week: Burma diving liveaboard

Mergui Archipelago, Burma
​Day One
Departure from Ranong with a full cruise with 12 Divers was setting sail for Mergui again with a lovely dinner at sunset...
Murray Eels

Day Two (High Rock and Exploration) 
First destination was High Rock to where the group decided to claim the reef back as a dive site and for the marine life. A huge fishing net was covering the reef since November. Since we had a larger staff crew of 5 instructors and Dive masters on board we decided to claim the reef back with an early dive for the staff before bringing the guests to enjoy their morning dive. With the help of a lift bag, we managed to remove half of the ghost net from the reef and recover it to the surface and onboard the MV Thai Sea. 

The adventure continued with 2 exploration dives. We were very exited with our new discovery. Schools of travellies, tunas and and yellow finned barracudas circling our new dive site that the group decided to name “Name needed".
Gold cup coral
Day Three (North Twin)
Crystal clear waters awaited us for the morning dive at “North Twin Pinnacle”. Schools of Barracudas at the decent and Tunas hunting in the blue is what makes this dive site so special.  
Guitar fish
Day Four (Black Rock) 
Black Rock never disappoints. On our 4 dives here we had Manta interaction with at least 3 Mantas, Schools of Barracudas as well as Tunas. The also enjoyed seeing the presence of sea snakes and Turtles. What else can you wish for?  
Manta Ray
Day Five (Shark Cave, Square Rock  & Submarine)  
There is a reason why this place is one of the more famous dive sites in Megui Archipelago . Bendstick Pipefish, Seahorses, Squid, Cuttle Fish, Marble Rays and 2 Ghostpipefish. A lot of tick marks in the dive logs! ;)  ​
Trunkfish
Day Six (Western Rocky and Dendros Peak)
30m visibility at Western Rocky  and the cuddle fish mating was underway with multiple love birds scattered around the rock. 2 Harlequin Shrimps and 10 frogfish were the highlights here. And of course the swimm through the western rocky cave. 
Purple soft coral
Day Seven (Seahorse City) 
New record for our seahorse spotters. We counted 11 smiling seahorses at Seahorse City. Great closing of an amazing cruise with amazing people.  
Beautiful Seahorse

Congratulations to Karsten who became a fully certified Dive Master this week, to two new advanced divers Geraldine & Didier, to Kalle who did his rescue and deep diver onboard and to Julien & James for successfully completing the deep dive specialty! 
Well done!!! ​​
A big thank you to Jim for his lovely video of the trip
Black Rock, South Twin, Shark Cave, North Twin, Western Rocky, Seafan Forest...
​
7 days/6 nights, 21 dives  
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First trip in Thailand for 2016

17/1/2016

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Best of Thailand Dive Cruise: Surin and Similan National parks

Big creatures were present for this first trip and made it an awesome start for 2016 in Thailand ! The boat was full and we all enjoyed the ballet from at least one big Manta ! Some were too amazed by the way it was swimming that they almost missed the leopard shark sleeping in between the rocks.
Leopard shark
French, Belgian, Russian, Australian, German and English shared the place on the MV Thai Sea and were delightled by the food, with a special innovation for Chewi, who made magic with only one wok and his barbeque to satisfiy all the different diets requested, vegan, vegetarian, only fish eater, gluten intolerant, without carbs, without fat and of course different level of spicy.
talking about diving and fun and marine life...
Congratulations to Son Ca and Bertrand for your Wedding and we are more than happy that you chose us for your honeymoon ! Hope you had a good trip and wish to see you again, maybe as a staff member the next time ;-)
Congratulations to Delphine also for your Open Water and Eric to refresh your skills after more than 10 years.
Don't forget to watch our first video made with the new toy of Franck, the Phantom 3.
5Days/4 Nights, 11 dives: Surin Islands, Richelieu Rock, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, North Similans
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Happy New Year dive cruise 2016 !

5/1/2016

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Happy new year dive cruise on MV Smiling Seahorse
All the team of the Smiling Sea Horse wish you an happy new year ! We spent a great time "to pass the cap" with nice guests around the best barbecue of the Archipelago, special thanks to our chef, Chewy for the amazing preparation.
Colorful coral
We were happy to see Germa, Kamiel and Jeff back for the third time onboard! It's always a pleasure to have guests coming back, specially when they are such a good company and easy to dive with.
Nurse shark
Always a pleasure to see that our two huge nurse sharks were still sleeping in our special cave. Few marbled stingray having a feast during a night dive, few  beautiful eagle ray flying around and another mating party, this time was 4 cuttlefishes and two octopuses mating on the same reef.
Harlequin shrimp
To have a good start of 2016 and to please our divers, loads of macro' creatures, cute seahorses and a baby one, as tiny as my little nail, uncountable amount of shrimps, ghost pipefishes, and many frogfishes hidden on their sponges. Difficult to believe for some guests that harlequins shrimps are rare when we showed them more than 10 different specimens during the cruise.
Curious Lobster
Sea also about Mergui Archipelago...
We wish to everyone a wonderful start of 2016, stay connected and don't forget to take a look on our facebook page​ for more pictures.
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December 2015 in our Guest book

5/1/2016

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Such lovely words: Thank you!!!

Franck made us feel welcome, we had lot of fun!
If we are around, we'll surely comeback for another trip with you again!
Perfectly organized, delicious food. Will be back again with my girlfriend next season!
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Toujours le sourire,
Heureux d'etre la !
Énorme! Plongées Extraordinaires
Savoir faire extra
Manque de rien
Incroyable aventure
L'heure c'est l'heure
Immense plaisir
Nourriture excellente !
Gros fous rire
Souvenirs plein la tête
Équipe formidable
Accueil au top !
Ho ho ho merry Christmas !
On oubliera jamais cette aventure !
Requins absents
Surtout ne changez rien
​Encore un énorme Merci !
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Une super croisière.

Une équipe au top : Incroyable.
​super expérience.
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Une expérience inoubliable.

Des rencontres mémorables autour des plats succulents du chef. 
Amazing and wonderful trip. Thanks for the superstar crew.
What an amazing experience!
​

Thank you for the privilege of enjoying this trip with you. It was our 1st liveaboard and more than we could ever hope for.

Amazing trip. Lots for fun, great company, good food.... Awesome
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A comparison of our dive cruises to Myanmar. Makes it easy to choose the right cruise for you.
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    The Smiling Seahorse Diving Blog

    A blog about our diving adventures in Burma and Thailand. Diving trip reports, guest reviews, fishy stories, wildlife fun facts and much more...
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    ​The Smiling Seahorse has been running dive cruises from Ranong since 2012.
    Our team of instructors are reporting with a short blogpost after every trip.
    Camille, Franck and some guest writers also contribute during the off season writing on various topics.
    Keep tuned for more fishy stories :)
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The Smiling Seahorse

Our dive cruises

170 Ruangrat Rd, Tambon khao nivet, Mueang Ranong District, Ranong 85000​
Phone: +66860110614​
​Mail: [email protected]

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  • When & Where
    • Schedule and Prices
    • Destinations >
      • North Andaman Thailand >
        • Similan Islands
        • Surin Islands >
          • Richelieu Rock
        • The essential Underwater photo Guide to diving Thailand
      • South Andaman Thailand >
        • Phuket & Koh Phi Phi National Parks
        • Koh Lanta National Park
        • Koh Lipe and Tarutao National Park
      • Mergui Archipelago >
        • Liveaboard diving holiday in Myanmar
        • Burma's best dive sites
        • The Ultimate Underwater photo Guide to diving Burma
  • ABOUT
    • Our Boat >
      • DELICIOUS FOOD
    • Diving in Thailand in 2024-2025
    • Diving in Myanmar/Burma in 2024-2025
    • Blackwater diving in Thailand and Myannmar
    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • Marine life in Mergui Archipelago
    • Dive Courses >
      • Learn to Dive
      • Continue diving education
      • Rescue diver
      • Professional Dive Courses
      • Hone your dive skills with a specialty course
      • Photo coaching in Thailand on the Smiling Seahorse
    • Guest Book
    • FAQ
  • Plan your trip
    • Our hotels recommendations
    • Khao Sok National Park
    • Taxi services >
      • Taxi services to and from Ranong
      • Taxi services to and from Phuket
      • Taxi services to Tap Lamu and Khao Lak
    • 10 things to do around Ranong
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Special Expeditions >
      • 8D Special Marine Bio with Gavin Miller - 10 Nov 2025
      • 8D Whale shark expedition - 20 March 2026 - North and South
  • gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • CONTACT
  • BLOG
    • Most popular posts