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Last reviews :)

2/4/2019

"A huge thank you for this wonderful week! Nice discoveries, top crew, top guides, top food, no complaints!"

"Second cruise organised by Camille and Franck. A few months prior, we were able to see with which professionalism they advised and oriented us, so that everything was perfect. The new boat is top comfort!"

"Emotions have been part of the trip at every moment thanks to the amazing crew!"

"Thank you for a memorable experience. Totally love the exploration and going out of the box."

"First diving liveaboard! The best choice!"

Comments

Whales season !!!

31/3/2019

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Whale

It has been a trip full of surprises, for most of us a dream come true ... watching whales at the surface coming close enough from the boat so we can enjoy the show!

We welcomed on board: Gérard, Corinne, Kévin, Emilie, Pascal and Fanny from France; Bob, Lee, Eric and Pamela from USA; Kristel and Daniel from Germany; Olli from Finland, Yosita from Thailand; Christopher and Amanda from England.

One more time the reefs were full of life, glass fish everywhere ...

Schools of jacks, snappers, trevallies and barracudas all around ...

Snappers

Barracudas

Trevallies

Snappers

Jacks

Snappers

Gigantic seafans ...

Tunnels, caves and "swimthroughs" ...

A manta was spotted in an unusual place (unfortunately no picture) ... and on the same day same place, a whale shark on a sunset dive and marbled rays :)

Whale shark

Marbled ray

Several turtles coming to say hello!

Turtle

For the macro lovers:

Bobtail squid

Zanzibar shrimp

Feather shrimps

Tiger egg cowrie

Xena crab

For the nudis fanatics:

And in a bigger format:

Spanish dancer

In the seahorse family and relatives, a beautiful shot with a fantastic trio!

Tiger tail seahorses

Ornate ghost pipefish

Tiger tail seahorse

Decorator crabs everywhere!

And all the other beautiful creatures around!

On the boat happy times!

Reading, sleeping, learning, crocheting or just snorkeling ... enjoying time!

A yummy barbecue night!

And as always to finish, the incredible sunsets and sunrises!

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Shark fiesta!

24/3/2019

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Oh ... what a cruise!!!
For our last exploration trip in the Burma Banks, we have been very very blessed meeting so many fantastic creatures!

Our lucky group on board: Christophe, Chloé, Stéphane, Laure, Sandra and Gregory from Switzerland; Fabian and Michaela from Germany; Sylvie, Ghislaine and Patrick from France; Ivy from Australia; Andre from England; Areena from Thailand and Gils from Netherlands.

A fantastic visibility, plenty of fishes everywhere and as soon as you were jumping in the water, you could face one of these big nurse sharks!

And as it was not enough, while you were looking at the sharks on one side, huge marbled rays where coming on the other one :)

It was already just amazing ... but it was just the beginning !!!

A breathtaking and completely unexpected encounter, getting close to a tiger shark, first time in 7 years !!!

And another one, with a rare porcupine ray!

Huge corals ...

Not only in the Burma Banks but everywhere, the dive sites were full of fishes. Nice schools of jacks, surgeonfishes, snappers ...

An incredible diversity of everything! Any kind of shrimp ...

Also harlequin shrimps! Can you see the cute little one on the left?

Nudis ...

Spanish dancers ...

Seahorses, ghost pipefishes ...

And so much more ...

On the boat, a belly dance night which brought everybody on the dance floor!

As usual, sunsets and sunrises!!!

Comments

Welcome to our lucky Belgium charter !!!

15/3/2019

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Happy faces for this Belgium charter who had the chance to have a fantastic cruise, full of life and manta from day one!!!
Welcome to: Alain, Liliane, Régine, Patrick, Joel, Béa, Jean-Marc, Sabine, Jacques, Magali, Michel, Christiane, Florence, Françoise, Philippe and Annunzio.

Beautiful corals and fishes everywhere!

So many schools of different fishes: snappers, emperor fishes, barracudas, trevallies, batfishes ...

Jacks

Snappers

Batfishes

Barracudas

Golden trevallies

Emperor fishes

Yellow snappers

We wanted big, we had big ... Manta, white tips (unfortunately no pictures!), unbelievable number of Jenkins rays ...

Jenkins ray

We had some camouflage stars but our guides could still find them!

Crocodile fish

Stone fish

In the "small world", there was also plenty to see :)

Bobtail squid

Squat shrimp

Feather star shrimp

Yellow snail

Zanzibar shrimp

Cowrie

Emperor shrimp

Nice nudibranches!

In the juvenile world: frogfish and ghost pipefish!

Frogfish

Ornate ghost pipefish

We had the pleasure to encounter harlequin shrimps in several places ;)

Harlequin shrimp

Manti shrimps ...

Peacock manti shrimp

Spearing manti shrimp

Seahorses and relatives!

Tiger tail seahorse

Orange spotted pipefish

And some more nice ones, we are always happy to meet!

Pinecone fish

Cuttlefish

At the surface, the sceneries were also amazing!

Some outdoor activities :)

On the boat, the atmosphere was over the top, singing and dancing ;)

And the breathtaking sunsets and sunrises!!!

Comments

Why we love Burma ? Have a look below !!

3/3/2019

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Whale shark

Why we love Burma ? That's a question many persons are asking us, and the only way to know it's to try !
This week was a blast ! Good Divers, little bit of luck, blue water and we have an awsome trip with so many surprises.

Harlequin Shrimp

We had so many small cutties like the Harlequin Shrimp, Ghost Pipefish, Cuttlefish, Seahorses and so much more !

Oceanic Manta Ray

Look who came to say hello to our divers.

This trip was also a special trip because it was our first exploration trip of the season in the Burma Banks.
Being alone in the middle of nowhere was something special, and meeting few nurse sharks resting was a moment everybody enjoyed !

Our explorators of the week had some pretty nice sunset and landscape to watch between dives.

A big thank you to all the divers who joined us and made this trip amazing ! See you soon !

Some Reviews from this trip :

" What a cruise ! Everything was perfect : the boat, the dives, the staff, the atmosphere, the rest ! "

"From the best team of the whale shark to the best team of the smiling seahorse. Thank you ... Plouf ... Gloup ... Thank you again ! "

Comments

Welcome to the Mantas Parade !!!

22/2/2019

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Manta

Oh what a wonderful surprise on our last trip!
A Manta Parade where we were not expecting them ;)

The lucky spectators of these fantastic moments were over the moon: Ronen from Israel; Jen and Nuno from Canada; Siu Fun from Hong Kong; Jerzy and Aleksandra from Poland; Kostas from Greece; Juan G. and Juan M. from Spain; Raymond and Martina from Germany; Erica, Taylor and Lynn from USA; Mohamed from Belgium and Laurent from France.

Look at those smiles after the first (over three) mantas dive!

Let's share these amazing dives with you guys!

Mantas

Manta

On top of this, the reefs were beautiful!

Coral reef

Soft corals

Giant seafans

There were fishes everywhere, every kind, all around = paradise!

Yellow snappers

Trevallies

Surgeon fishes

Batfishes

Fusiliers

But not only you could see big, you could also see small ... shrimps? Yes, no worries ... Which kind?! ;)

Cleaner shrimp

Marbled shrimp

Boxer shrimp with Durban shrimp

Durban dancing shrimps

Feather star shrimp

Peacock manti shrimp

Spearing manti shrimp

Ghost pipefishes ... which color? :)

Ornate ghost pipefish

Ornate ghost pipefishes

Ornate ghost pipefish

Juvenile ones ... they are so awesome !!!

Baby seahorse

Juvenile emperor angelfish

Baby frogfish

Lobsters ...

Lobster

Slipper lobster

Pipefish ... which kind?

Jan's pipefish

Orange spotted pipefish

Bent stick pipefish

Incredible nudis!

Blue dragon nudibranch

Cowries ...

Cowries

Sometimes, just a combination of gorgeous colors!

Life onboard was also very active!

The usual yummy barbecue night ...

And also a special event: the birthday of two of our customers: Kostas & Laurent!

With its special show !!!

A few pictures of our amazing Thaï crew: the soul of the boat!
Always available, always smiling, always happy!

The usual unforgettable sunset, sunrise ... and also moonrise this time ;)

And last but not least ...
The reviews of this trip:

" Franck and the team run a very organized trip with small groups which makes it a great experience. "

" A very nice boat, good experiences, the best divemasters and the very best team of the staff!!!
Thank you for 5 wonderful days, a lot of fun and a good feeling for my heart! "

Comments

Last reviews :):):)

14/2/2019

Comments

"Great fun ... Caves + tunnels, turtles, sea snakes, eels, seahorses and much more."

"Great staff!! ... Wonderful operation!!"

"After a great trip in Thailand last year, I am back in Burma with you. Another treat!"

"Nice cruise with this new boat ... Very cool and non-stressed staff, very attentive to your needs."

Comments

February 12th, 2019

12/2/2019

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The Year of the Pig started with a very nice cruise in the Burmese waters! We celebrated this event with: Eliane, Michel and Markus from Switzerland, Christian from Germany, Michael from Great Britain, Peter from Australia; and a charter from Singapore with: Rafi, Nizlan, Caelan, Denis, Anthony, Nico, Windy, Simon and Marcel.

What will remain in our memories from this trip was the amazing huge schools of fishes everywhere ...
From bannerfishes ... to big eye trevallies, through barracudas, fusiliers, batfishes, snappers ...

Even if we don't have any picture, some of us had the pleasure to meet a whale shark under water, some others an eagle ray or a huge marbled ray!

In the meantime, we were spoiled with tiny smaller stuff!
Beautiful nudis and flat worms first ...

Ghost pipefishes of every color!

With a lot of juvenile ones!

We had the pleasure to encounter lots of babies!

In the macro field ...

Shrimps of every kind!

And the gobies, we don't notice them that much, but they are so cute!

In the middle of it all, our favorite ones were still there ;)

An awesome portrait ...

Splendid corals!

It's not only about diving ...
Look at these local life scenes :)

And the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets!

And as a consequence to all of this ... look at the smiles!

Comments

2019 first reviews ... on the starting blocks ;)

10/2/2019

Comments

"If there was a way to take a photo of this journey it would be very colorful and lively, but mostly stunningly beautiful."

"My first liveaboard experience, and I guess I am spoiled: the boat is beautiful,cabins and showers very comfortable, the food ... OMG delicious and so diverse!"

"A wonderful week ... thanks everybody."

"What a trip! The entire staff especially the extraordinary Thaï staff, Sophie, Tom and Franck made those 7 days, one trip of a lifetime."

"A trip that does you good, far away from everything, perfect to recharge batteries, a comfortable boat with enough space to share very nice moments of friendliness and more quiet ones."

"A cruise far away from everything, disconnected from the world , you just rest and recharge the batteries."

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Burmese reefs so alive :)

20/1/2019

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This last trip as been a non-stop fish soup all around the Mergui Archipelago!
Schools of fishes worthy of world class diving ;)

Lucky ones on board: Emilie, Alexandre, Annick and Jean-Luc from France; Wouter and Aart from Netherlands; Janel and Oliver from the USA; Alex from the Philippines; and Bernhard and Martina from Austria.

Life on the reefs was unbelievable, you didn't know where to look at!

Incredible schools of jacks! Thousands ... hundreds ... who can tell?!

Barracudas ...

Rainbow runners, snappers, batfishes ...

Beautiful corals of all types ...

It has been macro photo week ;)
A bunch of photographers with huge cameras, happy with our great room just for them!

Spending hours exchanging tips, advices, infos, pictures ... and so much more!

Their objective = everything smaller than 1 centimeter!
Here are some of them!

And a little bit bigger ;)

Some awesome new creatures found this week!
A giant frogfish :)

And a pinecone one !!!

And among all these, our sweet sweet juveniles trying to hide!

Our favorite psychedelic nudis and flat worms ...

Manti shrimps with their crazy eyes!

The ones who are never never happy to see us!

And some other very nice encounters ...

Nurse shark again in our secret spot!

Spanish dancers ...

Seahorses and ghost pipefishes ...

A turtle ...

A gigantic lobster ... and so much more !!!

So much beauty in every little thing down there!

And also above the surface ...

All of this explains the smiles on everybody's face!

And let's finish with the wonders of Mother Nature ...

Comments

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Authors

Sophie has been part of the Smiling Seahorse family since 2016.
Living in Thailand for nearly ten years now, she fell in love with the Burmese underwater sceneries and aquatic life.
Her hobbies: traveling and diving of course!
Instructor and dive guide on board, she creates a new blogpost after every trip, to share the magical moments and encounters they enjoyed.

Camille and Franck are the owners of the Smiling Seahorse since 2012.
Camille has been working all around the globe during seven years before creating this company.
Now mother of two little ones, she works at the office and she's the one who will answer all of your questions.
Her hobbies: horse riding, diving and traveling!

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Last reviews :)

Whales season !!!

Shark fiesta!

Welcome to our lucky Belgium charter !!!

Why we love Burma ? Have a look below !!

Welcome to the Mantas Parade !!!

Last reviews :):):)

February 12th, 2019

2019 first reviews ... on the starting blocks ;)

Burmese reefs so alive :)

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