Pristine waters on a sailing trip around southern Myanmar’s untouched Mergui Archipelago

The captain leapt up and bellowed down the deck: “Dolphins off the port side. A pod of them – a big one!” The other passengers and I had recently finished breakfast and were dozing in deck chairs. We leapt up, straining our eyes against the blazing sunshine as our yacht sliced through the calm, golden-capped waters of the Andaman Sea.

We were aboard the Raja Lout, a 30-metre wooden-hulled schooner that we’d boarded the previous day just outside the Thai port of Ranong. We were heading north through the Mergui Archipelago, a collection of islands in the far south of Myanmar.

The captain had sharp eyes. It was minutes before we glimpsed what he’d seen – a collection of fins heading towards us. The dolphins reached the boat and swam underneath the bow, twisting in the water to show their white bellies. There were a dozen or more of all sizes and as they disappeared behind the boat a couple leapt from the water, hanging momentarily in the sunshine before crashing back beneath the water.

It was one of many glimpses of the fabulous natural world that is preserved in the Mergui Archipelago, one of Myanmar’s most remote and pristine locales.

The Mergui is a collection of more than 800 islands, all but a couple uninhabited. The area is part of Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region. Historically, it’s home to the Moken, a nomadic people who travel the Andaman Sea, fishing its waters. They are often called “Sea Gypsies”, due to their wandering lifestyle, though a few thousand have now settled in small villages on a couple of the islands.

Until 1997, it was impossible for any tourists to enter the area, after which the Mergui became accessible for high-end diving trips. Even now, visitors need a permit to enter the area, and formerly it’s only been accessible to the ultra-wealthy who were able to charter private yachts to take them in search of these perfect beaches and reefs.

However, the area is now opening up, with companies offering private cabins aboard yachts. The travel is still in the luxury class – our schooner had accommodation for 12, an eight-man crew and an excellent chef. But each cabin can be booked separately so visitors no longer need to charter a whole boat and crew.