Mergui Archipelago Mysteries

Chris Mitchell · Issue 84, May/Jun 2015 · pp. 54–58

Products mentioned: Nikon D90, Tokina 10-17mm, Aquatica AD90 housing, Ikelite DS125 strobes, iPhone 6

Reading through any given issue of UWPmag, it’s easy to forget that behind every fantastic shot there’s a multitude of hard lessons learned. No matter how long you’ve been using a camera, there’s always room for a schoolboy error - as I was humbled to discover recently while diving with Thailand Aggressor at Myanmar’s remote Black Rock. Three hours full steam from any other island in the Mergui Archipelago, Black Rock is one of South East Asia’s premier dive sites because it’s one of the few known places where giant oceanic manta rays gather in the region. We’d scheduled four dives here, and the first was uneventful, apart from finding a giant frogfish perched imperiously in full view on the coral debris at the base of the rock’s sheer limestone drop to 20 metres. My camera was working fine and so at the beginning of our second dive, when I heard the frantic tank banging of our guide and…