Eight hundred islands in Myanmar waters, entered at Kawthaung with a permit and a government guide aboard, and reached overland from Phuket rather than by sea.
Closed for part of the year
The practical Mergui season is December to March. Outside it the monsoon closes the archipelago and permits are not normally issued.
Not runnable in: April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.
The Mergui is the last genuinely empty cruising ground within reach of Phuket. Around eight hundred islands, a few Moken and Burmese fishing settlements, and anchorages that see a handful of yachts a season rather than a handful an hour.
The access is the whole story. Charters do not sail from Phuket. Guests transfer roughly four hours by road to Ranong on the Thai border, or fly in by seaplane, and clear Myanmar immigration at Kawthaung. Cruising permits are issued in advance through the Myanmar state travel agency, the paperwork runs two to three weeks ahead, and a government guide stays aboard for the whole voyage.
Very few operators run it, and that is appropriate rather than restrictive. Much of the archipelago is poorly charted and there is no rescue infrastructure worth the name. The question to ask an operator is not what it costs but how many seasons the captain has done there.
Road transfer from Phuket, about four hours, or seaplane. Immigration formalities at Kawthaung and board in the afternoon.
The first anchorages. Empty beaches, forested hills and no development on most of them.
Diving and snorkelling on reef that has seen almost no traffic, with the government guide aboard as required.
One of the sea-nomad communities, visited with the guide. This is a working village, and how it is approached is set by the operator's own protocol.
Further out towards the open Andaman, where the visibility is at its best.
Most Mergui itineraries keep the middle of the voyage unscheduled, because the anchorages are chosen on the day from what the weather and the guide allow.
The far end of the permitted cruising area, depending on how the permit is written.
The return leg through anchorages the outbound passage skipped.
Myanmar exit formalities, then the transfer back to Ranong and on to Phuket.
The value of doing this route on a yacht rather than on a day boat is control over the clock and the tide. Most of it comes down to these.
Only a small number of operators run Mergui, because the permits, the guide requirement and the lack of charted anchorages need a crew that has done it before. This is the one itinerary in the region where the right question is not the price but how many times the captain has been.
No two operators run an identical itinerary. The variant is the useful part: a shorter version has dropped a destination, and it is almost always the furthest one.
Ten-day southern Myanmar and Phuket itinerary
Mergui expedition charter, permits handled in-house
Brokered onto the small Mergui-experienced fleet
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Various
The steel or aluminium displacement hull with range, tankage and a real dive setup. This is the class that runs Mergui, where there is no fuel dock, no chandlery and no charted anchorage to fall back on.
from $145,000
per week
Ao Po Grand Marina
Source: Myanmar cruising permit rules, operator itineraries. Checked 6 September 2026. Distances are planning figures and the coastlines on the chart are simplified. Neither is for navigation.