The boat team and The Dirty Dozen have carefully handpicked some of the most rarely visited dive sites, with depths ranging from 10 to 50m (32-164ft) plus. During the expedition we will anchor at one or two dive sites per day, but expect to have skiff rides from the nearest mooring to exploratory dive sites as these will not have a mooring for our boat. The Phinisi will be available to guests freediving during the entire day and does not move at night unless there is an emergency.

If the group feels one dive site is enough for the day, then we stay there. If we have weather and organizational logistics on our side, we may visit another dive site or two, the captain and the team will try our best to accommodate requests. As the trip nears, we will have a Facebook group for the expedition where we will periodically discuss preparations. This is a great way to share information among the participants prior to the expedition and for everyone to get to know each other.

Detailed dive briefs are given for each of the dive sites with teams forming for different missions. On the dive sites, it’s almost guaranteed that we will have the surroundings to ourselves. During the expedition you might see the occasional small day boat on the well-known dive sites, but even then, they will probably not dive at the same time as us.

You are responsible for your own safety and dive planning at all times.

Equipment considerations

There are absolutely no dive shops in Myanmar for the purchase of freediving equipment. If you have your equipment serviced/buy new equipment before coming to Myanmar, then use it a couple times before traveling to ensure there are no problems.

We will be using professional freediving buoys with a high buoyancy level which are comfortable to hold on to. The lines are 10 to 12 mm thick and marked and measured at 30, 40 and 60 meters (98, 130, and 196ft).

For warm-ups and training, the buoys will be attached to a surface line which is connected to the boat. This is a preliminary plan and the final decision about the set up will be made each day during a team briefing and according to the weather conditions and the objectives of the sessions.

For the fun dives, you’ll be asked to team up into groups of three or four to work and dive in a buddy system. Each group will be provided with a buoy for safety purposes to mark their diving area, and so they are visible for the on-board support team. There will also floating/rescue devices available in case they are needed.

We are providing the necessary number of buoys so that no more than four freedivers will share each one. There is freshwater always available at the boat to rinse your equipment and a special area to dry it.

We want to stress that the boat only has scuba diving equipment available on board, so you should bring your own set of freediving equipment: your wetsuit, mask, snorkel, computer, fins, lanyard, nylon weight belts and yoga mat.

To feel comfortable and safe during our expedition dives, you need to be certified as AIDA2 (or the equivalent in other agencies) or higher. Please bring a medical form, verified by a doctor, that states you are allowed to freedive and have no medical conditions which preclude this kind of activity. The standard medical form is available at: www.aidainternational.org. The liability release form can be filled out on the boat.