Day 78: Cruising The Andaman Sea

Quick Post: Another sea that my geographically challenged brain has never heard of! The Andaman (or formerly Burma) Sea lies between the eastern coast of Thailand, the southern coast of Myanmar, and the Nicobar Islands to the east. It's a marginal sea, meaning it's on the edges of a large ocean—in this case, the Indian Ocean. We set sail from Phuket, Thailand, yesterday and are moving almost due west, threading between the Nicobar Islands to arrive in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The Andaman was created about 3-4 million years ago due to tectonic plate activity, and the area is still geologically active. In fact, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami impacted a sizeable chunk of it as the sea is relatively shallow. Some of the Nicobar Islands were shifted by as much as 100 feet, and others were split in two. There have been six major earthquakes ( > 8.4 ) in the past 250 years, the last in 2007. Hydrologists love the area as the Nicobar and the Andaman Islands funnel waters between the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea, resulting in some interesting currents and water flows. There are names thrown about, like Kelvin and Rossby Waves and Wyrtiki Whirls! 

Historically, this area was used for fishing and light trade and was one of the last major seas explored by Europeans in the 1700s-1800s. Even today, it mainly serves as a transit point for maritime traffic between Asia, India, and Sri Lanka. 

Sailing has been smooth, with light winds and leaping dolphins. They love to move full speed towards the boat, veer away at the last second, and then leap clear out of the water - just for fun. I'm reliably told that they are Spinner Dolphins.