Halong Bay
On Saturday (27 January) morning four of us from hostel - Carolyn and Sally from Brisbane, Australia, and David from Canbarra, Australia - took a taxi to the Hanoi bus station around 7 AM where we met Jean from France. Then we immediately boarded a bus to Hai Phong near Halong Bay. Once in Hai Phong we all jumped on separate motorbike taxis - for some reason I didn't understand - and rode to the pier where we bought boat tickets to Cat Ba Island. Then, strangely enough, we got put on another bus and taken to a different pier to board the ferry. Once on Cat Ba Island, the main island in Halong Bay, we where put on a final bus to Cat Ba town. The driver of our chartered boat met us where the bus dropped us off in the middle of the beach side road (and the only road) in Cat Ba town.
We paid the boat driver $30 each for 2 days and 1 night of cruising around the bay including all meals and the use of kayaks. Then we boarded the boat and set off. The weather was already looking better than it had been in Hanoi (it had been cloudy since I arrived in Vietnam), and the remaining the clouds looked as if they were trying to clear up. We ate a great seafood lunch on board on the way to our first stop. After cruising through some stunning sea scapes, we arrived at our first stop of the day, a big karst island with a cave in it that you can hike into and several bolted, overhanging climbing routes. David and Jean climbed several of the overhanging routes there, but the routes were out of my league and my lack of climbing equipment, uneven numbers, and 9 months since I last climbed kept me content to just kayak around the islands with the girls.
After spending the afternoon there, we cruised into a secluded bay that evening and anchored for the night. After a great dinner, we hung out talking and drinking on the top deck of the boat and fell asleep there under the clear, star-packed sky to the gentle rocking of the boat. It was a little chilly that night reminding us that it was actually still winter. We all agreed it had been a fantastic day.
The next morning (Sunday, 28 January) dawned bright, clear, and warm-ish. We ate breakfast on the way to another bay where David and Jean were planning to do some deep water soloing (rock climbing with out ropes where you jump into the sea if you fall or at the end of the route). Unfortunately the tide was way out and the water was too shallow for most of the routes. So after following them around in a kayak for a while and deciding they weren't going to be climbing much, I left them to go paddle around the bays.
There was a cave in one of the larger karst islands that the driver of our boat pointed me towards that I set off for. I expected to be able to paddle into the cave a little ways and then come back out. Once I entered the cave I could see that it kept going for a ways and also that the water mark was near the roof - meaning you couldn't enter the cave at high tide. After about 60-75 meters the cave opened up into a secluded lagoon, where I found the Aussie girls swimming. The lagoon was completely sealed off from the outer bay. The only other exit to the lagoon was through another shorter but still shallow cave on one side of the lagoon. So the lagoon would be completely sealed off - and us sealed in - at high tide. It was pretty freaking beautiful, surreal, and cool. After swimming for a bit, we kayaked off towards the other cave exit at which point a small tourist paddle boat came through the other cave and ruined the secluded feel of the lagoon. That exit led to a larger bay that was also either sealed off or a really long paddle around so we ended going back through the way we came in. We got back to the boat and watched David and Jean climb a steep, overhanging route right over the cave entrance and above the only water around that was deep enough. Then we set off back for Cat Ba town eating a fantastic lunch enroute.
We got to Cat Ba town early that afternoon, checked into a nice, cheap hotel over looking the bay and then went to use the internet and walk around. There wasn't a lot happening in Cat Ba town so after dinner and a short walk, we hung out on the balcony of the hotel talking for a couple of hours.
The next morning (Monday, 29 January) we slept in, ate breakfast, and rented some motorbikes to tour the island for a few hours. They only had 'semi-manual' transmissions (gears but no clutch) and I had been hoping for fully automatics, but I got the hang of it soon enough. The girls on the other hand, who were driving motorbikes for the first time, were a bit scary to watch - in fact one of the girls fell over going very slowing around a gravel covered turn but was unhurt. It was a great way to see the beautiful island. I wish we could have spent the whole day driving around but we were heading back to Hanoi that afternoon. So we returned the bikes, ate lunch, and then started the journey back to Hanoi - bus, boat, bus, bus - arriving back to the hostel around 7:30 PM. We ate dinner later that evening and then hung around the hostel looking at pictures of the weekend. It was really a fantastic weekend and will be remembered as a highlight of my trip.
We paid the boat driver $30 each for 2 days and 1 night of cruising around the bay including all meals and the use of kayaks. Then we boarded the boat and set off. The weather was already looking better than it had been in Hanoi (it had been cloudy since I arrived in Vietnam), and the remaining the clouds looked as if they were trying to clear up. We ate a great seafood lunch on board on the way to our first stop. After cruising through some stunning sea scapes, we arrived at our first stop of the day, a big karst island with a cave in it that you can hike into and several bolted, overhanging climbing routes. David and Jean climbed several of the overhanging routes there, but the routes were out of my league and my lack of climbing equipment, uneven numbers, and 9 months since I last climbed kept me content to just kayak around the islands with the girls.
After spending the afternoon there, we cruised into a secluded bay that evening and anchored for the night. After a great dinner, we hung out talking and drinking on the top deck of the boat and fell asleep there under the clear, star-packed sky to the gentle rocking of the boat. It was a little chilly that night reminding us that it was actually still winter. We all agreed it had been a fantastic day.
The next morning (Sunday, 28 January) dawned bright, clear, and warm-ish. We ate breakfast on the way to another bay where David and Jean were planning to do some deep water soloing (rock climbing with out ropes where you jump into the sea if you fall or at the end of the route). Unfortunately the tide was way out and the water was too shallow for most of the routes. So after following them around in a kayak for a while and deciding they weren't going to be climbing much, I left them to go paddle around the bays.
There was a cave in one of the larger karst islands that the driver of our boat pointed me towards that I set off for. I expected to be able to paddle into the cave a little ways and then come back out. Once I entered the cave I could see that it kept going for a ways and also that the water mark was near the roof - meaning you couldn't enter the cave at high tide. After about 60-75 meters the cave opened up into a secluded lagoon, where I found the Aussie girls swimming. The lagoon was completely sealed off from the outer bay. The only other exit to the lagoon was through another shorter but still shallow cave on one side of the lagoon. So the lagoon would be completely sealed off - and us sealed in - at high tide. It was pretty freaking beautiful, surreal, and cool. After swimming for a bit, we kayaked off towards the other cave exit at which point a small tourist paddle boat came through the other cave and ruined the secluded feel of the lagoon. That exit led to a larger bay that was also either sealed off or a really long paddle around so we ended going back through the way we came in. We got back to the boat and watched David and Jean climb a steep, overhanging route right over the cave entrance and above the only water around that was deep enough. Then we set off back for Cat Ba town eating a fantastic lunch enroute.
We got to Cat Ba town early that afternoon, checked into a nice, cheap hotel over looking the bay and then went to use the internet and walk around. There wasn't a lot happening in Cat Ba town so after dinner and a short walk, we hung out on the balcony of the hotel talking for a couple of hours.
The next morning (Monday, 29 January) we slept in, ate breakfast, and rented some motorbikes to tour the island for a few hours. They only had 'semi-manual' transmissions (gears but no clutch) and I had been hoping for fully automatics, but I got the hang of it soon enough. The girls on the other hand, who were driving motorbikes for the first time, were a bit scary to watch - in fact one of the girls fell over going very slowing around a gravel covered turn but was unhurt. It was a great way to see the beautiful island. I wish we could have spent the whole day driving around but we were heading back to Hanoi that afternoon. So we returned the bikes, ate lunch, and then started the journey back to Hanoi - bus, boat, bus, bus - arriving back to the hostel around 7:30 PM. We ate dinner later that evening and then hung around the hostel looking at pictures of the weekend. It was really a fantastic weekend and will be remembered as a highlight of my trip.
posted by Dustin at 9:40 PM
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