Vietnam – January 7th, 2016
Today we left chaotic Hanoi and after a 4 hour drive a happy room stop and some Christmas shopping we arrived at our destination.
What a shock 10 years ago the marina was no more than a single pier with deteriorating steps leading up to your boat, it was a challenge to get off or on the boat, just ask my friend Sharon. Today you will think you are in Newport Beach or Marina do Rey – ultra-modern with condos, townhouses and hotels lining the waterfront and easy access to your boat and wide boulevards.
Ours the Phaya 2 it’s a 3 story modern boat, nicely appointed cabin, and nice communal dining room, with the third deck open air. We had lunch on board as we sailed into Halong Bay.
Our first stop was lucky Bay where we boarded a sampan we also had the choice of a kayak, but we are on vacation and that meant work – the sampan took us into the bay between towering peaks, only to go through a cave into a totally protected emerald lagoon.
On the way back another cave into another lagoon this one with an opening to the sea, our guide told us that during typhoon season all the boats come an anchor here since the bay is totally protected from the high winds and waves.
Upon our return to our boat, we had scheduled massages, me a full-body, David a foot massage something got lost in translation we both got foot massages.
Dinner on deck under an overcast moonless sky – after dinner they are having squid fishing but I think we will retire to a lullaby sleep of our boat.
Halong Bay is composed of Towering limestone pillars and tiny islets topped by forest rise from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Designated a World Heritage site in 1994, Halong Bay’s spectacular scatter of islands, dotted with wind- and wave-eroded grottoes, is a vision of ethereal beauty and, unsurprisingly, northern Vietnam’s number one tourism hub.
The most popular way to experience the bay’s astounding vistas is by taking an overnight cruise, which is what we are doing. On my first visit, we were on a day trip from Hanoi and then a 3-hour tour with lunch and back to Hanoi which made for a very long and tiring day, and not really enough was time to enjoy Halong Bay natural wonders.
Halong translates as ‘where the dragon descends into the sea’ and legend tells that this mystical seascape was created when a great mountain dragon charged towards the coast, its flailing tail gouging out valleys and crevasses. As the creature plunged into the sea, the area filled with water leaving only the pinnacles visible. The geological explanation of karst erosion may be more prosaic but doesn’t make this seascape any less poetic.
January to March is often cool and drizzly, and the ensuing fog can make visibility low but adds bags of eerie atmosphere which it is what we are experiencing but it dos not dismissed its beauty.
Tomorrow will wake up n this enchanting place and our cruising continues.
