Kayak Halong Bay Vietnam

Halong Bay has been declared a UNESCO World heritage site and it really deserves the designation. It is one of the most exciting unusual places I have been to in my life.

Halong Bay -Halong meaning “Descending Dragon”- is named after the thousands of island with bizarre rock formations and limestone cliffs that are within the Gulf of Tonkin, in the north shores of Vietnam. It is composed of more than 3000 islands of all shapes and forms, covered in green vegetation and protruding from the ocean’s surface.

If you are a nature lover, this place will enchant you with its many awe striking sites, and majestic natural composition.

Among the sculptured islands and rock formations, Halong Bay also hides many deserted tinny white sand beaches that you can visit by boat, stop and enjoy for a while. In these locations you’ll be surrounded by nothing but nature.

A wonderful aspect of Halong Bay is that it has so many islands and rock pillars that every turn comes up with a surprise: another astounding sculpture, a perfect archway through the mountains, a peaceful lagoon where you can Kayak and enjoy the scenery……

Kayaking at Halong Bay

Another curiosity of Halong Bay is that, while sailing through it, you will occasionally come across floating fishing camps that are stationed in the middle of nowhere and are also an interesting site.

I was in Halong Bay during the rainy season, it fortunately didn’t rain but there was a lot of fog and the sun hid on and off behind the passing clouds. I reckon April would be a better month: no clouds, no fog; plus, when the sun shines and illuminates the Bay, it comes to glow in its entire colorful splendor.

I reserved my boat trip in the hotel I was staying in Hanoi and the service was very good. I had a cozy little cabin with a queen size bed and private bathroom in a wooden double decker old fashioned boat, with a windowed dining room from which you could appreciate the view and a deck to enjoy the fresh air; just perfect.

Cat Ba Island

The Boat Tour through Halong Bay includes an overnight stay in Cat Ba Island, the only populated island of them all. Cat Ba has a little town of about thirteen thousand plus inhabitants and nice long beaches, where you can swim, take nice walks, sit back and relax, or enjoy a sea side meal. But most importantly, Cat Ba Island is home to Cat Ba National Park, where hiking, trekking and/or biking are a pleasant way to explore the local flora and fauna.

Source: hubpages

Recommended tours:
Kayaking Halong Bay
Trekking Cat Ba National Park and Kayaking Lan Ha Bay & Halong Bay

Rugged, craggy and jungle-clad Cat Ba, the largest island in Halong Bay, is straight out of Jurassic Park. Lan Ha Bay, off the eastern side of the island, is especially scenic and offer numerous beaches to explore. While the vast majority of Halong Bay’s islands are uninhabited vertical rocks. Cat Ba has a few fishing villages, as well as a fast-growing town.

Except for a few fertile pockets, the fertile pocket is too rocky for serious agriculture; most residents earn their living from the sea, while others cater to the tourist trade. Life has always been hard here and many Cat Ba resident joined the exodus of Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s and 80s. Although the island lost much of its fishing fleet this way, overseas Vietnamese have sent back large amounts of money to relatives on the island, fuelling the hotel boom of the past decade. Cat Ba is still relatively laid-back, despite about a 20-fold increase in hotel rooms (and karaoke machines!) since 1996.

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