Exploring Halong bay with White Dolphin cruise

Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a ‘must do’ in northern Vietnam. Lonely Planet says “Majestic and mysterious, inspiring and imperious, words alone cannot do justice to the natural wonder that is Halong Bay, were 3000 or more incredible islands rise from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.” That’s a lot to live up to.

The bus collected us from the hotel a little after eight and we traveled 3 ½ hours to Halong Bay. There is a mandatory stop for all tour buses at a craft center where everything from jewelry to huge marble statues was for sale. The embroidered silk tapestries were very good, especially since the artists are all deaf. But we didn’t buy anything. In fact Connie is still feeling terrible and didn’t even get off the bus.

They are all called junks and some truly are. They come in all shapes and sizes and some are hardly seaworthy. Ours, “The White Dolphin” was brand new and quite exquisite. The food seemed never to end; clams, crabs, fish, squid, steamed morning glories, rice (of course) and fruit. All the boats line up to visit Awesome Cave, a limestone cavern on one of the islands. Most offer time for kayaking or a swim; dinner at seven. Everything is as regimented as on a tour bus and the group moves en masse. The organizers seem to know the schedule but are not forthcoming about sharing it with the rest of us. Not exactly our cup of tea.

There are about 40 junks of all sizes cruising pretty much together and spewing diesel fumes; the sails are for show only. At the peak of the season there can be ten times as many all jockeying for position at the caves or the beach. Whenever you stop tiny rowboats loaded with soft drinks, beer, cigarettes, chips and Oreos attack, a nautical version of “You buy from me!” The water is murky and oily, hardly emerald. On the plus side, our boat is nice, the food is great, our mates seem friendly and it isn’t raining! Dinner was fantastic but Connie is still off her feed and just picked at it. Twenty-five or so junks anchored in the same area creating a mini-city. The diesels ran all night to keep the A/C and lights working and the exhaust fumes permeated everywhere giving many of us carbon monoxide headaches.

After breakfast several of us transferred to the White Dolphin’s tender boat, in service for its second day, for a cruise around the bay while the mother ship returned to port for drop off and pick up. We were the only ones going to Cat Ba Island and we jumped off as the boat slowed near the wharf. Once on the island we went to Cat Ba National Park where the main attraction is a 3 hour hike/climb to the highest peak. Connie was feeling pretty awful, the trail was slippery and the vegetation was so thick we couldn’t see anything so we convinced our guide we would rather head to lower ground and look for birds. He was not only OK with the change, he was pretty good at spotting birds.

It was hard to give up the White Dolphin’s luxury but our hotel in Cat Ba City didn’t disappoint. It was much nicer than we would have chosen and the food was equally plentiful if not quite as scrumptious. There isn’t much to do in Cat Ba City except wander the quay and scope out the floating city. So we did. We were picked up this morning by yet a third boat and we slowly cruise back to Halong City where we were reunited with some of our original shipmates for the shuttle back to Hanoi.