October 24,

I did not sleep the best – kept waking up, was able to go back to sleep, but it is frustrating. Jeff awoke and said his back was not sore from the bed. Anway, we got around and to breakfast by 0720. I had a mango pancake, Jeff had the bread with omelette, sausage (hotdog, not sausage), cheese, and veg. garnish. I had their coffee, it was tolerable; Jeff had their tea. We also had choice of fruit: I had banana, Jeff watermelon. The pancake is actually a plate size crepe – both yummy! Jeff's was a substantial portion.

At 0800, we were picked up for a tour with Cat Ba Amazing Travels . Jeff had arranged it last night. We are going out in the bay area. Yeah!! This is where the Karst Mountains – same as in Cao Bang – are in the ocean! Anyway, our guide, “Duke”, as he introduced himself – escorted us – into a minivan. We were first pickup again – and pick up others, yet again. Duke has been a guide for 7.5 years, and he speaks English fairly well. We are all picked up, finally and turn into a good sized group, around twenty, I guess. I never counted. Anyway, we arrived at the pier, Ben Beo, and load onto our boat for the day. Duke gives a quick itinerary/introduction talk, and everyone pretty much goes on the top deck, claiming their spot. Then we are underway!

Each mountain can be its own island, as is true in most places. Duke relays many facts – one was that there are close to 400 Islands in the Cat Ba archipelago (Google says 367 to be exact). They are stunning, as they jut up right out of the water! You can see the limestone striation lines and dramatic uplift in those lines. As we head out into the bay (not sure which bay we are in – Lan Ha Bay, I think) Duke says it is high tide. The tide right now fluctuates by 3 meters (9.8 feet)!
The islands (except Cat Ba, where we are staying) are uninhabited as this “archipelago has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2004”, and “a World heritage Site since 2023”, as cited by Wikipedia. Then we come to Floating Fishing Village. Each “farm” is a family house floating and linked with other houses. They all have their own little netted ponds around a small hut for their home. Every farm seems to have their own dog, that runs about the floating pond boundaries as if a guard on patrol. Each one seems also to a washing machine out front. Duke said these people are self sufficent mostly, collecting rainwater for their fresh water supply. If extra water is needed, a supply boat will bring it. He also said this village is a old fishing village and a top fish producer of the area. The village did have a lot of damage during the Typhoon, but no one died. We keep cruising past and through the village. What a different life that would be – I can't fathom, hard working and floating all the time.

Now we just pass around and by different island formations – one Duke pointed out, calling it Candle Island. The map shows other island (or islets) such as “Turtle” or “Toad”, which Duke did not point out, but it was all beautiful and just fun guessing which ones they may have been or seeing a monkey face, ect. We come to a pier of sorts and get off the boat. We get into two person kayaks and as a group we paddle through two cave formations and come to a lagoon area. The caves were cool! Seeing and dodging (due to high tide) as in mind your head – large stalagtite structures. There were even small boats being guide paddled that came through. Then we go back through one cave and to the boat. Wow – that was a great experience.

Now we cruise out into Ha Long Bay a bit and we were allowed swimming time. There was a sand “beach” area close by, Jeff and many others swam out there. But it was not much of a beach due to it still being high tide. I just stayed by the boat. The water was coolish, but not clear enough to see anything by snorkeling. When everyone came back they all went back on the boat eventhough we had 20 minutes left of swim time. Most of the passengers are younger couples or groups- in their twenties or thirties. Only one couple seems closer to our age, but they have a 6 month old baby; and one Austalian man who said he went to Burma 45 years ago. He was interesting. Anyway, we now have lunch, which is a spread. There was batter fired farm catfish (raised by the farm village), chicken stir-fry, fried spring rolls, tofu dish, egg omelet shaped in hearts, potato and carrot dish, a cabbage slaw, and sliced pineapple. Oh, yeah we also had rice. Then we just relaxed. The boat moved on around one and we took in the stellar scenery.

Around two thirty we landed back on Cat Ba Island, but up around Viet Hai Harbor. We all get off and are given the option of bicycling or “electric buggy” to get to Viet Hai Village. We chose the bike as did most. As a group (mostly, some of the young ones sprinted ahead) we roll by rice fields and over a couple of small hills. The bikes are standard – meaning one speed, you pedal you go. One of the girls said she had never been on a no-geared bike. I was shocked. I asked how old she was – 19. Amazing!!Forgot how much I like bicycles – I have not been on one since France a year and a half ago!
Anyway, at the village we are lead to a homestay. We shared an coconut ice cream here, 30K – just over a dollar – and had our feet “massaged” by many little fish that nibble at your feet when you dip them in the cute little pond they had set up. It was here Duke gave a historicial talk of the island and the bay. Cat means sand, Ba means woman – he explained – and the name comes from 13th century. He also explained Ha means landing, Long means dragon. He also said much more of the folklore and history. I liked Duke – he also says the bay is his office . We biked around the village some and came back to the homestay, watched some puppies play, and then we all went back – more choosing the electric buggy.

Now we load back on the boat and came back to Beo Harbor, taking in the scenic difference of lower tide on the islands and the sun getting low, casting great shadows and color. It is around 1700 when we arrive back to the bus and are taken back to our place. What fun! It cost 1.1 million Dong for both of us (plus100K tip for Duke and 100k tip for the rest of the boat crew) making it a total $51.16 for us both with tips. We also had 2 cokes, 2 beers, 5 waters – that were an extra 220k ($8.66). Supper was at Quiri Pub & Restaurant. We each had a glass of Chilean red wine, shared an order of fried meat springrolls, a mango salad, and a papaya salad. Mango salad was delious and the papaya was the same as the mango salad without the mango – so not as good because the mango was great. It cost 320K Dong ($12.61). Pricing is weird here in Vietnam. Finished we walked around the rest of the lake, and back to our place. It has been a most beautiful, great day.