Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a bay off the northern coast of Vietnam well known for the thousands of limestone karsts that dramatically rise out of the waters. Here we arranged to stay one night on a small boat with about 12 other people before spending a few nights on one of the islands in the bay, Cat Ba island.

Mark on our boat, "Asia Cruise"

The view from the roof of our "junk"

Sarah and Mark soaking up some rays on the roof of the boat

After a night on the boat we disembarked on Cat Ba island and booked a hotel by the waterfront. While the night on the boat was wonderful, we were thrilled to spend a couple nights on an island on our own, since the boat trips through the bay turned out to be one of the most touristy ventures we have experienced thus far in our four months.

The view from our hotel window

The first day we spent on a beach called Cat Co 2 a ten minute walk from our hotel. The beach was one of the most beautiful that we had been to on our trip.

Siblings!

Sarah coming out of the water

While on Cat Ba we also took a day long kayaking trip through the islands. It was a beautiful trip that included venturing into a small cave, paddling past oyster farms and stopping to see some some giant fish in a fish farm. We stopped to eat lunch and hang out on two small beaches amidst the islands. When we got back to the docks our arms were like jello (or at least mine were), but it was well worth it.

Sunset