Kayak Sailing
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US $.99
Ha Long Eclipse Sail - The Heaven On Bay
The first couple to enjoy Ha Long Eclipse Sail:
After a lot of research into Halong Baycruises (it's a mine field out there with stories of rats on boats and alsorts) we settled on an overnight sail on a new boat called Eclipse Sail.
After reading a number of horror stories on the internet we were not expecting much but we were more than pleasantly surprised!
Our guide picked us up on time in a nice mini bus and we went off to collect our 'ship mates' for the night: A couple from Singapore and a couple from Oz.
Halong Bay is about a 4 hour drive from Hanoi. Unfortunately it's not a particularly beautiful drive (which was disappointing bearing in mind we have seen little of the fabled Vietnam scenery) . However, the scenery that greeted us when we got to Halong Bay was everything we had hoped for and more. I think it's fair to say that Halong Bay was the highlight of the trip so far for both of us.
We took a little boat to the big boat where we were sleeping for the night. The harbour literally had hundreds of boats in it and we were very pleased to see that ours was one of the better ones (some looked pretty grim).
We were met by a crew of people (there were more crew than passengers) with welcome drinks and cold towels and then took ourselves on a tour of our lovely boat!
The plan was then to have lunch while we sailed to our first stop off point (the cave of surprises). Lunch was amazing! We had fresh crab, a whole fish and God knows what else. While we ate we cruised past the beautiful limestone rock formations (karsts) that make up Halong Bay and they are exactly as you see on the TV!
The cave of surprises was fun (if not a bit touristy). After visiting that our next activity was kayaking! Now I don't like water very much (to put it mildly) and have never kayaked before . However, it seemed a shame not to give it a go and we were in two man kayaks...so off we went.
I should say that at this point it was probably about 4pm. I say that because the sun falls out of the sky very quickly in Vietnam...!
Anyway, off we went on our kayaks. I had visions of us pottering around the boat (with the option of getting off at any point) but oh no. We set off at the rate of knots and kayaked for about 40 minutes to this beautiful grotto that was tranquillity itself! Simon and I were loving every second so we paddled as far into the grotto as we could get (to try and get away from the other kayaks). We paddled so far that when we turned around the sun was on the wane and we could not see our party anywhere in sight.
This wouldn't have been a problem if we were only a short kayak to the boat...but we weren't. We had quite a long trip ahead of us round a number of karsts and the sun was fading fast. I started to panic.
Part of my fear of water has a lot to do with Jaws! With the sun setting and not being entirely sure of which direction we were heading in, my mind started to go wild !
Simon, seated behind me, on the other hand was finding the whole thing funny. I'm urging him to paddle faster and he's slowing down (laughing). At one point he rocked the boat and asked me what it was that had bumped us...I nearly cried (thinking of sharks)!
Anyway, just as my hysteria was reaching its peak we found our group! At first it was a massive relief. However, we then realised that the only reason we had found them was because they had stopped to try and figure out the way! Not reassuring.
We finally reached our boat well after dark. By this time even Simon was panicking as he kept saying that sharks come out at night to feed and was fairly sure the South China Sea was full of them! Needless to say we were all relieved to be back on the boat and a drink was definitely needed after that!
Our evening was just as lovely as the day and the food, again, was amazing. The only complaint would be that karaoke was foisted upon us (mainly because our guide liked to sing I think. Time after time we were treated to a Vietnamese "love sick song". Hmmm). Simon and I retreated to bed early and awoke early to a view of water, karsts and no one anywhere near us. Truly heaven!!
Unfortunately that was near the end of our cruise. There was just enough time for Simon to dive off the boat (which he had been excited about since getting on it) before we headed back to Halong City to get the bus back to Hanoi It was amazing! We only wished that we'd stayed for two nights and got away from the tourist trail a bit.
About the Author
Michael Trieu - Sales & Marketing Manager :
Michael is one of the team that takes care of our online booking customers. He himself directly deals with customers through emails or face-to- face meeting. He has traveled a lot as a tour guide, and he is particularly interested in ecologically and culturally sustainable tourism. With all his experience, Michael will make your trip to Indochina an unique and memorable one. Please do not hesitate to contact him whenever you need!
Working in the travel industry, Michael wants to have more chances to go here and there, to meet people all over the world to broaden his mind. Apart from daily works, he spends most of his spare time going out and eating out with his friends.
Graduated from University of Foreign Languages, then University of Foreign Trade Hanoi, his English is excellent. He can also speak French and Chinese. So, feel free to contact him and write to him in those languages.
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