Cat Ba Island

Day 26-27-28-29 – Cat Ba Island, Vietnam

I arrived on the island after around 21 hours spent in a train or waiting for a train or on a ferry or… you guess how rested I was. The ferry dropped us at the North of the island, which wasn’t very convenient for me, since I wanted to go South.

After a bit of despair and asking around, I was told that the ferry stopped here because of the inclement weather but that a bus would drop me off at the right harbour, and indeed they found me a bus that was going the right way.

View from the northern harbour, Cat Ba Island

I’m not sure how much is “run the poor tourist around” and how much is truth, but anyway, I got to the right place. And indeed for the next day and a half, the boats were forbidden from taking to the sea.

One of the main reason I wanted to go to Cat Ba was that I had discovered while talking with a fellow traveller the possibility of sea kayaking, which is a great way of looking at the nice scenery, like those islands that surge vertically from the sea. It was like the Ha Long Bay, but with fewer tourists, and that was right my alley.

That doesn’t mean that it is not an island geared towards tourism, with the party atmosphere that goes with it.

Floating restaurant – main harbour – Cat Ba island

So I trudged straight to the organization I was recommanded, to be told that they couldn’t guarantee a next day outing -the weather being what it is.

And indeed the next day no kayaking was taking place, so I went looking for another activity and decided that a half-day trek in the National Park would be perfect. Not too long, with promises of a nice view on top…

The thing is, on one hand I was “Oh vow, these islands really are almost vertically going out of the sea, look at those cliffs” and on the other hand “Let’s do a 3-hour trek, I’m not really fit so it will be gentle and nice and once on top the view will be breathtaking”. Do you see the point I kind of didn’t get?

I got it quite forcefully. First, to get to the park, they provide local transportation. That means, in Vietnam, more often than not, the back of a scooter. They even provide a short helmet. What it translates too, also, is that to hang on I use my leg muscles. Since I’m not used to riding a scooter, after 20 min, I really gave my legs a work-out. So when I got to the first flight of something that is bigger than steps and but smaller than boulders, I started getting the picture. Let’s just say that after half an hour, I let the guide and my other fellow trekker go on while I went back down -and if I thought it was steep going up, imagine how it was getting down.

At least, I got to see deer.

Deer enclosure – Cat Ba National Park

On the way back, we stopped at a cave that was converted into a hospital during the Vietnam War. Many such caves were used as protection against bombing, whereas in flatter parts of the country they built tunnels and lived underground.

So, after that victorious day, I extended my stay a new day in the hope of getting to the sea. And finally after waiting an hour on Wednesday morning, we got the authorization of getting out.

For all the pictures of Cat Ba Island, please go to the Gallery section.

The day was overcast, so most of my pictures are not a great success. Of course the next day, when I left, the sky was blue with a few fluffy clouds. Frustrating.

So we went by boat to the first staging area, where we got on the kayaks, and while manoeuvring to switch place, I fell quite nicely in the sea. That’s not a problem, as the sea is warm and I was in a swimming suit; however, getting back in the kayak is more problematic. Fortunately, we were still by the dock.

So we went on a nice loop between islands, seeing floating fishing farms, houses, guarded by dogs, with narrow catwalks (well, dogwalks!), small, discreet beaches, and those islands, big, small, tall, falling ruler-straight into the sea, with a crown of vegetation falling down their sides… Their bases are slopped sharply inwards for a few meters, eaten away by the sea, and sometimes holes in the base means that the surging waves explode through it in a fine mist, giving the impression of a giant breathing.

After getting back to the boat for a copious lunch, a few of us decided that jumping from the boat would be a fine idea.

Jumping from the upper deck

Swimming around in warm water is quite enjoyable.

I declined to go on the afternoon loop: I’m slightly too big to be truly comfortable in the kayak seat, and I was starting to get protesting muscles. And of course my arms were getting sore (the muscle aches I nurse today!) So I napped on the upper deck while waiting for the group to come back.

Everything has an end, and yesterday I left the island (under a fabulous sun), getting to a new harbour (the fourth since my arrival) on a coastal road. I arrived in Hanoi, walked a bit around, took a few pictures, slept a lot, and now I’m waiting for my afternoon bus that will take me to Luang Prabang, in Laos, in hardly 24h. I am not quite looking forward to sleeping aboard a bus.

Hanoi – The lake