Kayaking, Karsts, Caves and Coves: Cat Ba Island

On to Cat Ba. Just a few hours south of Hanoi, this is one of the largest islands of the 367 Islands in the archipelago in Halong Bay. So you might remember I said that Ninh Binh was “like Halong Bay without water”. Well, this is Ninh Binh with water. 😘

Cat Ba Island is one of the few populated islands in Halong Bay, with roughly 13,000 inhabitants living in six different communes, and 4,000 more living on floating fishing villages off the coast. These floating villages are so interesting but look to be incredibly poor. Here, the villagers pull seaweed off the floor of the bay to dry and sell it, they fish and capture squid 🦑 using night boats with gigantic lights to lure the squid to the nets.

I had been told by numerous people along my travels, including Morgan and Kevin, to book a tour of the bay with Full Moon Party Hotel, so Lynsey and I contacted them and booked our bus ticket to Cat Ba from Hanoi, which included one free night at the hotel. We figured we would check out the tours available once we arrived.

Bus > ferry > bus. Four hours later (and the most disgusting bathroom stop EVER at the ferry pier) we were in Cat Ba Town and the Full Moon hotel. Here’s where we met Peter, a traveler from Canada who had been on the road since October and was in Vietnam, his 15th country this trip. He had been on the island for a few days already and offered to give us a tour of everything worth seeing. Because of Tet, the overnight tour boat trips that Lynsey and I planned to take weren’t running for another few days, so we had plenty of time to explore the island with Peter.

Lynsey rented a motorbike and I hopped on the back of Peter’s bike. We checked out the Hospital Cave, a large cave used as (you guessed it!) a hospital during the war. Peter stayed outside as he had already seen it the other day, and waited while we poked around inside.

We checked out some temples (always plenty of temples!)and pagodas and a rickety wooden walkway around the limestone cliffs.

We also took the time to tour Fort Cannon, a high point on the island used for defense. There were various war propaganda posters displayed, including this one of Nixon.

But the reason everyone goes to Cat Ba or Halong Bay is to cruise around in a boat for a day or two to explore the karsts, caves and swimming spots and to kayak to discover the caves. We signed up for a tour for $60 which included a delicious lunch and dinner the first day, kayaking and swimming in the cold waters for those who were interested; overnight accommodations in the boat and then breakfast, kayaking and lunch the next day. Lynsey and I had a sweet cabin room to ourselves which had its own bathroom and shower. Only 6 others on the boat with us, so it was pretty chill.

The high point for me was the kayaking through the caves. Even though Lynsey and I seemed to have gotten a defective kayak. Or maybe it was the paddles. We kept crashing into the cave walls, unable to control the kayak. (Or…here’s a thought. Maybe it was us??) We paddled around, happy for the opportunity to discover the caves, coves, and limestone cliffs.

A nice relaxing week with not many tourists around. We enjoyed our stay – great egg coffees at Like! Coffee and delicious dinner at Green Mango.

Bus>ferry>bus back to Hanoi…and a fond farewell to Peter-the-Best-Tour-Guide as he heads to Hue and Danang and to Lynsey as she spends a few days in Hanoi before going to Ninh Binh…

and I make a rash move to fly south to catch some sunshine and warmth on the southern island of Phu Quoc.