Day 41 - Cat Ba Island Boat Trip

Today was even better than yesterday! We woke up early and had a delicious pho breakfast (with Vietnamese coffee for Tim) and then set off for our all day boat excursion set up by our hotel owner. The tour was absolutely amazing. We got to ride around Halong Bay all day and see the beautiful views with about 20 other tourists from all around the world.

The trip started with about an hour of riding from Cat Ba Island to the other end of the bay. Then we got a double kayak and got to kayak around the bay, in and out of caves, for about 2 hours. Then we anchored in the middle of the bay, surrounded by nothing but water and rock formations and islands, for lunch. Lunch was awesome - family style - fish, chicken, spring rolls, cabbage, rice, potatoes, and vegetables. After lunch, we got to jump off of the boat and swim for awhile. Tim and I must have dove and flipped (him) off of the top deck a dozen times. After everyone was done jumping and swimming, we took off for another couple of islands with small beaches for snorkeling. There wasn't much to see under water but it was nice to swim around. Finally, to end the trip, we went to Monkey Island - a large island in the bay that is literally filled with monkeys. They are everywhere! You can feed them peanuts or beer or whatever you want but really they will just steal whatever you have when you aren't looking. Tim and I each had peanuts and beer stolen right out of our hands. We wandered around on the beach for awhile watching the monkeys and then got back on the boat to return to Cat Ba.

After our showers, we went out for what ended up being one of my favorite dinners of the trip - sautéed shrimp with chilis and garlic. Tim got pretty much the same meal but with chicken. Yum! Now time to watch movies and go to sleep - another early day tomorrow as we set off for another island in the bay.Read more