Cat Ba, Vietnam

As with many parts of our trip, we arrived in Cat Ba with high expectations, only to have them disappointed. When we reached our hostel, we were greeted by cranes and heavy construction noise. The beautiful view we had seen in all the photos was completely obstructed, and the water drained to make way for the man-made beach they were developing.

We ended up switching hotels (something we had become quite skilled at by this point in our journey), and things began to improve, though the weather wasn’t on our side. We arrived on Sunday, and the sun wasn't forecasted to show up until Wednesday. It wasn’t ideal, but we made the best of it.

The low moments aside, here are some of my favorite moments from our seven days on Cat Ba Island in northern Vietnam.

Hospital Cave

War history has always fascinated Jamie, so I was excited to explore the Hospital Cave with him. Built into the side of a mountain, this bunker-like structure served as a field hospital for the Vietnam Army during the war in the 1970s. Initially, I tried to find it on an itinerary of a three-day, two-night cruise, but it wasn’t featured in many tours, so we decided to visit it on our own. Although there wasn’t much signage or guided information (I would have loved a tour guide or audio guide), the cave had models in various rooms illustrating how the army might have utilized the space, adding some context.

After exploring the cave, we continued biking around the island, only to get caught in a massive downpour. I felt pretty bad for Jamie, who was the driver and took the brunt of the rain—his shirt was completely soaked, and his hand nearly froze to the handlebar since you have to keep it turned to keep the bike moving. That said, the evening before, we met a lovely group of British travelers at dinner and ended up running into them twice during our ride. It was great to socialize and share part of the adventure with others.

Plankton Tour

Our new hotel had an amazing common area upstairs, with a beautiful view of the lake out front, so we hunkered down and spent the morning catching up on work before being picked up for our bioluminescent plankton tour at 3:30pm! It was our first time getting on the water after three days on the island, so I was excited to see the limestone mountains the bay is famous for up close. We were surprised to find ourselves alone when we boarded the boat at 4:00pm, but the guide explained that everyone else was already at the kayaking location. Mystery explained, Jamie and I kicked back, enjoying what turned into a private sunset cruise.

We arrived at a floating barge starving. While the dinner left something to be desired, that disappointment quickly faded when we encountered the magic of the plankton. After paddling out just a bit, our guide instructed us to dip our paddles in the water, and it was stunning—like silver glitter glowing in the dark. Apparently, the color can vary depending on your eyesight, but Jamie and I both saw silver. My favorite trick was shaking the kayak’s tow cord in the water to make the plankton come alive.

Initially, we were adamant about not swimming, but when we reached the swimming spot, our guide convinced us that it was the best way to experience the plankton. This was against our better judgment as the water was pitch black under the moon, but we climbed off the kayak and into the water. While it wasn’t necessarily more impressive than kayaking, seeing the glowing plankton in Jamie’s beard was hilarious and it was a memorable experience swimming in the middle of the night with limited visibility.

After drying off and changing, we hopped on a high-speed boat back to the island. This part turned out to be another highlight—the sky was filled with bright stars and the ominous outlines of the surrounding islands created a magical, storybook-like effect that capped off an unforgettable night.

Butterfly Valley

Not too much commentary to add for this day. The best summary is that it was another combination of working and biking around the island. We ended up stumbling into butterfly valley, a popular place to grab a quick coffee or tea and take in the view.

Hike Through Cat Ba National Park

With the weather finally working in our favor, we decided to make the most of the clear day and head to Cat Ba National Park to do the popular hike up to the highest point on the island Đỉnh Ngự Lâm. The distance is only about 1.4km (0.87 miles) each way, but the elevation gain is 180m (590 ft). I'd say all in all the hike ended up taking us roughly two hours. However, going up ended up being a lot harder than going down because Jamie insisted we take the short cut that said harder path but shorter distance. That shorter distance ended up being because it required you to climb a vertical rock wall. Needless to say, we took the longer path down.

This hike also was notable because we learned the outcome of the US election right as we climbed the tower of the summit shortly after the below photo was taken.

Biking Around the Island

Below are some other shots from our adventures biking around the island... the first photo is from a path that jets out over the water and ends at a temple. It was a pretty rickety bridge that had us speed walking from point A to point B.

Day Cruise

I'm not sure what we did on Friday, but we were exhausted and ended up postponing our day cruise by a day. It turned out to be the right call because even with a full night's sleep, we nearly nodded off on the boat ride. Something about the gentle motion always makes me sleepy.

Once we were out on the water again, I enjoyed cruising around the limestone islands iconic to this region of northern Vietnam. Our first stop was at a floating fishing village, but since we had seen something similar during the plankton tour, we stayed back and relaxed on the boat. From there, we sailed to a quieter part of Ha Long Bay for lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the kayaking spot, where we explored caves and natural rock tunnels. I was surprised to find myself in more of a canoe than a kayak, sitting low in the water. Once I got used to its balance, I relaxed and worked with Jamie to paddle through Dark Cave, Bat Cave, Bright Cave, and Monkey Cave. And when I say 'worked with Jamie,' I mean let him take the lead on most of the paddling because I was sending us in circles. Although the guide didn’t share how these caves got their names, we did spot some Cat Ba monkeys while paddling around, which added to the adventure.

The final activity was swimming and snorkeling at Ba Trai Dao. Despite the murky water making snorkeling less than ideal, the water still looked pretty inviting. I sucked it up and jumped off the boat and into the water swimming with Jamie toward a sandbar where we’d seen another group earlier. This turned into a near disaster when the current on our way back sapped all our energy. It was terrifying paddling with all our strength and feeling like we weren’t making any progress. Somehow, we managed to get back to the boat, exhausted but relieved to be alive.

We wrapped up the day with a quiet ride back to the island, marking the end of our time on Cat Ba Island.

Back to the Mainland

We debated whether it would be more sense to head to the north or move south to Ninh Binh for our next stop in Vietnam. Ultimately, we chose Ninh Binh as our starting point because it was the quicker bus journey and would help shorten the journey north in the end. We figured we would likely fly out of Hanoi or take the train down to Da Nang once we finished up Northern Vietnam, so going South to make sure we checked off Ninh Binh made sense to us.

I am excited to visit ‘Halong Bay on Land’ and experience the famous boat ride around Trang An - more to come!