Halong Bay

We took a 3 day, 2 night cruise through Halong Bay which was absolutely gorgeous! Halong Bay is on the northern coast of Vietnam, 3 hours from Hanoi. It is characterized by thousands of islands and karst formations - limestone molded by water thousands (maybe millions?) of years ago. The water is a beautiful shade if blue. And since most of the bay isb protected as a national park, the majority of the islands are covered in lush green foliage. Stunning.

We spent the afternoon of day 1 and half of day 2 cruising around the bay on a sailboat, stopping to kayak and check out a cave hidden within one of the islands. That night, the crew let us try our hand at squid fishing off the back of the boat. With just a pole, string and hook, its pretty rudimentary. As thw squid swim by, you jerk the hook up and try to snag it quickly. Scott was determined to catch one and tried for quite some time. I got the pole and had snagged one within minutes! It was still squirting which is why im leaning away in the photo. We had squid includedbin breakfast the next morning!

The second half of day 2 and all if day 3 was spent on a private island where we stayed in a bungalow right on the beach. Scott went on a casual bike sightseeing trip of the main inhabited island while I laid on the beach and enjoyed doing nothing but soaking up sun! All the food was fresh and delicious. The trip was a highlight of our adventure thus far.