Suddenly…the captain announced we were entering scenic cruising into Halong Bay. It may have been true, but the fog/haze was plentiful and the temperature dropped by a lot. I donned a jacket for the first time and Joe decided the hot tub was where he was going to view the show. It was hard to see what all the excitement was about but even at that, as the karsts became more plentiful we stared in amazement. Hmmm…my complaining about the heat may have come to an end. Seriously considering that as we cruise to Hong Kong I might be able to unpack some heavier gear and repack my sundresses. Time will tell.
Ha Long Bay, in northeast Vietnam, is a mystical, magical, incredibly scenic place that is world famous. It is rated as one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. Thousands of towering limestone cliffs and beautiful coves are present here in the sea. These karsts were formed over millions of years by a combination of geological processes, including erosion and tectonic activity. The result is a spectacular maze of towering cliffs, caves, and arches, all surrounded by emerald green water. They vary in size and shape, with some rising to more than 300 feet in height. They are covered in lush vegetation, including tropical forest and mangrove swamps, and provide a home to a wide variety of plant and animal species, many of which are endemic to the region. We are still in the South China Sea but Ha Long Bay was a tricky little place to enter. If you remember my earlier posting about the pilot ship, this approach into the bay took some masterful maneuvering as we began to get closer to our dock. He boarded about the time the karsts became more plentiful. It was very hazy but you could tell that the landscape had changed a great deal from the wide open sea.
We docked at about 4:00 pm and we were ready to go ashore to see the downtown area of Ha Long Bay and experience some night markets and Vietnamese noodles. We had plans to meet our friends from our trivia team, Rod and Monica, and do some sight seeing. The cruise ship typically runs shuttle buses into town for those folks who are not signed up for an excursion and we jumped onboard the bus at 5:00 pm. The route into town was about 15 minutes and it was fun to see the surrounding communities pop up. Upon arrival at a large mall, we crossed the street to a bridge to snap some photos. Afterward, we wandered up and down the surrounding streets to see the outdoor markets that had been set up. To us, it looked as if everyone was closing shop which we hadn’t anticipated. We soon found out why. There was some sort of electrical brown out going on and the area we were in had no electricity. Consequently, after a half an hour, we reboarded the shuttle to take us back to the ship. I was very disappointed. But, if we haven’t learned another thing about these 80 days at sea, we’ve learned to roll with the punches. No noodles for us.
We spent the night in port in Ha Long Bay and the next day we went on our excursion and boarded a “junk” to sail in the bay and explore the grottoes and beautiful shapes that are literally everywhere. Ha Long Bay is in the Gulf of Tonkin, and has some 1600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars. Most of these islands are uninhabited and unaffected by a human presence. All in all, there are an estimated 1,969 islands spread over 900 square miles. We learned that Ha Long means “descending dragon” and it is said the huge sea monster still resides in these waters. Among the dramatic islets are magical caves filled with craggy stalagmites and stalactites. You will see some of those in the pictures below. We had previously signed up for a day long tour (2 1/2 hours each way) in to Hanoi to see the Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton) we all heard so much about during the Vietnam war. John McCain was held in one of these prisons as a POW for 5 1/2 years, as you may recall. The prison was destroyed in the 1990’s but a museum remains. In any case, we opted out of that tour when Joe came down with a cough that kept him up most of the previous night. You’ll see him napping on the junk boat that day. It was one of four naps required in catching up on his sleep. The tour we took was only 3 hours…like Gilligan. Again, the boats present at the cave dock didn’t seem bothered in the least by the fact that they were going to run into one another. In fact, it became apparent that they were poised to do exactly that so that one junk could “push” another up the landing area to disembark passengers. It became an essential part of the tour. 🙂 Back to the cough, there seems to be a lot of passengers coughing their heads off around here and we are hopeful that we have seen the last of it in our cabin. My head cold earlier in the cruise should suffice, as far as I’m concerned. Joe was the recipient of some cough syrup and medication from friends who are disembarking in Hong Kong tomorrow and seems to be on the back side of his cough. Fingers crossed. You can see how many cruise ships are plagued with Norovirus, Covid, and other maladies as it seems to spread quickly. We wonder whether it travels through the air conditioning systems or just through closed quarters as we travel the hallways and restaurants. Who knows?
We have a sea day today and competed in the last trivia session for this segment of the cruise and our team, Wanna Go Cruisin” finished in fourth place just out of the top finishers. That said, we did win one of the days so we were able to collect on some prizes. We got two Seabourn backpacks for our trouble. The next session will begin after we leave Hong Kong, so we’ll have to recruit some new team members from those folks embarking. We desperately need some Brits on our team as we are weak in that area. Tonight, we are invited to a dinner party for some of our friends that are leaving us in Hong Kong. Randy and Judy have been troupers. Randy had a snafu with his passport that left him having to return to Sydney at one point in the trip and catch up with the boat. Judy, while Randy was away, took a tumble in Dili and badly hurt her ankle and has been getting around the ship in a wheelchair. What a disaster for them, but, I must say, given all of that they have had a great attitude and we have enjoyed their company for the last 36 days.
It bears mentioning, that all day today at sea, the haze continued and the ship’s horn blew at steady intervals to warn any fishing vessels that don’t have radar of our position. While it was annoying, we are guests in the South China Sea, and these fisherman make a living out here and no one wanted to cruise over the top of them in a vessel of our size.