SWELTERING SUMMER heat dissipates in the cool sea breeze once the Olympus cruise boat sails out of Tuan Chao Harbor. As cool to the eyes, the emerald waters whence rises a scatter of Halong Bay’s over 1,960 green-topped limestone islands and islets: Bo Hon, one of the biggest and, arguably, the most visited for its Sung Sot Cave.
Some 100 steep steps jampacked with tourists queued under the scorching noonday sun from the dock to the mouth of the cave deprived this certified senior citizen of seeing Sun Sot’s much-vaunted “spectacular stalactites and stalagmites.” Finding refuge in Olympus’ air-conditioned dining salon savoring the aftertaste of the lunch buffet of fresh seafood, fruits, and regional delicacies.
Next, to Hang Luon. At the base of the limestone mountain, a natural tunnel – its dimensions dependent on the ebb and flow of tides – echoing with the thuds, the thumps, and the bumps of kayaks and small paddled boats at the narrow opening entering and exiting a tranquil turquoise lagoon enclosed by towering limestone mountain cliffs dotted by bushes, vines, and trees, under skies of blue and fluffy clouds of white – nature’s own canvas mirrored in the water’s calm surface.
Such scene, at once stupendous and serene, glosses over Luon Cave’s stalactites seemingly more concretized than calcified.
Finally, Ti Top Island. A stay of 45 minutes leaves only one of three choices to do in the island named by the Great Uncle, President Ho Chi Minh, after Russian astronaut Gherman Titov who made a visited with him in 1962: kayaking, swimming on the crescent-shaped beach, and climbing 450 steps carved out of the steep side to the island’s peak where a marvelous 360-degree vista of Halong Bay is promised
Took the climb but did not get to the promise: the 71-year-old knees nearly buckling at the 250th step, needing to settle down on a view deck gasping for dear breath… and still marvel at so breathtakingly beautiful a view.
The descent was much easier, but all thoughts of swimming banished by the beach vanished in the high tide and the swarms of swimmers.
Sailing back to Tuan Chao Harbor, “the much-awaited highlight of the cruise – how we party in Vietnam,” a crew member crowed at the Olympus’ upper deck, it’s tiny jacuzzi overflowing with three pairs of Brazilians, men in swimming trunks and the ladies in two-piece barely-there suits, squeezed in. Finger foods and slices of fruits, cocktail or tea, beer – for sale, dance music, alas, party pooper there.
But indeed, the best part of the cruise is saved for last. Sunsets at sea are always spectacular, Halong Bay’s is spectacularly stunning. (Second of Punto Lifestyle Series on Hanoi, Vietnam)
