13.04 - Day 16 - Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam
Monday 13th April
Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam
Temperature Min 23, Max 38
4,529 steps
We all pass on the 6:30am Tai Chi, only just making the end of breakfast at 8am. You don't have to do any of the excursions or activities but the meal times are based around them. It's a struggle to get Sienna and Seb to sit down and eat simply because they want to run off and play with the other kids.
At 9:00am we tumble into the tenders to visit Thien Canh Son which we've already motored to this morning. Of the 7,000 islands / karsts in the region (5,000 in Ha Long, 2,000 Bai Ru Long), about 120 have meaningful caves and after splashing on the small beach we ascend very smooth stones steps into this cave that gets bigger the further in you go until a small hole brings you out the other side. Inside Kenny G talks of the formation of stalactites and stalagmites and sea fossils.
The pair of tenders then tootle us around the next karst for kayaking. Two years ago, Kate and I had one child each to lug around - this time I'm abandoned as they each jump in with the other kids; Sienna with Omily and Seb with Branston. I go in a smaller solo kayak while Mema and Pawpaw hop in their own double.
Around one of the karsts we go as a small flotilla of brightly colored kayaks. Clean honest fun and workout to boot.
Once back, Dragon Legend ups anchor and we cruise amongst the magnificent scenery. No two karsts are the same and yet the view is seemingly somehow consistent. The planned barbecue on the beach is aborted as low tide has exposed sharp shells lurking in the shallows. So to avoid shredded feet it's barbecue on the boat at 1:00pm, the drip feeding of one more fish or prawn at a time makes the feast more approachable.
And after lunch then, instead of swimming off the beach, it's swimming off the anchored boat. There's a surprising current waiting to push you away so you need to swim to stay still (gently, it's not raging rapids).
I point Seb to an open door, one of the crew on lifeguard duty as sea level - Seb dutifully jumps through it and then can drift with the current to the tender the back of Dragon Legend to climb out and repeat. All the kids follow suit creating a circuit of movement - that is until the captain comes down, barks some Vietnamese at the crew and the game is cancelled.
After the sea, the kids move back to the pool taking any five minutes to bump out the adults who had dared to use it in their absence.
We’re motoring around again, weaving between the rocks - it's hard to follow our route; there are joking suspicions were simply going around the same six karsts again and again and we'd never know.
The weather has been warm but not oppressive, mostly the sun is behind the thin layer of cloud it's probably 30-ish degrees. Considering today and yesterday with due to be 38 degrees in Hanoi, this is very pleasant and doesn't require lashings of sun cream.
The anchor is duly dropped for the evening - I almost definitely recognise one karst we’re facing from two years ago - again a few other boats including our twin Dragon Legend II is in sight.
Dinner is out on the deck, lanterns of varying colours have been strung out above the neatly laid out tables. The table of 8 kids is formed in the middle - the orphaned parents and grandparents (the American family are also here with three generations) group together parallel to the kids.
Whilst the kids get some magic tricks from Kenny G, the American grandparents are also in disbelief - that people keep tortoises as pets. At the other end of the table the merits of NFL and AFL are being discussed.
The food is of course wonderful - after which the chef is rolled out to say a few words - translated by Kenny G - and to show small bird figurines he has carved out of vegetables. The lights are then cut for a double birthday cake delivery, followed by a pair of anniversary cakes for another American couple and, having told the whitest of white lies on their behalf, for Mema and Pawpaw. All I did was bring the date forward 3 days. The sponge cake also comes with an opal coloured shell in a small red heart box.
Festivities over, squid fishing is on again, the teapot and mugs on the tender showing some of the crew plan to stick at it. Us passengers only last 30 minutes, though I happen to be the only one who catches anything before we shuffle the children, and ourselves, to bed.
