Cat Ba Island is the most popular destination in the bay and every tour company offers a trip to the island.
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Cat Ba
Cat Ba Island is the most popular destination in the bay and
every tour company offers a trip to the island. Cat Ba is full of the usual
tourist scenario; hotels, restaurants, and bars; still Cat Ba’s locals have
carried on doing exactly what their ancestors did for generations before –
fishing.
Floating Villages and Fish Farms
The bay's floating villages draw a lot of attention and are
one of the highlights of the trip. Locals have been living in these floating
houses for many generations as fishing is still the villagers' main income.
Some communities offer reasonably priced home-stays to visitors, too. If you
pass by them on your cruise, don’t be surprised if the boat's on-board chef stops
to shop for fresh seafood from one.
Dau Be Island
This is a very popular swimming and diving spot because of
its rich coral and deep grottoes with three inland lakes. The grottoes and
caves can only be visited by rowing boat at low tide, when access is
possible.
Hung Sung Sot
Cave
Hung Sung Sot Cave is located on the same island as Virgin Cave
and has a steep path lined with shady trees. There are two chambers in the cave
with a square-shaped outer chamber and a ceiling about 30 metres high. The
inner chamber formations look like sentries conversing with one another and
another formation, resembling a general surveying his troops, lies in the
middle of the chamber. The moving light reflected from the water outside seems
to bring these formations to life.
The Virgin
Cave
The Virgin
Cave (Hang Trinh Nu) is
one of the most famous caves in Ha Long Bay. It is probably best known for its
shrine. Legend claims that a beautiful woman committed suicide in the cave,
unable to return home after being forced to marry an old Mandarin. Here her
body tuned into stone. Another similar legend says this girl escaped from a
Mandarin that forced her to marry him because her father could not pay a debt.
When fishermen found her body, they buried her here and built a small shrine
inside the grotto.
Dau Go Island
Dau Go Island is known for its large and colourful cave
which has many stalactites and stalagmites, some of them more than 20 metres
high.
Pelican Cave
Pelican Cave (Hang Bo Nau) is also popular
with tourists. Many of them love to take photos of this cave and its
spectacular stalactites hanging from the ceiling.