halong cruises

Halong cruises is a body water off the Tonkin Gulf located near the North East border with China and covers an approximate area of 579 square miles. Dotted with 1,969 limestone islets rising from the emerald waters and referred to as “Bay of descending dragons”, Halong Bay has been the top attraction of worldwide travelers and holiday makers in Vietnam. With basically two distinctive kinds of rock islands, limestone and schist, this particular area of the Halong Bay archipelago was differentiated between Bai Tu Long Bay (the southeast) and Halong Bay (the southwest). Sculpted into awesome shapes by the wind and weather for millions of years, these islands hide deserted beaches, numerous magnificent caves and hidden lagoons that may only be reached by kayaking through reclining cliffs revealed at the low tides.

halong cruise

Ancient legends are passed word of mouth to the younger generations from many years past, since their local forefathers were fighting against Chinese invaders, the Gods designated a family of dragons to help defend the land. That family of dragons descended upon what is now Halong Bay and began spitting out their jewels and jades. Those jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form barriers against the invaders. That pride was made evident one more time in the year 1288, when General Tran Hung Dao stopped Mongol ships from sailing up the nearby BachDang River by entrapping the steel-tipped wooden stakes at high tide, to sink the Mongol Dubhai Khan’s fleet.

Far beyond what the legend says, Halong Bay features beautiful geographic works of art as over half of the islands were given their names exactly from their unusual shapes and by human imagination. These shapes can magically be changed by the angles of light, directions of view, and especially when they are silhouetted against the sun. On the boundary of this archipelago, there are two bigger islands with permanent inhabitants. They are Tuan Chau island and Cat Ba National Park. Both of them are well equipped with tourism facilities such as hotels, restaurants and beach resorts. Though declared to be a World Natural Heritage by late December 1994, Halong Bay was already well known to outsiders from the movie “Indochine”, starring Catherine Deneuve in 1991. Splendid rocks emerging from the emerald waters, serene sky, mountains touching mountains, Halong Bay has always been a dream for any naturalist and cruise lover.