The Halong Bay Cruise is a MUST DO! This is such an unique experience it must not be missed.
The limestone islands are very mystical looking and have been these for thousands of years - some 1600 of them rising out of the sea. There apparently monkeys living on some of the islands but I did not see any of them. The local people live on floating villages (boats and moorings grouped together) and some of the people I believe have never been on dry land.
There are many cruise ships and boats that sail around the islands which does commercialize it a bit. When there are no other boats in sight (which is not often) you feel like you are in a very special place of natural unspoilt beauty and isolated from the rest of the world.
The cruise boats leave from Tuan Chau Island and are especially designed for this style of cruising. Our boat (part of the Paradise Cruises) was very good with excellent accommodation and meals which exceeded my expectations.
We stayed moored off one of the islands overnight and had three optional tour excursions to visit the Hang Sung Sot Grotto, the Luon Cave and Lagoon and Ti Top Island - all of which were worthwhile tours.
We seemed to have particular channels to sail through as I would imagine that some of the 1600 islands would be protected from tourists. It was a magic experience and I would recommend this tour to you.
We were lucky enough to have reasonably good weather. It was not raining or cold. The overcast weather caused the photos to have gray overtones which made it hard to capture the true beauty. When the weather cleared a little we could seen the blue colour of the water which would have made a good wow factor for the photos.
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