An ideal bay...

This beautifullandscape is endowed with wonderful natural sceneries and beaches offine sand, an ideal temperate climate, surrounded by hills, mountainsand tropical forests. The sea is all the more embellished with colorfulcoral reefs, vestiges of mangrove forests, rare sea creatures in anideal environment. These are great potentials for the development ofecological tourism in Van Phong. In the plan toward the year 2010,Vietnam National Administration of Tourism declares Van Phong as "themost important region for tourism development". There are many forms ofwater sports and uphill tourism here, including sea diving, waterskiing, sail boating, mineral water bathing and hunting. At present,Van Phong is ranked first of the four sea tourist centers by the SeaWorld Association.

 

Besideswater and corals, the bay has more natural attractions. It is home tomagnificent mountains with almost untouched forests and lovely beaches,and it is the habitat for hundreds of species of plants and animals.After exploring the ocean, you can walk along the white sandy beach,climb up the nearby mountain or observe animals in the island's forest.At night, you can stay in nice bungalows along the beach and eatseafood with Vietnamese.

VanPhong Bay, is geographically at the easternmost position of Vietnam,only 14 km from international waters and close to the junction ofmaritime routes. Van Phong is a big bay with 41,000 ha of water surfaceand a depth of 20-30 m and is relatively free from wind. Basing onthese conditions and potentials, the Government has planned toestablish in this area an international transshipment container portand a general multi-sectored economic complex of commerce, industry,tourism, etc. The container transshipment port of Van Phong, safe andairtight, is favorably coordinated with the land route, the railway,and the airway, fully able to compete with other containertransshipment ports currently operating in the region such asSingapore, Hong Kong, Kao-hsiung. The container transshipment port ofVan Phong is expected to reach 17.5-17.8 TEU/year. In addition, VanPhong is naturally endowed with a fairly mild climate and a beautifulenvironment with high potentials to develop eco-tourism and idealconditions to develop aqua product economy.

Theweather in Van Phong is warm all the year round and the naturalenvironment is almost intact and unpolluted, which is an ideal placefor eco-tourism. Van Phong is in the centre of Southeast Asia, withalmost the same distance to capitals of regional countries. This is anadvantage to develop tourism because it takes tourists only two hoursto travel by plane to the bay.

Scuba diving paradise on Vietnam's central coast

UnitedNations tourism experts have also recognised it as one of Asia's mostperfect sites for eco-tourism, and the bay has been rated as an idealplace for scuba diving.

Thebay is known for Hon Ong, Dam Mon and Bai Nhau. Hon Ong (whale island)is great for resting, enjoying the many beautiful sights and relics onthe island. You can learn about the inhabitants' fishing work and thehabits and customs of minorities living in the bay. For moreentertainment, water sports, such as catamaran, windsurfing, scubadiving and snorkeling, are also on offer.

Scubadiving to the coral reefs, rowing boats and fishing squid orcuttle-fish at night are other activities at Dam Mon. From Dam Mon, youcan also take a motorboat to discover the bay. You can also walk acrossthe sand dunes toward Dam Mon Village. There you can stop for a whileto learn about how the local fishermen smear chai (a material made froma plant) onto the bottom of their boats to make them waterproof. Theperfect sunset view is from the top of the dunes.

Ifyou spend some days in Van Phong, you have time to take trips to seemany other islands in the bay, such as Hon Lon, Hon Do, Ganh Da, BaiLach, Bai Me and Bai Ong Co, as well as fishing villages,lobster-breeding cages and pearl oyster-raising areas.

 

A report of the Vietnam Maritime Department shows that Van Phong is one of the world's deepest bays, a place of superlatives...