An adventure in Halong Bay

After 3 days exploring Hanoi, we took a minibus and hydrofoil to Cat Ba Island where we picked up our very own private boat! There were 4 of us on the boat and 4 crew members!

We spent 4 absolutely wonderful days cruising around the islands, exploring every little corner. I have to say that Halong Bay has to be one of the most mind-blowing places I’ve ever been: Every moment felt like you were in a postcard, surrounded my 360 degrees of WOW! We couldn’t have been luckier with the weather with blue skies, sunshine and perfectly still waters.

The secret cave to...

...the secret jungle...

This is an incredibly rare sighting of a Golden-Headed Langur, the rarest primate in the world with only 68 known individuals left. They are only found on Cat Ba Island and throughout Halong Bay and are just beautiful! Our guide Tuan woke us up super early on our third morning, as the captain had spotted a group of them on the cliff so Bro and I hopped into kayaks and hurried to a little alcove where we just caught sight of this cheeky chappy and his baby before they disappeared! Bloomin' marvellous! :)  

 I am so incredibly proud of mum and dad as they totally embraced the challenge of life on the boat. They kayaked through tunnels, they crawled through caves, they swam further than they’ve ever swam, in super deep water, and they tried everything, even if they were nervous about it or didn’t want to, and I actually think they loved it!

We genuinely had such a wonderful week with them both-it was so so wonderful to have so much quality time together and to properly have a chance to catch up with them and top myself up with some good old Salter Hug Time! The week went ridiculously fast and we were so sad to say goodbye, but so excited for them that they still have so much of their adventure left!

SO many Sea Hawks around! Just beautiful!

Bro, me and our guide Tuan on one of the private beaches

Me in a hidden lagoon!

Bro and Dad sporting American Dad baseball caps like pros

Mum climbing out of the window. As you do!

We stopped at a fish farm and they showed us their progressively larger fish, until they finally lifted up the floorboard and there swam a giant fish they bought 10 years ago. They believe it brings them luck, so meet Lucky, the 10 year old Giant fish! (He's over a meter long!)

Our freshly caught Red Snapper

So Ma and Pa Salts, here’s to new adventures, facing new challenges and over-coming fears, and here’s to retirement and the rest of your SE Asian adventure!