We wake early to catch the sunrise that never really came... there were just too many clouds and some fog... though I did get a couple of decent pictures of the area lit by the rising sun.
Breakfast is filling and then we transfer over to a smaller boat for the day. The smaller boat offers better maneuverability and the Annan Junk will go back to the dock to pick up some more people while we go off and do our thing. Smaller boat really is a smaller boat... the bathroom on it has no tissues nor does the toilet have a flush button... you scoop water from a pail into the toilet to "flush" it.
We navigate to an area called "3 tunnels", where we kayak through two of the "tunnels". There's no mini boat, so Beilie has to get her first kayaking experience. The tour guide goes with her in one kayak and K and I are in the other kayak. (Our one bad experience... returning from the kayak, we discover that K's backpack was not the way we left it... i.e. someone went through it. After inspection, thankfully nothing seems to be missing. Beilie says that maybe the crew members were just curious... but still, it left a bad taste.)
After the kayaking, we head to the floating village and museum... a bunch of houses all just floating atop the water. Many of the residents make their living by catching sea creatures and selling them to tourist boats like ours. The houses are quite a sight! A few even had pets... cats and dogs running along the floating houses.
While heading back out through the floating village, the crew make a bit of commotion. I initially though someone dropped something in the water, but it turns out one of the crew spotted a fish in the water and they intend to catch the fish. After great attempts to re-spot the fish and catch it, two crew members get into a kayak, row out a bit, and actually manage to catch the fish. They cook it as part of their lunch. Our lunch is a variety of grilled seafoods. The catching of the fish and the resulting cooked caught fish...
Every day in Halong Bay is a beautiful one...
We head to Luon Cave where we transfer back onto Annan Junk for the night. There are now two more couples, so seven guests and eight crew total. K goes out to kayak a bit by himself. I opt to stay onboard since it's quite cold by now and I had left my jacket back in our Hanoi hotel.
Sleep. 10:30pm.
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