Cham Island Tagestour & Schnorcheln ab Hoi An mit Gruppentour

We were really looking forward to this as we are keen snorkellers and take every opportunity to check out the fish and coral wherever they may be. However the fish were few, the coral almost non-existent. The boat ride to the island was great and a walking tour on the island was interesting. It was a little hard to understand directions from the guy in charge of our group but he was a lovely fellow and very personable. We were then taken from the main port around to a beach where people could stay for swimming and the rest of us continued on to a cove with lots of rocks where we were to snorkel. There were no flippers provided and no buoyancy vests for the less confident swimmers, so some couldn't participate. We were allowed to swim off in any area and it did not appear that anyone was supervising us. There was only one other boat moored when we started, but when we looked around a little while after, there were quite a few, with lots of people in the water, all in vests. My husband was having trouble with his mask and wanted to return to the boat, but we couldn't tell which was ours - they all looked the same. The one he reached was not ours but he was tired and asked to come aboard. They finally let him. I then saw ours at some distance away - maybe we had moved too far with the current or maybe they had relocated, it was hard to tell. I tried to swim to it but soon also felt too tired to continue and so also approached another boat. If we had been given flippers this would not have happened. No-one from our boat appeared to notice our issues. Eventually the boats changed position so I could swim to the boat holding my husband, and they contacted our boat to come over and get us. We found out later that other snorkellers from our boat had returned to the wrong boats. This should not have been caused to happen. Signage on all the boats was along the sides, not at the stern which faced the snorkelling area. I knew our boat's name from the lifejackets we had worn on the way over from the mainland, but only finally recognised it by the appearance of one of the passengers standing in the stern. The best part of the day was the lunch provided at a restaurant when we returned to the main beach. The snorkelling was disappointing and the anxiety we felt with the boat fiasco marred the day. We have only snorkelled without flippers once before and that was in an area without strong currents. This company needs to provide them and take better care of its customers.

Wir hatten keine idealen Bedingungen, da es den ganzen Tag über Regenschauer gab, aber es war immer noch angenehm. Die Fahrt mit dem Schnellboot ist sehr holprig, was uns Spaß gemacht hat, aber eine Frau in unserer Gruppe seekrank gemacht hat. Es wird eine Tour durch den Hauptteil der Insel Cham angeboten, die jedoch nicht auf Englisch war (es war koreanisch, da 90% unserer Gruppe Koreaner waren), also gingen wir nur eine Stunde am Ufer entlang. Wir fuhren dann mit dem Boot zu einem anderen Teil der Insel, der viel schöner war, da er einen Strand hatte und an dem sich alle zum Schnorcheln umzogen. Es gab auch eine Option zum Tauchen, aber ich würde der Sicherheit in Vietnam nicht vertrauen. Das 30-minütige Schnorcheln war allein die Kosten wert, da das Wasser eine tolle Temperatur hatte und wir ein paar exotische Fische sahen. Wir aßen dann gut zu Mittag und hatten Zeit, am genannten Strand zu schwimmen, bevor wir nach Hause gingen. Trotz einiger Unordnung und fehlender Englischkenntnisse würden wir empfehlen.

This was a wonderful day. We went for snorkeling, had an amazing lunch, and time to relax and swim afterwards. The crew was organized, on time and the equipment was in good condition. However, the government should control the number of visitors who visit Cham island, there were very crowded there but we understand.