23 Mar 2023
This was the low point of our trip to Vietnam. While we were unfortunately struck with poor weather and a group of exceptionally noisy and self centred ‘ship mates’ the biggest let down was the amount of garbage in Halong Bay. The beauty of limestone islands is now lost in the mountain of garbage that is floating EVERYWHERE! Name the type of garbage and it was floating around the islands. Plastic bags and bottles, polystyrene, wine bottles, rope, old fishing nets and even life jackets (Clearly off charter boats). No one from our cruise would swim in the water it was that bad. We went kayaking and I had to soak my swimmers in a hotel bath tub to get rid of the smell from the small amount of water that got in. Government and tour operators need to sort this out as this is a paradise lost if immediate action is not taken.