Day Trips

All diving from Nha Trang takes place in the marine park of Hon Mun which is a series of islands off Nha Trang’s Coast and can reached by a 40 min boat ride, or a 15min speedboat ride. Here are around 20 dive sites most of which are around the largest island of Hon Mun and with easy on no currents and a range of depths there is a dive site for everyone.

Some of these include Small Wall which has a small drop off to almost 20m and then a gentle slope. This site has some rocks covered with rare green coral and also golden coral along with lionfish, batfish and you may even be lucky to spot a frogfish.

Sea Anemone, Credit

One of the best sites in the area is Moray Beach and Moray Rock. These sites have very interesting marine life including leaf fish, scorpionfish, rare black frogfish, white frogfish, lionfish, pipefish and of course moray eels! It is a shallow easy dive so perfect for photographers who can take their time and spend a good long dive down with their subjects. It also means that is an excellent beginner dive site.

Eel, Credit

How to Get there

There are a few different ways to reach Nha Trang. The nearest is at Ho Chi Minh City in the south. From here you can catch a domestic flight to Cam Ranh Airport which is the closest airport to Nha Trang and only receives domestic flights.

Nha Trang Sea, Credit

Another option is to catch a bus which takes 10-12hrs from Ho Chi Minh City in the south or 16hrs from Hoi An in the north.

Nha Trang is also on the main train line which connects Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This can be a better option than the buses especially if you are travelling from the north as you can catch an overnight sleeper train, which will allow you to get a better night’s sleep than an overnight bus and also means you don’t waste a whole day travelling.

Other activities

There are lots of things to see and do in Nha Trang. There are many temples and pagodas with the Long Son Pagoda housing a 79ft white Buddha statue. The beaches are all beautiful palm tree lined white sand beaches and there are especially scenic quieter ones just outside of Nha Trang. Trips to the close by waterfalls of Yang Bay and Ban Ho are also very popular. At these locations you can swim in the river and explore some of the nearby forest.

For the more active there is biking, rafting, sailing, kite boarding or taking part in a Vietnamese cookery class.

Nha Trang, Vietnam, Credit

Elephant Trekking & Abuse

On a general note, while in Asia, please do not support Elephant abuse by riding Elephants or supporting Elephant performance.

• The 'training' Elephants go through to become a part of the tourism industry involves cruel physical and mental abuse over long periods of time starting as a calf
• Asian Elephant's spines cannot support the weight of people. Carrying people on their backs all day often leads to permanent spinal injuries.
• That said, there is responsible Elephant tourism to be found in Asia, a good rule to remember is that if a tourist outfit offers anything other than getting to spend time with elephants, it is not friendly to them.
• Remember; any outfit that offers riding, circuses or paintings it basically means the Elephants have undergone horrific abuse in order to get there

You can help these magnificent animals by making your travel companions aware of what lies behind this industry; the main problem is a lack of awareness.

Dive Report is committed to raising awareness to the abuse suffered by Elephants used in the tourist industry. If you want to know more you can find out more here, here, here and here. Also see a PETA documentary video here.

Tips

Ensure taxis turn on the meter to get the best price.

Tranquil Buddha, Nha Trang, Credit