Kayaking guide on Halong Bay

When you have chance to visit Halong Bay, besides swimming, climbing or visiting some famous caves, the best activity to try on Halong Bay is kayaking. Most cruises in Halong Bay offer kayaking. Kayaking will make your Halong Bay trip more interesting, when you get closer to the caves and limestone.  Kayaking is generally considered to be very safe in these calm waters of Halong Bay but there is still some areas and warning that you should avoid and listen to the tour guide. So you should know some steps about kayaking in Halong Bay for your safe and enjoy wonderful trip:

STEP 1- PREPARE BEFORE KAYAKING – IMPORTANT STEP:

• Necessary things: Life vests, water, sun cream, dry bag, camera, insect repellent
• Carefully follow the instructions and conditions before kayaking wear the life vest and use the dry bag (put your phone, camera, etc inside it…)
• Prepare suitable clothes: T-shirt and shorts, a swimming suit in the summer; warm clothes in the winter; wet shoes, hat, sunglasses. Halong Bay water is pretty warm during winter so feel free to kayak anytime of the year. However, keep yourself warm after you are done with the activity to avoid catching a cold.
• Keep a suitable distance from the others, not too far, keep in sight with the others, to avoid getting lost
• Even if you are an experienced kayaker, don’t come too close to caves and karsts. They might suck you in. There are reports of people getting sucked into caves and it took from 30 minutes to many hours to rescue them. (especially in the Dark Cave)
• Never kayak when intoxicated. Drinking will dull your sense and might lead to unfortunate accidents. There have been incidents of people drowning because of swimming after consuming a large amount of alcohol.
• Children should be follow the tour guide and their parents. Sit still in the kayak, do not move in front of or behind
• Children under 5 years old are not recommended for kayaking

STEP 2- WHEN YOU KAYAKING:

• It is very important to follow your tour guide, listen to the route, time and rules.
• Check with your tour guide about the weather, tide and wind strength to have the best and safest route.
• Keep away from the places which have strong flows, against the wind; take advantage of the wind strength and direction.

STEP 3- HANDLE UNEXPECTED SITUATIONS:

• Adjust the speed of the whole group if any of the members are out of sight.
• In case the kayak capsizes, passengers need to swim a bit, and then take the water out of the kayak with the help of the tour guide. He will catch the kayak; take the water out by putting your kayak on his in a T- shape. After that, he will put the kayak back into the water; keep it still so that passengers can get back on the kayak
• If there is an unexpected storm, find the safest place in the sheltered areas, beaches… to avoid the storm. In case passengers are in the middle of the sea and cannot find a safe place, passengers need to gather to make a raft You also can enjoy kayaking in Halong for a 1 day tour, however, you only have about 15 to 20 minutes for kayaking at the small floating village (Ba Hang Village). Normally with the 2 day, 1 night tour, you also have a chance to kayak at Luon Cave. Kayaking through this cave is very impressive. If you like kayaking, 3 day, 2 night cruises are the best choice, you will have more time to explore Lan Ha Bay as well as having more than 3 hours for kayaking. In conclusion, kayaking is not difficult and we hope you enjoy it completely.