Vietnam

[The Kraken]

Traffic . . . Woo Hoo !!!

It's been a long, long time since I was in Viet Nam, but I once saw a Vietnamese guy on a Lambretta run an armored personnel carrier off the road.

Now that takes some doing!!!

the K

 

[InDaWata]

Went with Rainbow divers a few months ago- great people, great shop. I really liked the outfit.

The diving, however, was not so good. Vietnam could use a little bit of conservation to draw the (diving) tourist dollars, but as there is none of that, the bottom on a lot of sites will continue to look like the moon.

It really is a shame!

Good luck in Vietnam though! I could only last 4 months there before I had enough!

 

[Thalassamania]

In the late days of the former belligerence I had the chance to dive all up and down the coast, from Vung Tau to Nha Trang to Da Nang, including many of the offshore islands. The diving back then was great. The reefs were, by and large, healthy and the islands were amazing. But I guess a lot can change in thirty-odd years. I hope to go back some time and see what has changed, while I hope that some has stayed the same.

 

[pelan-pelan]

Glad to hear good things about Rainbow Divers. We dove with them three years ago and really enjoyed it. Yes the viz was a bit iffy, but the macro stuff was surprisingly good - the more you saw, the more you saw. Our guide had eyes like a hawk and was delighted when he discovered that we were interested in nudibranchs and could spot leaf fish for ourselves. We were allocated the same guide all the time. The staff looked after our gear most carefully. At that time Rainbow had a fast boat that a group could charter. I recall there were about 6 of us on board and we were able to get to some other dive spots.

Refreshments on the boat - the cake is delicious.

About a hotel - why not ask Rainbow Divers? I know there was a hotel, mainly Vietnamese, up the road from the Dive Cafe which some friends stayed at - good value for money, comfortable, swimming pool. The snag was that it was not on the beach.

 

[hmoffatt]

I stayed at the "Golden Hotel" which is just down the road from Rainbow Divers base.. not more than 200 metres away. Very convenient. Booked it on ratestogo.com or wotif.com. It was just fine, except that they insisted on being paid in cash.

 

[jtko59]

seems there is only two dive operators in nga trang (rainbow divers being the best and sailing club divers) , surely there are more...

 

[hmoffatt]

seems there is only two dive operators in nga trang (rainbow divers being the best and sailing club divers) , surely there are more...

There are others scattered around, just wander down Biet Thu to the beach and the streets around there and you will see some.

I think the two you mentioned are considered the safest though, although they are also the most expensive (for the same reason!). US$50 for two dives out with Rainbow last October. They were very professional.

 

[Luko]

Hi,

Went diving both in Nha Trang in 95 and 5 years ago on a location called Whale island (Hon Ong), 70km further up north on the coast.

Though Nha Trang was a bit sloppy on the viz and fish life, I remember the hard corals were fine at some places.
Whale island is another story, it is based on a lake like lagoon, absolutely idyllic place reminding a Maldives resort, with sometimes great viz. the resort is french/vietnamese owned, the dive shop on premises is one of Rainbow Divers'. The dive guides are incredible they totalize some 5000 dives in the area, be prepared for all sorts of critters like nudis, ghostpipefish, scorpionfish, etc. Strangely enough the nudis in this area look like they were bred on steroids, twice the normal size at least... They also cater blue water coral dives, their "three kings" and "belfry" spots are beutifully carpeted with soft corals... not Fiji size though but still beautiful enough for the area.
they also claim they sometimes have whale sharks visits but I didn't see any...

Dive season is from march to september, Whale island is a welcomed break from a trip in the Mekong, en route to Hoi An or Ha Noi...

Whale island compared to... I would say the regular sites of Koh Tao but with more interesting critters and better guides.

Other dive centers in Nha Trang : there are a few, mainly french owned like Coco dive, or Orca -originally Vnese and the longest standing-. Some offer crepes at the end of the dive, others don't...

OP question is about tek diving : I had been told there is a korean owned dive center in Mui Ne which caters for deep wreck dives and trimix. dunno much more...

cheers
Luko