Close off-shore from Nha Trang sit a series of islands that offer decent diving and snorkeling, easily accessible by day trip.
Nha Trang is the traditional home of diving. The Government embraced the sport in 2003 by establishing a Marine Park protected area on the Island of Hon Mun with around 8-12 dive sites.
Around a 45minute cruise by boat, the Island offers fabulous scope for long dives with great macro life. One of the best value areas in the World for a PADI/SSI training course and Vietnams Elite dive guides to ensure certified divers see everything the Marine park has to offer.
A two-dive boat trip with equipment rental and modest lunch can be had for as little as US$50, and snorkeling goes from 15$ - both phenomenal values.
The marine life in Nha Trang Bay is very diverse and many fishes, corals and Nudibranchs unique to the South China Sea can regularly be seen here, shy Turtles have also been sighted along with small Reef Sharks. Nha Trang is famed with divers finding the more rare and elusive varieties of nudibranche, ghostpipe and frog fish. Although the coral is not as world-renowned as the Red Sea in Egypt or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, a recent survey found over 350 species of hard and soft corals, nearly 50% of the corals in the world and its considered them the very best in the East Sea. Night dives are available from the beach.
(By Marcus Feigenbaum -Tauchen in Vietnam)
Nha Trang has a split personality. One takes the form of a smaller Danang – a bustling Viet¬namese city humming with commerce but blessed with access to a beautiful beach. The other is a Western resort town encompassing several blocks of hotels, tourist shops, bars and international restaurants.
The city is indisputably beautiful, bordered by mountains, with the beach tracing an impressive long swoop along a bay dotted with islands. Topiary and modern sculptures dot the immaculately manicured foreshore. Nha Trang offers plenty to keep tourists occupied – from island-hopping boat trips and scuba diving, to mudbaths and historic sites. But the main attraction for most visitors is lounging around on deckchairs at a beachfront bar and drinking cocktails in comfort, and of course the famous nightlife, which you can enjoy till the stunning sunrise in the early morning.
Nha Trang sees beautiful weather from February through October, and the only drawback to the other months of the year is that winter is the rainy season in the area. The temperatures are moderate throughout the year, staying somewhere between an average low of sixty five degrees (18° C) and an average high of eighty five degrees (30° C) . Summer, naturally, brings many vacation goers into town and hotel rooms get somewhat more difficult to find.
(By Marcus Feigenbaum -Tauchen in Vietnam)