A dull, humid morning as we made our approach through the islands surrounding this port.  Fishing boats everywhere and nets galore, strung out in ‘strings’, ready to catch the unwary; getting them caught in the azipod’s propellers is not at all good. The nylon could get into the seals, if that is, they manage to get past the ‘spurs’ which are on the hubs. Their function?  Cut the line before it gets there. Fortunately, by keeping eyes well ahead, we avoid them in good time, however, anyone watching would wonder why we were weaving in a strange manner.  

The pilot boat came out to greet us, more of a ‘token’ really as we kept the conn.  The pilot was quickly followed by 9 Immigration officers, climbing up the ladder, they had come to give us clearance before, or just after we docked.  

 Arrival

Departure 

 

Nha Trang is a small but busy little place.  A nearby island houses a large theme park, hotels and chalets and it is a popular destination for both Vietnamese and, strangely, Russians.  

There is also a cable-car which takes visitors from the mainland to the island and this goes over our bow.  When we depart, the gondolas are stopped, the cable tightened and we squeeze under with a metre to spare; once through, it all starts again!  We, (moi, Karen, Hazel, Harry and Laura) jumped in a van and went to see some of the sites.  I’d been here before, however hadn’t managed to see some of the history.  

First to the Po Nagar temple, what was remaining dates back to the 10th century and work continued later.  Much of it had been destroyed over the years.  

 

Then onto the Long Son Pagoda with its 24 metre Buddha on top of a hill.  

Then the French-built Catholic cathedral (1929) and final stop was the market.  

I hopped out for few photos and then jumped back in the transport, Larry, Hazel and I were having nothing to do with pesky markets and left the 2 ladies to it, returning to the ship.  By now is was hot (31C/88F) and very humid, some air-conditioning was called for; was it really only 2 weeks ago the crew were making snowballs on the aft Lido deck, (many of them had never seen snow)?

I am going to leave you with a montage of photos which are difficult to put into a particular subject as they are odd, pretty and somehow typical of Vietnam.

 I write in the evening, having departed Nha Trang, we are now on our way to the gateway port for Ho Chi Min city (Saigon), which is Phu My.  A pilot at 4 a.m. and a 17-mile transit of the meandering river, what an uncivilised hour  😯