J: As we wanted to take the bike over to Cat Ba Island we took the early morning locals cargo ferry. It was a beautiful boat ride away from the bay and through some of the smaller islands, we felt like we were in Jurassic Park. When we docked we were at the wrong end of the island so rode the 30 kilometers through the center of the island, it was epic, we just slowly cruised along really taking it all in. I had a moment just thinking how lucky we were to be there.

S: We found a hotel over looking the bay, it had a beautiful view and I bartered the owner down from $38 to $10 - what a bargain!!

We wanted to do some activities on the island, and ended up trekking up a little mountain called Ngu Lam, which was very tricky but we saw jungle crabs, massive lizards and jungle squirrels (I say squirrel, it was more like a koala bear in size!). After that we visited the hospital cave. The Vietnamese carved out a hospital in the middle of a mountain ready for the American war. You had to climb through the jungle to get to it, no wonder it was never found. Unfortunately everything has been taken out to put into a museum but the guide was explaining how 200 soldiers would be there at one time and be treated in the operating theatres. How things have changed lol.

J: Later we went to the fort on the island. It was used during both wars and had tunnels that housed 500 soldiers. It had 3 large cannon guns that were used to shoot at warships up to 40k away! It also had some stunning views over to all the islands.