3 day boat cruise of Halong Bay

Setting off on the ferry, to get to our boat- where we spent 3 days and 2 nights with 2 other couples, exploring the beautiful Halong Bay.

Our boat.

We stopped at an island and explored some caves.

Halong Bay is famous because of the thousands of rock formation islands that protrude from the sea.

Little skipper. It was the ultimate parent test for us, to date- watching him 24/7 to make sure he didn't fall into the sea.

Enjoying the view.

The cheff put so much work into all the food- we had about 8 courses every meal and no effort was spared.

Kayaking!

This was one of my favorite days ever- kayaking through caves!! It was incredible- going through long dark tunnels, and then popping out the other end in areas of water that can only be reached by going through the cave. Absolutely breath taking and so lovely to be able to share with Ernst and Arden.

We landed on a little beach for a break, before heading back to the boat.

Tweet, our Vietnamese guide.

Family van Rensburg- powered by Pappa!

The last morning of our trip, we set off for a kayak and were told to be back in 40 min. Ernst and I decided to go all the way round one of the small islands- which got bigger and bigger as we went... we reached a point where we had gone so far, we couldn't turn around, but the island was still not heading   in a homeward direction. It was very scary being so fragile on the open sea, with only Ernst having an ore and me pregnant and trying to hold a toddler who decided at one point that he had had enough! It was also cold and misty and Ernst got cramp in his arm after an hour and a half of hard rowing. We ended up getting back to the boat- everyone was very relieved to see us. Made me realise again how very fragile we are as humans.