Nha Trang Resort, Vietnam
by Lucy Kublikowski

I was slightly disappointed to find Nha Trang was a big bustling town, I had read that it was Vietnam’s top diving destination and had wrongly assumed I would find a small idyllic resort with crystal clear water and endless white sandy beaches. The reality was somewhat different.

About 2/3rd of the way down Vietnam’s endless coastline and about 10 hours bus ride from Saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City), Nha Trang attracts many Vietnamese holiday makers as well as transiting back packers. It has a busy port and whilst the town has a long clean beach, the water is far from clear or clean. Off shore are numerous islands, some inhabited and it's is around these that there is the best diving and clearer water.

Since 1990, this communist country has embraced commerce and as a result hotels catering to the influx of travellers have sprung up everywhere. Modern, cheap and generally spotless, Vietnam is fast becoming a tourism hot-spot.

When you arrive in Nha Trang, there are adverts and leaflets from diving centers in every hotel and restaurant, with many dive operators having more than one office. It all became a bit confusing, and for this reason we opted for the largest and seemingly most organized operator, Jeremy Stein’s Rainbow Divers.
I am usually not a big fan of large operators but our enquiries were handled efficiently and courteously which was reassuring in a country that can be a little ‘ad hoc’ at the best of times. The dive shop was well kitted out with modern equipment on show unlike some of the other places we had visited. We gave them our shoe size and BCD size, as hire equipment is kept on board their boat, and dispensed to you once you board.

Sure enough the next morning we were collected on time (a rare occurrence in Vietnam) from our hotel and deposited on the quay where our boat was waiting. Our Irish Dive Master advised us not to spend money buying water and snacks from the hawkers as these are provided free on board.

The large comfortable boat takes a maximum of 20 divers and the company has a maximum of 4 divers per instructor/Dive Master. There was a mix of abilities on the boat, from people doing try-dives to advanced divers. There were also some snorkellers on board making it seem slightly crowded.

The equipment is stored at the back of the boat, each person having their ‘peg’ with their kit on. Groups were ushered down, first to try on their kit and then gather in designated spots for a dive briefing. We were pleased to be grouped with other advanced divers and for once I felt I might get a dive of a reasonable duration.

Our group was to be dispatched first, presumably to allow for a longer dive than the less experienced divers in the other groups. With 7 groups of differing abilities it was quite a feat to get everyone in the water, but it should not be at the expense of safety.

All the scuba sets were ready, a time saving practice on the part of the company and more practical in the confined space of a boat, but to my mind it is something that needs to be practiced by divers, making them more self sufficient.
Once my equipment was on, I waited patiently for my buddy to finish kitting up, only to be told my equipment had been checked and I should get into the water. When I replied that I wanted to do a buddy check, I was told it was not necessary. I ignored the instructor and completed my buddy check anyway.
For the first time ever I experienced problems with my ears and I now understand the plight of those struggling to equalize. To all those divers I have glared at impatiently as you hover above – I apologise! It took me a while to descend, and even then it was a relatively shallow dive of 14m, but I enjoyed the dive tremendously and was pleasantly surprised by the visibility and marine life. The owner, Jeremy Stein has a special interest in Nudibranchs, even running a unique Vietnam, Nudibranch speciality PADI course. I managed to find 3 different species but couldn’t match the 15 or so that he found.

The dive site, “Manta Beach” was a fringing reef with a gradual slope to a sandy bottom. There were lots of coral outcrops in the sand as well as the main reef that rose to about 5m below the surface. The site is also a favourite of day-trippers who come to snorkel but the most concerning aspect are the glass bottom boats that also ply their trade, and motor inside the mooring cordon, directly over the area where divers are swimming/training.

On surfacing I discovered about a dozen boats all clustered around the reef. We had been led back up the mooring line to our dive boat, which was moored outside the cordon. An emergency ascent or a novice struggling with buoyancy, could have been in real danger from the boats passing overhead.

Once back on board, there was cake and biscuits to help yourself to, as well as bottled water whilst we killed time before our second dive. The next site, “Seahorse Bay”, was slightly further around the island. We were told that seahorses could be found, but I don’t think anyone spotted them. It was another pleasant dive, nothing particularly spectacular, but good visibility and plenty of reef fish.

At present the vast majority of customers are back packers on budget holidays, so prices have to be rock bottom to attract their business. At US$35 per person for 2 dives, diving in Nha Trang is a bargain, the down side is that it is a business based on volume so don’t expect to have the boat to yourself, whichever operator you choose. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the operation and the dive sites but felt safety was compromised by the number of people on the boat and the rush to get everyone into the water.