A pretty 4km bicycle ride from Hoi An Town centre is Cua Dai beach popular for its miles of white sand and, increasingly, for kite surfing. During my visit in December it was very stormy out there on the South China Sea so it was more like a brisk Easter walk along Whitby beach than the exotic beach resort it is known as between April and August!
Nonetheless, the Cham Islands could be clearly seen sitting on the horizon in a weather-scape that changed from sun to storm, mist and gloom to rainbows in the short time I spent there wishing I could find an interpid ferry man to take me across. Unfortunately, rather like the Scillie Isles most of the year round, the journey was off limits to tourists. Unlike the Scillies, there is no airport or helipad so I will have to come back in the spring - oh what a chore!
Since 2009, these islands have been part of the network of 600 plus World Biosphere Reserves of which Vietnam has 8 and I hear they are very beautiful as well as being historically important for this region.
They are named after the ancient Cham people who first settled them about 3,000 years ago and there is still have a small population of farmers and fishermen to this day.
Link to list of World Biosphere reserves
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