Little piece of heaven disguised as a slightly run down resort

By Unknown - February 14, 2016

In the movie Braveheart, Stephen to William Wallace says that the island (Ireland) is ‘mine’. This feeling of belonging and possession is how it felt at times on Nam Cat island – one of the many tiny islands surrounding the larger Catba island off the coast of Hai Phong, Vietnam.

From about 9 am to about lunch time, we had the island to ourselves with all the comforts you would need. These precious morning hours on our island could be spent on the foggy days taking photos of the mist and rain rolling in over the island mountains dotted around us. The sunny days allowed you to see all kinds of fish right from the jetty. Sitting alone at the end of the tiny pier watching the boats pass in the distance could be described as the idyllic vacation.

It is my island - Nam Cat, Vietnam

But the island was not ours for the whole day. In fact, this little resort is a very popular stop for tourists passing through the area that want to spend a night on a private island. From midday a new group pours in, carrying rucksacks and noisily dragging bags over the jetties to check-in. The visitors come in all shapes and sizes, and with very different travel itineraries. The older travellers stop to greet us and share their stories, and the younger backpackers gather on the beach throwing Frisbees and playing music. Early the following morning, they set-off of en masse again to continue their journey.

Due to this constant flow of visitors, every person who works at the resort and can speak some English stops by to greet us and acknowledge that they know we are the people who are staying for six days. They offer to accommodate our every need, implying their particular willingness to do this for the special long-term guests.

Granted there is not much to do on Nam Cat island. The beach is only about 100m long, and you can’t walk around the island as the cliffs are too steep with the cliffs ending in the water on both sides of the resort - long walks are out of the question. There are, however, some canoes for an outing. Otherwise, you need to catch a boat to the main island which takes about 30 minutes costing 300 000 VND.

The resort could do with some maintenance, but the longer you stay, the less you see the flaws. No Wi-Fi also means you are cut-off from the rest of the world.

Having said that, this stop has been the perfect second week for our round-the-world trip. We really needed to slow things down and chill out. The anxious feeling of having to rush about to finish as many tasks as possible takes a while to work itself out of your system. Our island is the perfect place to do just that.