Salanganes islands which belong to Cam Ranh Bay are also well-known as Sanest Islands and can be seen from Long Beach. They are the biggest home of thousands of salangane (edible-nest swiftlets or aerodramus fuciphagus) in Nha Trang particular and Viet Nam in general. The cluster of islands, currently, is under controlling and exploiting of Sanest Tourist (Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company) – the leading island tour operation in Nha Trang. That explains why it is the monopoly of organizing the trip, namely Noi Island Salanganes Tour (Tour Đảo Yến – Hòn Nội).

The trip started at 7:30am at the Sanest Tourist Port (inside Cau Da Tourist Port). There are two types of vessels used for the tour, wooden vessel with a capacity of 50 guests and composite vessel with a capacity of 20 guests. Composite vessels run faster, but just for group guests. If you are a retail customer, you would be able to take the wooden one. It was more interesting for me to experience this kind of vessels because its speed is slow enough to enjoy and capture the wonderful landscape as well as the beauty of Nha Trang Bay, but also faster than boats designed for scuba diving or 04 islands tour. That’s why travelling time was reduced to 90 minutes only for a distance of 25 km instead of several hours as before.

In order to protect the salanganes, all passengers required to step inside two trays of pinkish disinfectant solution before boarding to avoid carrying disease on the islands. This method was applied after the outbreak of bird flu a few years ago. After taking a seat, we were provided a life jacket, drinks (a can of Sanest and a bottle of Sanna), and a sandwich for breakfast.

The tour covered two islands and Sam Island (Hòn Sam) is the first one we visited. There was a small but open salanganes cave which was very convenient for the tourist to see how the birds live and build their nests. Because of its narrow width, so people had to enter each group of 05 in turn. Camera flash was not allowed when shooting here.

Personally, I think the greatest experience on the island is not about the salanganes, but about the albatross. This was the first time I saw so many albatross flying around me like that. They seemed to be very familiar with the appearance of tourists. Really impressive. Everything happened as a scene in a movie.

To be convenient for their workers and customers, Sanest Tourist built several friendly environment ladders and bridges by bamboo. For the stable growth, Sanest not only didn’t destroy the natural landscape to develop tourism, but also has been contributing greatly in developing the number of salanganes living here. In 1994, there were only 150.000 salanganes. Next 11 years, in 2015, the number of salanganes was over 500.000 and still on the rise. It was the result of simultaneous development of exploitation, protection and development by creating the best living condition for them

From Sam Island, we were able to see the Ngoai Island (Hòn Ngoại), the one in conical shape. There was the largest natural salanganes cave in Viet Nam and its image could be found on the Sanest beverage can. But it was impossible to send tourist there due to its inaccessible location.

After Sam Island, we moved to Noi Island (Hòn Nội) – the second and also the last destination in the tour by glass-bottom boat which gave us a chance to observe coral reefs and underwater life.

Noi Island was bigger than Sam Island and is the home of the legendary twin beach. The beach located in the western part of the island while the eastern part was cliff shoreline with several salanganes caves and watchtower belong to Sanest, of course. The whole island had two piers, one for small boats and one for big boats.

To have the whole view toward the twin beach, you have to overcome 220 steps to conquer Du Ha peak (90 meters above sea level). It opened a magnificent scenery which blew my mind right away. Such an incredible view. Even if I tried, I would never be able to describe how beautiful the island was. After taking some photos, I spent the whole time here to enjoy this wonderful landscape at an octagon cottage instead of looking for the Buddhist temple to worship. Then asking myself if it had been a life changing experience. And my answer was absolutely yes.

From Du Ha Peak, you were able to see the path created by sand and dead coral linking the main part of the island and the Temple of Salanganes God. It divided the sea into two beaches, the left one (the long beach) with turquoise waters and the right one (the short beach) with crystal water. They all were beautiful and clean, but the right one has more coral reefs. My only tip would be to be caution when swimming or snorkeling here because you might have an unexpected meeting with jelly fish or stepping on a sea urchin.

The tour also covered a Vietnamese lunch of five dishes and served at the restaurant on the island. The menu included steam squid with ginger and ginger fish sauce; grilled rabbitfish; shrimp cook with fish sauce and bacon; boil vegetable, sour and sweet fish soup and tropical fruit for dessert. If you want to taste the very fresh seafood, let’s order. The guys there will collect some sea urchins or snails from the ocean, which are absolutely to die for.

After lunch you could spend two more hours on the beach, got something to drink with an affordable price or took a sun chair to lounge around before boarding to return the mainland at 2pm.

Noi Island Salanganes Tour opens from March to September and only departs if there are enough customers required. Once making the booking, tour desk staff of Sanest Tourist will let you know possible days base on their booking list from individuals and agencies. Hence, no matter which agency you make the booking with, they still have to contact Sanest Tourist for the schedule. That’s why I chose to work directly with them from the beginning for accurate information and best price. 

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One day Noi Island Salanganes Tour
Price: 390.000 VND/ pax (2017)
Include: Boat + Light breakfast + Drinks + Lunch + Glass bottom Boat + Harbor Fee + Travel Insurance + VAT
Overall Rating (for reference): 10/10
Tour Operation: Sanest Tourist – 89 Thong Nhat Street
Phone: (0258) 3818 191 – (0258) 3818 189
Website: http://sanesttourist.com.vn
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  Phuong Do