Ba Lua Islands

More than 40 low rocky islands rise out of the sea off Sơn Hải commune, in the southwest of Vietnam. People of the area describe the place as something like Ha Long Bay, only closer, gentler, and not so grand that a visitor has to tilt back to look. Together the islands are called the Bà Lụa Islands.

The exact count depends on who is counting. The Kiên Giang newspaper lists 42 islands, while the national tourism authority lists 45. The two sources differ a little, so it is safest to say there are more than 40 islands, large and small. What is certain is that they lie in the waters of Sơn Hải commune, about 6 kilometers west of Cape Hòn Chông. Since the administrative reorganization of 2025, Sơn Hải belongs to An Giang province. Older documents often still say Kiên Lương, Kiên Giang.

The most striking part is a cluster called Ba Hòn Đầm. It begins with Hòn Đầm Đước and Hòn Đầm Dương. The third island is Hòn Đầm Giếng. The three lie close together and make a stretch of shallow, calm water. When the tide runs low, people can wade across the water between the islands. White sand shows underfoot, and the deep blue sea closes in all around.

The name Bà Lụa has a story of its own. One account says this was the name of a woman general in charge of supplies, who set up a silk weaving workshop on the island to help the forces of Nguyễn Trung Trực in the resistance against the French. Another account tells of a Vietnamese woman of Chinese descent named Lụa, who lived under French rule. The two stories do not agree. So they are best taken as local legend, which gives the place more depth, and not as a historical conclusion. People usually keep a story like this to tell, not to argue over.

Sơn Hải offers more than island scenery. This is a community that has lived from the sea for many generations. People here fish, raise two-shelled shellfish, farm fish in cages and on rafts, and practice the craft of mending nets.

One local product is called mắm lụa. The Bà Lụa Islands are a natural breeding ground for a shellfish called nghêu lụa. This shellfish goes into the Kim Ngân mắm lụa. In 2023 it was recognized as an OCOP three-star product. OCOP, short for One Commune One Product, is a national program that rates local products with stars. A spoonful of mắm lụa, thick, lightly salty and smelling of the sea, is the shortest way to understand how this island region has fed its people through the generations.

Bà Lụa does not need a comparison with Ha Long Bay to be worth reaching. Its beauty lies in being close at hand: low islands, shallow water, a living made from nets and fishing, and a western sea that has not been disturbed too much. It is the kind of small piece of sea that people stay attached to all their lives. In the afternoon, when the fishing boats come back to the landing and the waves lap softly against their sides, the smell of mắm lụa drifts out from the houses along the shore.