Cape Dien

At one place, the Trường Sơn range reaches out toward the sea for the last time, touches the edge of the surf, and stops. People call this cape Mũi Đại Lãnh, or, more familiarly, Mũi Điện. For the people of old Phú Yên, and for Đắk Lắk Province today, it is a place tied to memory and pride.

The cape lies in the commune of Hòa Xuân, in Đắk Lắk Province. It is a little over 30 kilometers southeast of the center of old Tuy Hòa. According to the tourism portal of Phú Yên, the name Mũi Điện comes from the lighthouse the French built on this headland at the end of the 19th century. That lighthouse, the beach below it called Bãi Môn, and the sun rising over the sea together make up the character of the place.

Geographically, the cape is the end of the Đại Lãnh mountains, a branch of the Trường Sơn range that pushes out into the sea. It is one of the places where the mainland juts farthest east on the map of Vietnam. For that reason, Đắk Lắk Province presents it as the place that receives the first light of dawn on Vietnam's mainland. The image means a great deal to people in both places.

The cape's history is tied to the sea. At the end of the 19th century, a French officer named Varella recognized how important this headland was on the world's navigation charts, and gave it the name Cap Varella. In 1890, the French built a lighthouse to guide ships in and out of Vũng Rô Bay. The tower is a round cylinder with a spiral wooden staircase inside, and its main lamp shines tens of nautical miles. After the war, the lighthouse was badly damaged. In 1995 it was rebuilt and put back into service.

The place unfolds in three layers. The first is Bãi Môn, at the foot of the cape. It is sheltered by two headlands, Mũi Nạy to the north and Mũi Điện to the south. The beach is more than 400 meters long, with white sand, clear water and fairly gentle waves. The second layer is a freshwater stream that runs from the forest to the sea right beside the beach. A salt-water beach with a fresh stream flowing across it is a rare sight. The third layer is a stairway of about 1,000 meters that climbs from Bãi Môn to the lighthouse station, across the mountainside and through the coastal forest.

From the lighthouse, Bãi Môn appears far below, the sea opens out on every side, and in good weather the view carries a very long way. On August 22, 2008, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ranked Bãi Môn and Mũi Đại Lãnh a national scenic site.

One detail many visitors like is a coordinate marker. The tourism portal says that near the cape stands a marker recording the zero coordinates of the General Department of Land Administration.

The Đại Lãnh lighthouse is no museum piece. Its lamp still works, and every night it lights the way for ships passing through these waters, as it has for more than 100 years.

The sun rising from the sea, seen from a high mountaintop with the lighthouse standing beside it, is a moment that stays with a person. It is not the most special sunrise in the world by any geographic measure. It is memorable because it brings three beautiful things into one frame: the first light of the day, mountains holding the sea, and a century of maritime history tied to a beacon that lights the way for ships.