Nam Du Islands

The highest point of Nam Du is its lighthouse, standing 296 meters above sea level. From there the whole archipelago appears below like a painting: island after island, strip after strip of sandy beach, and streaks of white foam between the sea and the sky of the southwest.

Out at sea off the coast of the old Kiên Giang province, now part of An Giang, lies a scatter of islands that few people know by name and that everyone who has been there remembers. This is Nam Du, 21 islands large and small spread over the blue water, about 60 kilometers from the mainland and southeast of Phu Quoc Island. People live on 11 of them.

Nam Du is a working community of the sea, and a place to visit. There is a harbor, there are fishing villages and fish cages on the water, there is a seafood market, and there are roads that run along the mountainsides above the deep blue sea. A visitor here feels the rhythm of the fishermen's life on a distant island, up close rather than from afar.

Some people compare Nam Du to Ha Long Bay. That is only a figure of speech, a way of picturing rock islands rising from the sea. In truth Nam Du feels much closer to home. The islands are low, the water is blue, people live by nets and fishing, and the air is that of a plain, easygoing community far out at sea.

At the center of the group is Hòn Lớn, also called Hòn Củ Tron. It is the largest island, with an area of 771 hectares. Its beaches are Đất Đỏ and Cây Mến. Two more are called Bãi Ngự and Bãi Giếng. Bãi Cây Mến is presented as one of the loveliest and least developed beaches on Hòn Củ Tron. From there, a sheer cliff rises on one side and the blue sea opens wide on the other. Small islands float on the horizon like deep blue dots.

Hòn Ngang has a very different air. It has the biggest harbor in Nam Du, crowded with fishing boats and with cages where grouper and cobia are raised. Here the most memorable story is sea life in plain view rather than a distant legend: fishing, raising fish, mending nets, the market in the early morning, and the sound of waves slapping against the boats day and night.

Hòn Mấu covers 200 hectares. More than 120 households live there. Its beaches are Bãi Chướng and Bãi Bấc. Two more are called Bãi Nam and Bãi Nồm. Then there is Hòn Dầu, a small island where primary forest covers about 90 percent of it. On so small an island, that share means almost all of the land is still unbroken old forest, with roots gripping the rocks and leaves hanging down to the water's edge.