Cham Island

I was lying on the beach, looking at Cham island in the distance and wondering what to do, when I remembered you can dive the Cham Islands. 

 Back at the guest house I got my phone out, googled Cham and found Cham Island Diving- a dive shop in Hoi An. Shortly after I was booked into a hotel for the next night- Tuesday, and to go diving on Wednesday. Seemed perfect!

On arrival, I went to the dive shop, where an Italian girl, Elisabetta was discussing the possibility of staying overnight on the island.  Sounded nice; the only problem was, due to a coming storm we couldn’t go the next day and diving was cancelled. I took the opportunity to go An Bang beach (see ‘Lost on the Beach!’) and to do a cycle tour.

By Friday the storm had passed and we were good to go. The boat was pretty busy, taking snorkelers and discover scuba divers as certified divers. This meant there were a lot staff on board and they were all pretty friendly. One guy (Rafa) even came from Valencia, where I live. Small world!

“You must never lie, you know,” he said. “You never know who you will meet on the boat.” Too true.

The diving was not as good as Koh Tao, partly due to poor visibility in the aftermath of the storm. It wasn’t helped by the fact I couldn’t clear my left ear, so spent some of the time above everyone and could only see bubbles. (Turns out I had an inner ear infection). It was pretty in the shallows though and we did see some cool black lion fish and a huge puffer fish-‘fogu’- which if you eat it can kill you if you don't prepare right. 

After two dives we arrived at the island for lunch. A large wooden tabled had been set up with barbecued fish, tofu, noodles, cutlets, squid, vegetables and of course, rice. It was a nice chance to chat to people without getting seasick if you looked away from the horizon (even though one girl insisted on telling me all about her ‘capsicum’ allergy).
  

 
Eventually the day-trippers headed off and Ivan, who had left Italy and come to live with the fishermen on the island some years before offered to take us to the local village. Elisabetta and I took him up on the offer. We went in a small wooden boat and arrived to find a small undercover market where vegetables were sold. Immediately people started greeting Ivan enthusiastically, and some of the men stopped to punch him playfully.

We walked slowly on, stopping to observe different aspects of village life: from wood chopping and bread making to a funeral. 

 

 Everyone made us feel welcome and they were happy to be photographed. I was even invited in to have a go at kneeding the bread. 

On leaving the shade of the village, the heat hit us, but with the forest to our left and the East Sea to our right, butterflies and the occasional monkey, it was a lovely walk. 

Then, time for a swim before dinner, then chilling before making a fire.

We sat around, chatted and drank beer, everyone was very nice. A Dutch guy called Lucas and his sister Ines were happy to lend out their torch a relief, as Ivan’s parting words warned of snakes crossing the small wooden bridge and going to the bathroom!

The night passed without incident, and after a dip in the calm sea, looking at the stars and the plankton that glowed as you moved, people started drifting off to bed.

There were lights on the horizon form distant Hoi An and the occasional fishing boat chugged along, but apart from that, it was dark and peaceful –no doubt helped by the fact, with Ciara’s help, I had moved my tent away from the others to the edge of the sea (allowing 5 metres for the tide to come in).

I slept like a log and when I woke up, didn’t want to move from where I was- it was beautifully tranquil and in the early morning light the sea looked almost silver. 

It was definitely worth waiting to visit Cham Island.