By Courtney Ridgel
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Booking Coordinator Courtney just returned from a trip through Cambodia and Vietnam. In the Central Vietnam town of Hoi An she and her boyfriend Evan were fortunate enough to try out a dive tour through Cham Island Diving …
Cham Island Diving is a French-run PADI dive center that provides a variety of multi-lingual dives and snorkeling tours around the Cham Islands, just off the coast. They run both day tours and overnight tours that include camping on the beach — with a full itinerary we opted for the day dive. On our trip, there were people who had never been diving before, along with seasoned experts who travel the world to dive, making the experience suitable for just about anyone.
After we were picked up from our hotel and taken to the dive boats, the crew divided the passengers between the boats, separating those strictly snorkeling and those diving (or snorkeling with divers). It takes about 40 minutes to cruise out to the islands giving us the opportunity to enjoy the sea air and spot some traditional fishing boats as we went by. All of the equipment was provided and prepared for us, and as we hadn’t been diving in a long time, were treated to a quick but thorough review.
Although our boat held around 25 divers, the dive groups weren’t any larger than 5-6 people. Our dive group had 4 people plus our dive guide, Raphael. Each group was sorted by ability level and by language — everyone in our group was certified but not very experienced, and spoke English while other groups spoke only French.
Upon arriving at the Cham Islands, the boat stopped in two different locations to provide some variety between dives. For those who are content with only one dive, there is the option to relax on the roof deck which has an awning and comfortable lounge chairs. Not a bad way to cruise the ocean!
Although the water can be a bit murky due to the current, we did see some neat fish including blue starfish, black urchins, red worms, yellow and purple coral, clown fish, some large silvery fish and a barracuda. Evan even spotted a lion fish!
Afterwards the boat carried us to a beach on one of the islands and a local man in a small motorboat took everyone ashore though some people elected to swim. We were served a banquet-style seafood lunch in the local restaurant. After lunch we had some time to relax on the beach or swim before we were taken back to the boat to head back to port. Land-ho!