Diving Nha Trang

We spent two days in Nha Trang. The place was pretty packed with the Chinese New Year holiday, and lodging rates were hugely inflated. But, we managed to have one fabulous day of scuba diving. Nha Trang is one of the main hotspots in Vietnam for diving – the protected marine reserve of Hon Mun is a 45 minute boat ride away, and its waters are filled with micro life: tiny nutabranchs, numerous fish, and brilliantly-colored coral.

The cable car to the big island,
Hon Tre, closest to Nha Trang

If you throw a rock in Nha Trang, chances are you will hit a dive shop. There are hundreds of them in the city, and it was at first confusing to choose one. We first found Rainbow Divers, an outfit with very good marketing: the outside of their building says they are “National Geographic recommended,” and they seemed to be a well-organized outfit. But their prices were a bit hard to swallow: they wanted $75 per person for two boat dives. Other places we saw in town were charging $40.

After some internet research, I learned about a place called Sailing Club Divers. We’d passed their place, but I hadn’t considered it – being called a “club” made them sound exclusive and expensive. But, we learned it would only be about $45 for two dives, including a bus to the harbor, the boat trip out, and lunch. And all equipment included. Their instructors are top-notch and all of them spoke very good English and new the dive sites pretty well.

The floating lobster village

Our bus left a little later than other outfits we’d talked to – the owner of Sailing Club Divers said he leaves late, so that when the boat arrives at a site, they can choose the emptiest place, and not be surrounded by other dive outfits. The boat ride out was scenic and beautiful – we passed a couple other islands, as well as a whole floating lobster village. 

On the boat, we were introduced to our personal dive attendant and shown our gear. There were about 15 guests total: a French guy who was getting his Advanced certification, a Dutch girl new to diving (she’d gotten certified in Thailand), another German diver, and us. The rest were scuba diving: a Cambodian family with three cute young sons, a group of 20-something girls, and the Dutch girl’s friend.

The dive crew and equipment in the back of the boat

It was very different to be waited on throughout the trip. In Oregon, we’re used to setting up our own gear, checking everything, and then hoisting it on our backs to either clamber over big slick rocks, or down 20’ tall cliffs to get to our dive sites. On the boat, everything was taken care of for us – we were helped on with our gear, and helped off with it – all we had to do was get it on, step off the boat into the water, and then enjoy the dive.

And enjoy we did. The visibility wasn’t as clear as usual – we only got 10’ – they usually get 15-20’, but it was still fantastic for us, since Oregon rarely gets better than 5’. There was a ton of life to see, and there was no little current, so we could drift along and enjoy ourselves. 

All in all, even though the life was small-sized, our dive in Nha Trang was a real treat, and our first time diving in tropical warm waters. We’ll be looking forward to planning some dive trips to Thailand, or other tropical places, in the next few years to enjoy more warm-water diving!