Location: Gulf of Tonkin, South China Sea
Bai Tu Long is a bay of Vietnam, located in the Gulf of Tonkin in the
Northeast region of Vietnam. Bai Tu Long Bay includes a sea area of Cam
Pha city and Van Don island district.
The bay's waters have a
geographical location: the east borders the waters of Co To island
district, the west borders the mainland of Cam Pha city and Cai Bau
island, the south borders the waters off the Gulf of Tonkin, the north
borders coastal areas of Dam Ha and Hai Ha districts. In the bay there
are hundreds of large and small islands belonging to the Van Hai island
line of Van Don district.
According to the stories told:
In the past, the people of the
newly established country of Vietnam were invaded by foreign invaders.
The Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon to bring a group of baby Dragons
to earth to help the Vietnamese fight the enemy. When the enemy boats
came ashore from the sea, the Dragons sprayed countless pearls and
instantly turned into thousands of rocky islands in the sea, creating a
solid wall to block the advance of the enemy boats. The enemy fleet was
rushing fast and was suddenly stopped, crashing into rocky islands or
crashing into each other and breaking into pieces. After the enemy was
defeated, the Mother Dragon and Baby Dragon did not return to heaven but
stayed in the lower world, where the battle had just taken place. The
location where the mother dragon descends is Ha Long, and the location
where the baby dragon descends is Bai Tu Long. The tails of dragons
waving in the white water is Long Vi with a fine sand beach more than
ten kilometers long.
Bai Tu Long Bay is an island with a climate divided into two distinct seasons: hot and humid summer, and cold, dry winter. Average annual temperature ranges from 15 °C - 25 °C; Rainfall is about 2000mm - 2500mm / year. Bai Tu Long Bay also has a tidal system with a tide level of about 3.5 - 4m/day. Salinity ranges from 31 to 34.5 MT in the dry season and is lower in the summer.
The population in the bay is about over 300,000 people, concentrated in Van Don island district and the islands of Quan Lan, Ban Sen, Ngoc Vung and the coastal areas of Ben Do and Cua Ong... They live mainly by fishing and farming. growing and breeding aquatic species.
Bai Tu Long Bay, along with Ha Long, has become one of the natural
wonders of the world. This place still has the imprint of Ha Long
culture from thousands of years ago and also retains quite intact the
purity of an archipelago in the wild. With beautiful islands and long
white sand beaches, Bai Tu Long Bay increasingly attracts foreign
visitors. In particular, Bai Tu Long ecological area in Van Don island
district stretches over an area of 100 hectares, has over 10 km of
coastline, the eco-tourism area is built on the basis of harmoniously
combining traditional Asian architecture with Modern western style.
Closed stilt houses close to the sea create a feeling of closeness to
nature, blurring the boundary between the noisy, bustling modern world
and the vast sea. The rhythm of life in Van Chai with legends about the
sea and enjoying sea specialties such as cobia, grouper, shrimp, crab,
crab, mussels, apricot, monkfish, snails, snails, squid...
Bai Tu
Long National Park was chosen as one of Vietnam's representative marine
conservation areas. According to recent survey results voted by
customers of the eco-tourism company Gecko Travel (UK), Vietnam's Bai Tu
Long Bay has entered the "top 5" of the most wonderful tourist
destinations in Southeast Asia. .
Currently, in addition to using
ships and boats, another way to admire the landscape of Bai Tu Long Bay
is to watch from above by seaplane. The New York Times Magazine (USA)
once voted the experience of viewing Bai Tu Long Bay and Ha Long Bay
from a seaplane as one of the most attractive tourist services in 2015.
Sea and islands
The islands in Bai Tu Long have the form of
limestone islands and schist islands, which are ancient images of
terrain with a geological tectonic age of about 300 million years,
due to the process of lifting and lowering many times from the
mainland. sea-basin city. The process of Karst erosion and
weathering creates a special form like a water desert painting
created from the sea and islands. On the rocky islands of the bay
there are also karst caves, especially Quan Cave (Navy Cave), which
people used as a shelter for ships in the past during rough seas.
Other famous islands and island clusters such as Cap Ky Nhay, Cap Ky
Gia, The Vang, Hon Chong island cluster, Hon Van Don, Hon Hon, Hon
Ba Sao, Chan Nghia mountain... are also attractive spots for
tourists. discover. In addition, on Bai Tu Long Bay there are many
islands of land so many people live, raise livestock, and cultivate
crops such as Quan Lan, Minh Chau, Ngoc Vung, Dong Chen, Vang
Card...
In particular, there is Monkey Island (Reu Island)
located not far from Cam Pha city, where many breeds of golden
monkeys Macaca mulatta are raised to get medicinal herbs to make
Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) that contributes to Complete eradication of
polio in Vietnam in the 2000s, hepatitis A vaccine, diarrhea in
children, respiratory infections, drugs to prevent H5N1 virus. Since
the start of operations in 1962, many doctors, animal husbandry
engineers, and staff have volunteered to stay on the island, taking
care of and raising monkeys using semi-natural methods at the Reu
island farm. Faced with the sacrifices of monkeys for medicine, camp
chief Vu Cong Long proposed that the agency build a stele on the
island to commemorate those sacrifices, to express the love in
response to the meaning of the golden monkey Macaca mulatta.
The history of Bai Tu Long Bay is also closely linked to the history of the Vietnamese people with famous places such as Van Don, a bustling seaport during the Ly Dynasty nearly 900 years ago, a bustling area on the wharf under boats. goods, crowded with traders from Siam and China, plus ships arriving at ports of India, Japan, and from the Middle and Near East. Bai Tu Long Bay is also a place to commemorate the heroic victory of Tran Khanh Du and his three Pham brothers, from Quan Lan commune, who defeated the salary fleet of Mongol enemy general Truong Van Ho (1288). In addition, on Bai Tu Long Bay there are famous temples such as: Cua Ong Temple, also known as Suot Temple, near Cam Pha, worshiping Hung Nhuong Vuong Tran Quoc Tang, the third son of Monsignor Hung Dao Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan - He contributed greatly in many battles against the Mongol army. He is also an open-minded poetic writer and a profound thinker of Zen Buddhism. The people expressed their gratitude and built a temple; Every year, there is a celebration festival on the full moon day of the first lunar month. Tinh Hai Fort, Mac Dynasty Citadel (on Ngoc Vung Island), Quan Lan Peak (on Quan Lan Island); The 100-compartment pagoda in Thang Loi commune (Van Don district - Quang Ninh) is one of the largest architectural works in the Northeast region.
Bai Tu Long Bay is home to high biodiversity with typical ecosystems
such as mangrove ecosystems, coral reef ecosystems, pine forest
ecosystems, and tropical forest ecosystems.
Survey results show a
diversity of marine animals including 391 species. Most of the marine
animals here are seafood species with high economic value and great
scientific significance. The presence of planktonic larvae and juveniles
reflects the closed cycle of the life cycle of seafood species. The
existence of these two simultaneous life forms is possible thanks to the
marine ecosystems in the Bai Tu Long Bay area, which is where life
sources are distributed, generated, and stored. Specifically: 51 species
of zooplankton, 132 species of benthic animals, 19 species of fish, 79
species of coral (including 17 species recorded in the Vietnam Red
Book). Among them, there are many rare species such as abalone, sea
cucumber, sea cucumber, bee clam, also known as Sirenia, which the world
has included as rare species that need to be protected. With special
values in terms of landscape, geomorphology, biodiversity, along with
the potential cultural sediments of Van Don, which is one of the
cultural cradles of ancient Vietnamese people, Bai Tu Long Bay needs
receive the attention and protection they deserve.