Vietnam?

[Dan54545]

Hello, I can't find much if any reliable information on diving Vietnam. Am I better off skippng it and going to the Philipines for 4 days? My trip is time limited, so I was hoping to find something great in Vietnam but that doesn't seem to be the case, and i'm going next week, so weather isn't favorable in Thailand. Thank you for any advice!

 

[noserider]

I did some diving in Danang in the mid 90's using old 19th century nautical maps around Cham island to try and find potential dive sites in the weeks before the first dive centre in Danang opened, trying to help them put identify potential sights. From memory the diving wasn't that inspiring, visibility was OK and sea life we found not a patch on Thailand, Indo or the Philippines.

However big caveat, this was almost 30 years ago now and was very early in recreational scuba being developed in Vietnam so it could be a lot better now, although I dived with someone last year who dived for a couple of days south of HCMC and he said it was nothing to write home about

 

[Luko]

Diving in Vietnam is mostly located around Nha Trang where there are the most dive centers (dive season supposed to be from Apr to Sep), further north Whale island ( Hon Ong), the resort is (was) pretty (in the mid 2000's), mostly macro but a few coral dives too.
There are also dives ops off Hoi An and Phu Quoc.
Wouldn't consider VN as a dive destination though. better take a flight to other dive destinations such as the Phils, M'sia or Indo.

 

[Centrals]

Hello, I can't find much if any reliable information on diving Vietnam. Am I better off skippng it and going to the Philipines for 4 days? My trip is time limited, so I was hoping to find something great in Vietnam but that doesn't seem to be the case, and i'm going next week, so weather isn't favorable in Thailand. Thank you for any advice!

Where are you going to land initially?
East coast of Thailand eg. Koh Tao is the diving season now.

 

[AnotherDiverHere]

I am in the same boat, I am trying to find more information on diving in Vietnam, with little success. A few places pop up but not much. Dare I ask...

Does anyone have any recommendations and/or contacts for technical training or diving?

 

[MB NZ]

My main memory of diving in Vietnam was hearing the blasts of dynamite fishing while I was underwater. Don't bother, go somewhere else.

 

[AnotherDiverHere]

My main memory of diving in Vietnam was hearing the blasts of dynamite fishing while I was underwater. Don't bother, go somewhere else.

Damn!! Where were you diving?

 

[MB NZ]

Nha Trang.

 

[noserider]

My main memory of diving in Vietnam was hearing the blasts of dynamite fishing while I was underwater. Don't bother, go somewhere else.

That used to be common across SE Asia, heard it in the Philippines and Indo a lot as well in the 90's

 

[MarkH]

I did a day of diving off Nha Trang in 2019. Video:Photos/Report:nhatrang
I thought it was enjoyable, but not in the same category of other places in SE Asia. Basically, I wouldn't travel there just to dive, but if I was there for other reasons, it's definitely worth doing some diving.