Hon Rom Island

Hon Rom is a small island with two peaks next to Hon Mun. Only one site is generally dived here but it is easily the most dramatic. The Swiftlets from whose nests birds nest soup is made live on Hon Rom and for part of the year you will see small corrugated iron and timber huts on the rocky slopes of the island. The hardened bird saliva used to make the nests can fetch up to $2000 per kilo and is jealously guarded by the men living in the huts.

Octopus Rock - Hon Rom

Octopus Rock is both the deepest and, i think, most impressive site in the area. It is one of the only places in the area where you can reach 30m on a dive, making it the site of choice for advanced open water deep dives. However, if you're fun diving and want some decent vis, it's best to make 16-20m the deepest part of the dive. The reef extends out from Hon Rom then drops off at around 8m. As you start the dive there is usually a school of small barracuda hovering by some large boulders studded with christmas tree worms, you can then follow the reef to a maze of rock formations where there are several swim-thrus full of cave sweepers. You enter the largest swim-thru at a depth of aroud 9m then swim through a small tunnel and emerge to bright sunlight and colourful corals at around 4m...beautiful. Schools of small squid sometimes congregate near the swim-thrus and cuttlefish can be seen making their way around the site.

Octopus rock is home to large numbers of lionfish and scorpianfish, including the yellow-spotted scorpianfish. Small crabs and egg cowries are found here along with many species of reef fish including some suprisingly tame titan triggerfish and the impressive Korean angelfish. Ribbon eels and octopuses are sometimes seen here along with large flatworms and nudibranchs, lots of moray eels and massive pufferfish. Octopus Rock is also probably the only site in the Hon Mun MPA where you have a chance of seeing large animals, namely a 4ft plus grouper that is sometimes seen swimming slowly along the reef.

Hon Mun Island

Hon Mun is the main island to dive on in Nha Trang and has the largest choice of sites so if you want to dive Vietnam this is the place to be. As the area around Hon Mun and its neighbouring islands is part of a Marine Protected Area no-one lives there, although there is a cafe where the snorkeling boats often stop to drop off their customers.

Moray Beach - Hon Mun

This is one of the best dive sites in Nha Trang and a great place for photographers.Starting off over sand you go past several coral covered pinnacles where if you look closely you might see a giant anglerfish and tiny moray eels. The reef then curves gently out to around 16m, if you go a little deeper it turns into scattered rocks where you can often find several species of moray eels and scorpianfish.

The normal turn-around point on a dive here is a large boulder at around 7m called Moray House where, funnily enough, you can often see an enormous resident giant moray. Moray House is also home to banded boxer shrimp and several leaf scorpianfish...if you know where to look. Yellow-edged moray eels live in the coral nearby and occasionally octopuses are spotted. On the way back to the boat you can off-gas as you drift over beautiful table corals, anemones and sand patches where you'll find hermit crabs and, if you're lucky, snake eels buried in the sand.

It's always worth heading out into the sand here as you can see some really nice animals. Flying gurnards, sea pens, demon stingers, bent-stick pipefish and several species of nudibranch can be found, and if you're very lucky you might see a stargazer.

Coral Gardens - Hon Mun

Some of the best coral in Vietnam can be found here and although this site can suffer from bad vis, if it's a clear day Coral Gardens is an excellent dive. Coral Gardens is next to Moray Beach and slopes from the shore down to around 22m. As you glide over the reef you see surgeonfish, wrasses, triggerfish and different species of clownfish with their host anemones. Moray eels poke their heads out of the coral as lionfish show off their colours and juvenile harlequin sweetlips can sometimes be seen sheltering under small overhangs. Cuttlefish also seem to like this site and oblique banded sweetlips shelter under ledges. A large school of fusilers can often be seen between Coral Gardens and Moray Beach.

Again, as Vietnam is mainly a macro destination it pays to go slowly and have a good look in the sand as you might see sea moths and a variety of nudibranchs here.

Tri Minh's Treat - Hon Mun

Tri Minh's Treat must be home to the largest population of pipefish in Vietnam...they're everywhere! However, this is also one place where you can really see the damage caused by dynamite fishing and by the idiots who seem to think a snorkel and a life jacket is a good excuse to trample on the reef. Lots of snorkelling boats tend to come here so it's more noticeable than at other sites and it's incredibly annoying to come up from a dive to see some guy down from Saigon on holiday happily destroying several hundred years of coral growth.

That having been said, Tri Minh's is home to a wide variety of tropical reef fish, porcelain crabs and lionfish. Balls of juvenile eel catfish, cuttlefish and phantom bannerfish can often be seen here and snake eels hide in the sand along with glass shrimp living on anemones. Tri Minh's Treat has a maximum depth of around 18m and towards the end of the site there is a big pink table coral where you can sometimes find juvenile harliquin sweetlips. As you finish the dive there is a huge brain coral with boxer shrimp and glassfish inside it, you might also see devil scorpianfish and leaf scorpianfish here.

My favourite thing about this site, however, is that as you search among the ubiquitous yellow staghorn coral and pipefish you can find some truly beautiful nudibranchs, some of which you can see in my image galleries.

Padi Beach - Hon Mun

Padi Beach is a long bay, home to a shallow sloping reef with hard corals either side of a large sand area with scattered pinnacles. Because it's so shallow here you can finish a dive over corals in 2m of water, although the reef itself goes down to around 18m. There is some visable coral damage here and, in my view, the shallower parts of the reef are nicer to dive as there's more coral growth and colour. Unfortunately, this also makes Padi Beach a popular site for snorkeling trips.

Macro critters are the things to look for here, although you can also usually see harlequin sweetlips and honeycomb moray eels as well. If you've already dived Tri Minh's Treat you'll instantly recognise the pipefish snaking their way around the reef. Scorpianfish in a variety of colours lie in wait on the rocks and brightly coloured nudibranchs are common visitors to this site. You might also see peacock groupers and six banded angelfish among the usual reef suspects, and spotted snake eels are unusual but very welcome visitors.

South Bay - Hon Mun

South Bay is one of my favourite Nha Trang dive sites. It's located on the unsheltered side of Hon Mun island so when the conditions aren't great it can be too rough to dive. However, if it's a nice day, the vis here is some of the best in the area and reveals a reef bursting with colour and life.

South Bay is a large site and you can choose from several dives to the East and West. If you stay close to the island there is a small wall down to about 10m covered with coral and anemones; in the other direction lies a maze of hard and soft corals dotted with patches of sand. Different species of eels including spotface and honeycomb morays can be found here as well as peacock mantis shrimp and cuttlefish. If you head away from the shore the reef turns into rock formations well covered with life down to a depth of around 23m. Lots of lionfish including dwarf zebra and spotfin lionfish live here as do demon stingers, huge scorpianfish and a few batfish. Also, this is the site where you are most likely to see jellyfish.