Scuba diving has been on Michael, Lucas, and Henry’s wish list for a while. I got scuba-certified over 20 years ago in Australia while studying abroad. I was excited to go diving again.
The Cham Islands are a group of eight small islands of Quảng Nam, which form a part of the Cu Lao Cham Marine Park, a world Biosphere Reserve recognized by UNESCO. It is only a short boat ride from Hoi An.
Tiger Fish Dive Center picked us up at our hotel on Saturday morning. We packed an overnight bag and wore our bathing suits. The boat took about 45 minutes to get to Cham Islands. After a quick stop at the main doc for paperwork, we headed to our first dive spot.
Tiger Fish, the scuba company we used, offers try dives. It is a way to try scuba diving without a certification. Lucas, Henry, and Michael were in the water and scuba diving within 5 minutes of the boat parking at the first dive site. A dive master goes with one to two divers. On the first dive the dive masters held on to us. On the second dive, we all swam on our own. Lucas and Henry want to get scuba-certified. We each dove twice, and we were able to snorkel too.
After diving, Tiger Fish took us to a beach for lunch. I sat with the Vegans of our group and had a delicious meal of tofu, morning glory salad, rice, and noodles. We had an hour to relax on the beach and swim in the water. We saw our first monkey on the beach eating a coconut.
Tiger Fish dropped us off on the main island. Each family booked their hotel for the night. We stayed at the Cham Corner Island hotel. We had a small double room with a bathroom and a view of the ocean. We met up for drinks and dinner. Cheeky monkeys were roaming about looking to snag some food. We were able to keep them a bay.
The next morning, Michael, Vicki and I took a walk along the island to a beach. We waded in the water and took in the views.
The McDougalls and our family took another tour. We went underwater walking and snorkeling with Sea Trek. The underwater walking was a unique experience. You get in the water up to your shoulders, and then they put a helmet on you that is hooked up to air. As you descend into the water, the helmet stays dry even though you can reach your hand in it. We walked underwater for 15 minutes. We got up close and personal with the fish. We got to feed them too. We also snorkeled at two different locations.
We returned to the same beach as the day before for another lunch and time to hang out at the beach. Then we went back to Hoi An and were at our hotel by 4 p.m. It was a memorable experience. Henry is already pestering us about scuba diving again. We are looking into scuba certificates for Lucas and Henry in Thailand.
