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If the south central region is considered to be the ‘kingdom’ of farmed lobsters, Binh Ba island (Cam Binh commune, Cam Ranh city, Khanh Hoa province) is regarded as the capital of that ‘kingdom’. The island is home to hundreds of lobster rafts on Cam Ray Bay, helping make the product the specialty of the whole region.

Binh Ba is a small island of over 3 km2 located in Cam Binh Commune, Cam Ranh City, Khanh Hoa Province. It’s about 60 km south of Nha Trang, 15 km east of Ba Ngoi port (Cam Ranh).

Why is Binh Ba Island unique?

Photo: Vietnamimmgration

Previously, the Binh Ba Island is the military island, which has restrictions on people outside entering this island. Now, the rules have been loosened, but foreigners are still banned. This is also the reason why until now Binh Ba Island gets famous! Also, if you do not want to be evicted from the island soon, you should not be curious to zones which are forbidden by the military or have disruptive acts.

Because of being strictly managed by the military, so Binh Ba remains a relatively unspoiled island, which still keeps the rustic nature and has not been devastated by human beings. Recently, the number of visitors going to Binh Ba increases more and more, and the infrastructure development has not kept pace with arrivals, making the island’s environment no longer clear as before.

There are two main types of terrain in Binh Ba:

Photo: HGV Travel

Mountain topography: The peaks include Hon Du, Hon Co, Bai Ve mountain etc with an area of 487.77 ha, accounting for 83.7% of the total area of the commune.

Delta plain: With an area of 94.78 ha, accounting for 16.3% of the total area of the commune. There are many pristine beaches, such as Bo De, Old House, Cay Me, Hon Co, Bai Chay etc. Located in the middle of the mountains and the sea, people are hard to reach.

In addition, Binh Ba beach is still wild, attractive, just wading away a few dozen meters. At here visitor have chance to see the beautiful coral at the foot. Especially on the beach are the limestone formless shapes, designs, colors very lively.

Around 1786 more and more residents, catching the sea development, propaganda that in the early years of the eighteenth century, a fleet of fishermen Quang Ngai, Phu Yen storm drifted into the sea, the sea still, the calm waves, while off the storm is still intense, called the island of Ba Binh (island of waves – later changed to Binh Ba Island).

Photo: Vinh Vo

The local people then discovered Hon Ty Island about 3 nautical miles west of Binh Ba, people scattered on this island and named Hon Tu Island (now Binh Hung Island).

As this is a pristine island, so there are a lot of beautiful beaches with clear water, white sand and blue sky. Particularly, this is very suitable for those loving natural as well as calmness. Tourists coming here will be aware of protecting the beaches as well as general environment.

There are just few tourists coming here. About 700 households with over 5000 people are living here. Visiting this place, you will not have to worry about cramping.

Photo; VNA

It is said that there are 3 well-known beaches in Binh Ba Island, which are Bai Chuong, Bai Nom, and Nha Cu. Each beach has its own feature for tourists to explore. If Bai Chuong is an ideal place to watch sunrise, Bai Nom is a perfect site to camp and watch dawn. Nha Cu beach is loved by a lot of tourists for scuba diving.

Friendly Local People

People in Binh Ba are very hospitable and friendly. Tourist services often include boat rent, accommodation etc.

Fresh Seafood

Photo: Top Tourist

Binh Ba Island is famous as an island of lobster and fresh seafood, so you should not ignore it when visiting Binh Ba. You can ask the organizers of the tour to just take the boat to the beach while being able to eat on the raft. Shrimps here are blue lobster and shrimp. In general, the price of shrimp in Binh Ba Island is cheaper than any elsewhere from 30% to 50%.

However, you should not eat too much food at a time, but should spend for the dinner. If you want to combine karaoke and party, then there are available people taking care all of that. If you want to “challenge yourself” a little bit, you can go to the local market and organize a seafood buffet by yourself. From 4 – 5pm, go to the dock area, you will find many places selling seafood.

There are plenty of lobster, shrimp green, fish, sea snail, sea cucumber, abalone, oysters, squid etc. Ask the price and choose the most favorite items for yourself, then have the restaurant to process and cook them. You can eat right at the restaurant or have them carried out to the Nom beach to enjoy while watching the sea. The organizers will lend you all, from the oven to chopsticks and bowls, your job is just to borrow a tarpaulin (ask hostel) and find the most appropriate location, then enjoy and have fun!

In addition, there are also many shops selling many delicious and inexpensive dishes like bread soup / noodle fried fish (fried or steamed), noodles and barbecued meat, pasta, smoothies, baked rice paper etc. The price just ranges from VND 10,000 – 20,000.

When Is The Best Time To Visit Binh Ba Island?

Photo: Origin Vietnam

Binh Ba is land is similar in climate like Nha Trang so you can also combine these two sites at the same time. From March 3-9 beautiful weather, quiet sea, no big waves or wind much. From around October to the end of the year, it is usually the rainy season of the inner region, where the bad sea is not suitable to travel the island.

Interesting activities on Binh Ba Island

It is hard to skip when visiting Binh Ba Island is to hire boats to go to beaches and snorkeling to see coral. You just need to wear the life-jacket and lie on a buoy, face down the sea surface so you can contemplate the coral. Even, sometimes you do not need to go down the sea to watch coral. Occasionally, at Nha Cu (Nhà Cũ) beach, when the low tide gets on, each colorful coral reef will be exposed under the sun which is easily for you to contemplate, touch and enjoy.

There are plenty of beaches, but often we just go 7 beaches, in which there are 3 ones allowing you to go to by motorbike, which are Bai Nom (Bãi Nồm), Bai Chuong (Bãi Chướng) and Bai Nha Cu (Bãi Nhà Cũ). Bai Nom is the very wide sandy beach and reefs have room there. The majority of locals and tourists swim here because the sea is very clean. Bai Chuong is located about 30 minutes from the wharf if going by foot. This is the only beach on the island from which you can contemplate the dawn. Bai Nha Cu has many pinches (urchin) so you may be stabbed in the leg by them while swimming. But the water here is very clean.

Another interesting activity in Binh Ba Island tourists can try out is to rent a motorbike to explore this island. The price of rental is VND 100,000 / day. There are a lot of spots having this service in the island, and most hostels have this service. You should ride your bike to Bai Chuong in the early morning to contemplate sunrise before running off the road to explore the mountain passes. The island offers many chances for you to observe the entire Cam Ranh bay. Some old ruins like bunkers, cannon pedestal, mountain tunnel are also worth your visit. At Nom beach, there is a park zone planted many trees. You can rental hammocks nearby. A siesta, cool sleep, swinging with the waves and the sea breeze is fantastic there.

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