Queen Victoria World Cruise 2024 - Navigator Notes (sector 5)
Sector 5: Hong Kong to Cape Town
21 March 2024
Enroute to Phu My Vietnam
Queen Victoria departed Hong Kong last night with a fantastic departure celebration, dropping off the local plot and setting a South Westerly course en-route to Vietnam. As Queen Victoria makes her way south, we will pass the highly controversial Paracel islands on our port side. These islands have been heavily contested by Taiwan, Vietnam, and China throughout history. The Para-cel islands are home to the deepest underwater sink hole in the world, named 'Dragon Hole. This is a sinkhole that is nearly a thousand feet (300m) deep, more than the length of Queen Victoria.
22 March 2024
Enroute to Phu My Vietnam
Queen Victoria continued a south westerly course following the east coast of Vietnam. The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. This Sea has historically been an important trade route between China, southeast Asia, and going to India and the west. The number of shipwrecks of trading ships that lie on the ocean's floor attest to a thriving trade going back centuries. The South China Sea contains over 250 small islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs, and sandbars, most of which have no indigenous people, many of which are submerged under water at high tide, and some of which are permanently submerged.
23 March 2024
Weather: 31 C
Port of Phu My, Vietnam
The port of Phu My is one of Vietnam's culinary centres, and your gateway to exploring history-rich Ho Chi Minh City and the seaside resort of Vung Tau. The vibrancy and history offered is enticing.
Still fondly known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is a continuous whirl of the aroma of fresh noodles, the sight of orange-garbed monks and the buzzing of scooters, all in a French colonial backdrop.
Note: as we had visited Ho Chi Minh City from a QM2 cruise in 2019 we decided to take the tour to Vung Tau to learn a bit more about the history of Vietnam and see this seaside resort.