. We were pleased to see that the cabins on our junk, the Star Fish Cruiser (also called Bien Ngoc), were very efficient and well provisioned, more than what we expected. We were especially glad to see A/C, power plug-ins, an ensuite bathroom, two push-together single beds, and a good view from the two portholes.

 After lunch, we took the tender to Titop Island, one of the bay's many larger outcrops. It was named after the Russian astronaut German Titop on the occasion of his first visit to Halong Bay in 1962. There were +400 steps to a lookout at the top. 

We stopped at the platform half-way up to take photos and Beam offered to take shots of the two of us with the scenic bay and beach as a backdrop. The view of the bay was beautiful - lots of junk boats - with a small sandy beach for swimming. Not many went swimming as the beach was small and the water was fairly shallow out to the buoy. But we did splash around for awhile to cool off and enjoyed the fine white sand.

Before moving on to the Hidden Lagoon our tender made a detour back to our mother ship.