Song Ngu Island in Vinh, Vietnam

About 4km southeast of Cua Lo Beach is Song Ngu Island, which looks like a huge fish. The island is described as “two fish swim on the wave when seen from a far distance”.

In the past, King Le Thanh Tong often anchored his boat by the island to view the beauty of the island, the sky, the cloud, waters and got inspiration to write poems.

Song Ngu Island covers two small islands. The big one is 133m high, the small one is 88m high comparing to the sea level. In order to view the panorama of the island, you must stand on the river bank. The old sayings mentioned that “the scenery with mountain and river is so interesting!”. Song Ngu Island is not only cherished mountain and river but also the blue sea. The island makes Cua Lo Beach more poetic.

Having set foot on the island, tourists are fond of viewing strange pebbles shore, stretching kilometres. If you want to swim, you can swim on the “Fairy” bathing beach in transparent waters.

There is a big pagoda on the island. The pagoda was built in the Tran Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries. Princess Huyen Tran, who was saved and taken to Thang Long by general Tran Khat Chan, once was on the island and burnt incenses in the pagoda. The old bell in the pagoda was cast in the Tran Dynasty. On the pagoda’s yard, you can sit under shadow of centuries-old trees and view transparent water of Fairy Well. The well water is used to distil very delicious steam rice alcohol, which is very famous in the central province of Nghe An.

Song Ngu Island is veined with trails inviting visitors to wander for several hours. The captain summons passengers back with a bell and ferries them to a floating village specialising in ca gio, a fish weighing up to 5kg whose meat is as white and tender as lean pork. Raising ca gio in submerged cages, the fishermen hope to relocate farther out to a 300ha area west of “Dao Mat” (Eye Island), a move they expect will lure more tourists.

Besides bathing beach, viewing the island to enjoy fresh air, you can join in mountain climbing or sightseeing tour round the island and visiting Ca Do Dao Ngu Aquarium. Song Ngu Island really becomes an interesting tourist attraction for tourists to Cua Lo and “if you come to Cua Lo, you are strongly recommended to visit Song Ngu Island”.