Hon Mun Island

Located in the south of Nha Trang Bay, Hon Mun Marine Park is one of the most charming tourist attraction thanks to diverse marine ecosystems. Taking part in the world of shimmering colors, tourists will surely experience unforgettable moments.

Hon Mun Marine Park is situated in Nha Trang Bay, including Hon Tre Island, Hon Mieu Island, Hon Tam Island, Hon Mot Island, Hon Mun Island, Hon Cau Island, Hon Vung Island, Hon Rom Island, Hon Noc Island, and their surrounding water areas. It owns an area of 160km², consisting of around 38 km² of land and about 122 km² of islands’ surrounding water areas. Hon Mun Marine Park – the first marine conservation project in Vietnam was been officially inaugurated in 2001. The project was implemented by Ministry of Fisheries, People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa province and IUCN – the World Conversation Union. In particular, the project is also supported by Global Environment Fund through World Bank, Royal Danish Government through DANIDA and IUCN, along with reciprocal capital from Vietnam Government. Hon Mun Maine Park can be seen as representative of Vietnam’s south central bio-geographic zone. Its biodiversity levels are comparable to those of the global center of coral diversity, within Eastern Indonesia, Philippines and Spratly Islands.

Nha Trang Bay in general and Hon Mun Island in particular is one of the most important regions on marine conservation and Vietnam beach breaks. Coral reefs have been ranked international importance and biodiversity of the highest categories in Vietnam with more than 350 species of hard coral reef species, including 40 newly confirmed for Vietnam, over 230 species of reef fish, 112 species of mollusks, 112 species of crustaceans, 27 species of echinoderms, 69 species of algae and 7 species of seaweeds… The purpose of the project is to “Preserve a typical pattern of marine biodiversity reaching international importance” and achieve the goals of “assisting the community on improving the their life, collaborating with other stakeholders to protect and effectively manage marine biodiversity in Hon Mun Marine Park, creating a model for management cooperation of marine protected areas in Vietnam”.

Surveys on biodiversity and habitat of the marine protected area indicate that Hon Mun Island is home to rich and diverse coral reefs in Vietnam. It reaches international stature on account of retaining species which are similar to in the world center on coral diversity in India-Pacific region. Additionally, it has been said to find 340 out of more than 800 species of hard corals in the world here. Thanks to the terrain of the island fairly close to the hot ocean currents from the equator, it is suitable for the development conditions of corals and various types of tropical sea creatures.

In particular, Hon Mun seabed is a complex of priceless and abundant marine organisms. It is also home to observation, research for marine researchers, oceanographers and tourists looking for ascertaining about sea creatures. Diving down the seawater, tourists will be actually overwhelmed by a completely different world, a shimmering, colorful and fanciful paradise. They will have a chance to admire “untouched coral forest” stretching with multi-shapes and appealing colors. Along with anemones, and sea urchins, crabs and shrimps…, groupers, “angel” fish, butterfly fish… hover coral reefs. Taking a trip to Hon Mun, tourists can comfortably dive or use glass bottom boats to contemplate the colorful coral reefs with numerous particular species of marine life. Hon Mun Marine Park thus increasingly becomes one of the most fascinating attractions in Nha Trang.

Particularly, just to the depth of about 10 meters in Hon Mun, tourists can completely admire the fantastic view of the aquarium palace. Multifold beauty of untouched coral reefs continuously stretches with all sorts of red coral, or antler coral… Tourists can also be an opportunity to get delight with all kinds of colorful fish. They sometimes encounter giant groupers with 7-8kg of weight by chance, the eels with 3-4 meters of length, or the giant anchovies owning an area 1km²… In addition, those who love adventurous feelings can dive much deeper to explore. The depths of below 18m is indeed true exploration. Down to 18 meter- depth, there will be not only the beautiful scenery of the coral reefs, but numerous spectacular caves. There are even caves 10-15m deep; tourists must utilize lights to observe the marine life living in the shadow such as shrimps, squids, lobsters, stingrays, or starfish…

Coming to Nha Trang travel in general and Hon Mun Island in particular, tourists who are interested in exploring will actually have farther opportunity to experience an extremely fascinating feeling. They will be comfortably taking part in the shimmering colorful world of the ocean. Hon Mun Marine Park thus deserves an appealing and exciting attraction for tourists in Nha Trang tourism