Phu Quoc Things to Do

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This is a great little village. We stopped here on our motorbike tour of the island. There were some really pretty little fishing boats and the village had a really relaxed feel. A great place for a beer!!

There are so many places along the beach to eat at. There are seafood restaurants dotted along the waterfront. It makes a perfect ending to the day to walk along te beach, stop for a drink and have dinner somewhere.

Just been back from 3 days in Phu Quoc. Despite the rain (heavy sometimes) on and off we wanted to have a try at diving.
We went with Vietnam Explorer, we were honestly told visibility was poor 2m, but we still wanted to have a try. I didn't do the second dive more shallow around 10m but was told it was better (4 to 5m visibility, with fish to see this time). For the safety I didn't feel a 100% safe but my buddy did feel safe, so I guess it depends. Altough the material seemed of good quality, the divemaster didn't have a computer for diving, and when they saw I was hesitant as for the question of loosing someone due to the lack of visibility they added a second divemaster to follow (we were 4 fun divers).
If you plan your holiday specifically for diving I'd say avoid October season (we were told from November it should be fine) but if it's just for the beach activity actually this season is interestig, you don't have the crystal blue water, on the other hand you can show up at any hotel without booking, you have some beaches just for youself with nice waves, and the water temperature is still around 28C.

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This is actually a private museum that is a MUST SEE when you’re visiting Phu Quoc.
The building commands a road side location set on a hill, South of the town of Duong Dong.

This is a six floor structure that is modern in design and has great functionality…it’s a fairly new building….as is the museum itself…its barley a few years old, some parts of it are still under construction , at least were when I visited in January of 2010.

Its design is such that you can move easily around from display to display and the continuity is great.

There are sections that deal with the history of Phu Quoc, including ceramics, bronze and stone tools, and animal and sea mammal skeletons.
There are sections that deal with the historical development of the people in connection to Phu Quoc.
You can see art work made by people from Phu Quoc..works using materials that are specific to Phu Quoc., sea shells and drift wood for example.
There are displays of boats here and examples of housing structures that are or were commonly used here on the island. There’s also the obligatory Shrine to Ho Chi Min and a fairly interesting display relating to the Coconut Tree Prison that I’ve mentioned earlier..
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There is in fact various structures on the property and once you finish indoors and leave the main building there’s a walkway that takes you up the hill to some of the other buildings that are a part of the museum. There is quite an elaborate Temple here, and example of a stilted house used even today by some people here on Phu Quoc.There are gardens and even an aviary where a breed of sea eagles are kept and a kennel where they are keeping a few of the “Phu Quoc” dogs, a breed that’s particular to Phu Quoc. The sea eagles are being bred here as part of an effort to save them from extinction.

It’s an interesting place to spend some time…and it was NOT busy…I was able to wander around without any worries about being crowded into a corner…I'm not sure that many people know of its existence...when I was asking people about it...before I visited the museum...no one seemed to know anything about it..

For a condensed look at the culture and history of Phu Quoc you really must make this museum a “thing to do” while you are visiting.

Access to the museum costs only 20 000 Dong...about $ 1.00...and access is available EVERY day from 0730 AM- 1100 AM and again from 1300 Pm - 1700 PM...

A couple of days of my stay on Phu Quoc I had decided to just hang on the beach...about an hour or two into my stay...a woman came ambling by carrying a large load of fruits..I would inevitably have a visit with her every day that I was hanging out.She worked out of a small shack close to the Rainbow Bar on the same area of beach that my hotel was on.

For a nominal cost she would prepare [slice up ] some mango or pineapple and you could have a little snack without leaving the beach...

This was a no stress and no pressure convenience and she was fun to buy from..

I think I might have paid 20 000 Dong for a serving of pineapple and mango...about $ 1.00 USA equivalent.She also has available bananas,melons and other fruits that you can choose from.

I was going to suggest looking for her if you're on Truong Beach...never mind...SHE"LL find YOU!!!

If you're not interested...just say no thanks...and she wont hassle you...

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This is really what Phu Quoc is known for…it’s a beach side Paradise and there are so many uninhabited and little used beaches it’s just incredible. Soon that will change apparently because of the development plans that the Vietnamese Government has in store for Phu Quoc…but for the time being…pick a spot…and ENJOY it!

We didn’t encounter any sand fleas at any of the beaches that we were on but we did run into sea lice and jelly fish a couple of times, depending what beach we were on. We rented motorbikes one day and did a road run to the North end of Phu Quoc and in fact we saw many many miles of beaches with nobody on them

Sea lice seemed to be present in the sea along the beach of our hotel and that particular shoreline off of Truong Beach…just South of Duong Dong. We made a visit to Sao Beach on the South East side of Phu Quoc and there were jelly fish when we were there.

Up towards the North end of Phu Quoc at Sathe beaches were almost abandoned except for the odd cow or two…occasionally we would see someone setting squid or a type of seaweed to dry on racks.

We were visiting here in January and every day the sun was shining and the skies blue so it was perfect beach weather.

I think its quite likely that if you’re visiting Phu Quoc then hitting the beach is likely high on your list of things to do anyhow…so speaking from experience….I KNOW that you’ll enjoy the beaches here!!!

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We made a brief visit here while en route to An Thoi the day that we went on the snorkeling excursion. Apparently all of the “day” excursions that go by the door stop here for a quick look. It’s open to the public if you want to go on your own. There is no charge to access and look around..

There are two farming operations that are available to see…both are South of Duong Dong along the coastal highway on the way to An Thoi.

It was kind of cool to see how pearls are “cultivated” in a process that’s totally “man made”. I had not ever seen this process happen before and so I thought it was kind of a cool thing to do. It’s possible to watch…there are many workstations set up in a fairly large room where people are busy implanting a particular type of pearl oyster with the materials needed for the growth of the pearl. You see people loading the mesh panels and preparing them for deposit into the ocean where they are suspended by rope.

In case you don’t know…the process is to implant a pearl oyster with a small piece of “Mississippi Pig Toe Mussel”. A graft of tissue from a donor oyster is attached to the implant shell and inserted via a surgical cut into the host oyster shell..
The pearl oyster shells are then placed in a meshed panel and suspended in the ocean where they will grow for upwards of two years.

There is a large display area where you can purchase pearls set into different settings, necklaces, rings, etc. etc.

I didn’t price them…but I believe that they’re not that cheap if you’re interested in purchasing Phu Quoc pearls.

Check this out if you’ve never seen pearl cultivation before.

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We booked this day trip from a guy on the beach in front of our hotel…and for the life of me I can’t remember his name. The paperwork says “Rex Travel” on it…from what I saw while looking over other company’s pricing all of the snorkeling tours were the same price…it didn’t matter what company you booked through.

They offer options going to the North end of the island…and another departing from An Thoi in the South end.

We went to the South…we were picked up at our hotel about 0830 AM and transported down the coast highway to An Thoi where our vehicle was whisked right onto the wharf. We were allowed to board right away onto a waiting boat.
The group was fairly small…a total of about ten of us maybe. We pushed off and cruised for about an hour South into the An Thoi islands where we made our first stop for about a half hour to try our luck fishing..
From there we made our way to three other locations where most people chose to snorkel and swim in turquoise green blue waters. It was really a beautiful warm and sunny day and I chose to sit in the sun and relax…no swimming for me on this day.
At the third and final snorkeling stop before we headed back to Phu Quoc we set anchor and eat a pretty tasty meal that some of the crew had prepared for us. Included in the meal was sea urchin that I had watched being prepared…As it turned out….those that eat the sea urchin were CHARGED EXTRA money above what the excursion was supposed to cost. This SAME THING happened for soft drinks and beers. There was no mention of the EXTRA charges so be warned that these EXTRA charges could happen to you too if you were to go on this excursion.

The day on the water was fun but reportedly the presence of fish was minimal for some reason and not too many were in fact seen. All of the stops for snorkeling were the same with not a lot of fish seen so BE WARNED…if you’re EXPECTING to see lots of colorful fish that this MIGHT NOT happen.

The boat was large and clean with a washroom on board and plenty of seating for those that just wanted to hang out in the sun and watch or read.
It was a relaxing time and I believe we returned to Phu Quoc about 3:00 PM.

The COST of this excursion was only about $ 15.00 each and I thought well worth the money to spend the better part of the day on the water soaking up some sun!!