From Ha Tien, most people go to either Cambodia or Phu Quoc. When we applied for our visas for Vietnam, we had requested single entry visas, so if we went to Cambodia, we wouldn’t be able to get back into Vietnam. Since our return flight was already booked, and departed from Ho Chi Minh City airport, that was not an option.

Phu Quoc is a very popular destination, with many package holiday tourists in resorts and elevated prices. But about halfway between Ha Tien and Phu Quoc lies a cluster of small islands called Tien Hai. Long ago, these islands were close to a popular shipping route, and became the base for pirates trying to make their fortune by raiding this route. This is why the main island is sometimes referred to as Pirate Island, but it is also (confusingly) known as Hon Tac, Hon Tre or Hai Tac. The latter seemed to be the most popular among locals, and it’s also the name used on the ferries that get you there, so I’ll stick with that.

Getting to Hai Tac

After reading a bit about Hai Tac – travelfish’s guide to Hai Tac was particularly helpful – we decided to spend a day there. Before you decide to do the same thing, it would be wise to check if the island is open to foreigners. The island has been off limits for foreigners on and off, for reasons unknown to us. Andy at the Oasis Bar in Ha Tien is a reliable source for this. Getting on the right ferry can be a bit tricky – Ha Tien now has 2 ferry ports and multiple companies operating out of them.

The correct spot for the Ha Tien – Hai Tac ferry is here. You can buy tickets from a little shack by the road, which also has a sign outside listing the departure times (07:45, 08:00, 08:30 and 13:45) and the return times (08:45, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00). Whether or not all of these actually go depends entirely on the demand and the weather. When we rocked up, there was only a crossing at 07:45 and a return at 14:30. We purchased our tickets at the shack for 50,000d (1.89 EUR) each, one way, and made it onto the ship with 15 minutes to spare.

In our case, the crossing took about an hour, in a fairly choppy sea as it was a bit blowy with wind speeds up to 4-5 beaufort. The ferry moors at a pier on the southeast side of the island. When we arrived, the whole pier was full of local tourists that had spent the weekend there waiting to get back to the mainland. Apparently Hai Tac’s popularity is rising, and they’re already working on the infrastructure: the pier area is one big construction yard.

Exploring the island

Since Hai Tac is a tiny island with a circumference of perhaps 7 kilometers, we had planned to do everything on foot, and set off on a clockwise tour of the island, ignoring people trying to rent us a scooter. We set off to follow the road that runs along the coast (you can’t miss it, there is only one). For the first 20 minutes or so, this road was lined with houses and shacks that make up this not-quite-picturesque fishing village. The place does have a tendency to make you think that you have something on your face, as we got stared at quite a bit. Foreigners really are rare here – we didn’t see any other western tourists the whole day.

Walking through the village, we also wondered where all the tourists we’d seen on the pier waiting for their return had been staying. There is no trace of hotels here, and only a few places that offer basic accommodation. We reached the first beach here but decided to keep going. Owing to the winds, the beach wasn’t exactly a nice place to be so we hoped we’d be able to find a more sheltered spot. The high winds, we were told, were uncharacteristic for the time of year. Awesome. Continuing on, there were nets lying in the grass next to the road for drying and repairing.

We came across a few places that seemed to serve food and drink. While looking at the menu at one of them, the Vietnamese at the only other occupied table got their karaoke set going with the volume turned to 11. We put the menus down and went a bit further down the road at a place that looked like a nice homestay, with bungalows overlooking the sea (I tried to link it but both Google and TripAdvisor say it doesn’t exist). The ice in our ice coffees had a slight sea water taste, but for 10,000d (0.38 EUR), one can hardly complain.

Somewhere along the road, we had also happened across some kind of military construction yard, where a sign indicated that photography was forbidden. Despite this, the gate was left wide open so we did get a look at what seemed to be a tunnel dug into the rock, pointing directly out to sea. Hai Tac also has a military radar installation on its highest point, and a fairly big camp with barracks, so maybe that’s why foreigners haven’t always been allowed on the island. Who knows. None of the military personnel that we came across seemed to care that we were there.

Further along, somewhere near the north side of the island, we found another sandy beach that looked like a nice spot to sit and relax in calm and sunny weather. Unfortunately, the weather still wasn’t calm nor really sunny, so we trudged on. A while later, the road was once again lined with houses and shacks, and eventually we ended up back at the pier. We’d walked around the whole island in under 2 hours.

Looking for lunch

We hadn’t had breakfast yet, and I was getting pretty hungry. Rejecting the only open restaurant we’d seen so far because I prefer to have my meals without tinnitus-inducing off-key karaoke singing, we decided to explore the 2 roads that lead to the center of the island. We didn’t have much luck initially, and sat down at a coffee shop that also seemed to do food. I asked for something to eat (cơm, which literally translated to rice, but is often used for food in general) but they didn’t seem to understand. There were some instant noodle cups in a cabinet so I pointed at that, hoping to convey the message. 2 minutes later, I had those instant noodles in front of me, so that was my lunch sorted. Heather decided that she wasn’t that hungry after all – I can’t blame her.

Once I’d worked the instant noodles down, we continued along the road that leads from the center of the island to the pier where we’d arrived. Halfway, there was a place with pool tables, hammocks, and which was serving food. Heather’s hunger made a sudden reappearance. Here we had no problems to order, since a few helpful youths there spoke excellent English. Heather had a rice dish with grilled pork. The people here were very friendly, and after eating we hung out in the hammocks with an ice coffee for a while. Oddly, this turned out to be the most relaxing bit of our stay on Hai Tac – out of the wind, in a hammock without a sea view. We’d been told that everything on the island would be more expensive than on the mainland, yet we only paid 50,000d (1.89 EUR) for the meal and 2 drinks.

Rounding up

At this point, we headed back to the pier, because we really didn’t want to miss the ferry back and get stuck on the island. Fortunately, we didn’t miss it and got back to Ha Tien. Before heading back into town, we climbed the steps up to the Buddhist temple that overlooks the river and the town of Ha Tien. After that, we made our way back to Ha Tien town for dinner at the restaurant associated with our hotel. We both went for a more western style dish (both of them were surprisingly good) and ended the evening with a couple of beers at the Oasis bar.

Going by the number of pictures I took on the island, I wasn’t really impressed with it apart from a couple of butterflies. I however have no regrets about going to Hai Tac even though we got unlucky with the weather (again). It’s a pretty place, but it really needs good weather to appreciate it I think.

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