Sitting on the motorboat bobbing gently up and down on the water, tourists will be taken to a destination which is seldom mentioned on the tourist map in the central region. Its name, Hai Minh which means a calm sea, expresses the aspirations of any sailors from generation to generation.
Hai Minh peninsula has an impressive rocky mountain range extending nearly 20 km, serving as a giant screen protecting Quy Nhon coastal city.
In the north of Hai Minh Peninsula there are beautiful beaches extending through Phu Cat district. From a distance, Hai Minh peninsula looks like a dragon’s head with its body lying toward the north and stretching to De Gi seaport.
The southernmost point of Hai Minh has the shape of a spear with many interesting but dangerous caves where salanganes often build their nests, offerring us one of invaluable and rare specialties: Yen sao (birds nests).
Like the Phuong Mai Peninsula, Hai Minh was once a strategic defense position, marking the glorious victories of plain-clothes hero Nguyen Hue.
Present-day Hai Minh is a peaceful landscape with houses locating behind high-yielding coconut palms, fishing boats moored alongside the pier after offshore fishing voyages, and seagulls flying across the sky. Coming here, tourists could visit young people who operate the lighthouse.
Standing right beside the statue of Tran Hung Dao, hearing the sound of waves gently lapping beneath; tourists could see a panorama of Quy Nhon City and Nhon Hoi Bridge crossing Thi Nai Lagoon to connect the city with the peninsula.
Annually, the Cau Ngu festival, one of fisherman’s popular cultural customs, is organized in the spring and autumn with many activities, such as the sedan-chair ceremony, the Gong performance, and Ba Trao chanty.
Visiting the peninsula, tourists will also have chances to enjoy delicious cuisine processed from an endless variety of seafood, such as black sea-eel, bloom eel, Huynh De crab, ocean tuna, and a kind of shellfish called “vu nang”. Also, anyone shouldn’t forget to sip at mouthfuls of Bau Da wine.
