29 kilometres south of Tuy Hoa lies Bãi Môn, a perfect little beach nestled in a cove beneath a lighthouse. The road from Tuy Hoa is as good as they come: flat, quiet, and well sealed. It passes along patches of desolate coast, an out-of-place airport, and shrimp farms with spinning aquaculture aerators chugging like little water wheels.
Built by the French in 1890, the Dai Lanh lighthouse is perched at the edge of Dai Lanh Cape (or ‘Cape Electrical’). There is a small entry free of 10,000 dong per person to enter the area, and a further 5,000 dong to park the bike.
We were completely alone when we arrived, and the beach was barren.
From the road above: the beach and the lighthouse.
The 1km path leading up to the lighthouse gave us another great angle of the desolate bay below.
This sign reads ‘To Rang Dong Cape’, and leads you on a path around the cliffs edge to some stunning views beneath the lighthouse.
Spot Caroline.
This page of trivia tells me that the lighthouse had a luminous range of 27 nautical miles, has a focal plane of 100 metres, and performs a group flash (3+1) every 16 seconds. Now you’ve read that information you can instantly forget it. And so can I.
We haven’t put up a critter pictures for ages. So here’s a baby cricket.
As we were leaving the top of the hill, we met two western tourists coming up and said a brief hello. A few metres later there was another small group. Then a larger group. A tour bus had arrived and it was full of Russians. I scrambled down the side of the cliff to the beach just so Caroline could take some far away photos, then she joined me. We had the beach completely to ourselves, but as we returned to our motorbike to leave (at about 4.30 p.m.) another, larger tour bus pulled up. Most people were on the way up to the lighthouse, but a few of the fatter ones sulked at the bottom.
Clearly, we arrived at a good time.
Me for scale (the other black dot is my bag)
The way to the beach at ground level.
The road home…
A view of Chop Chai mountain, north of the city.
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