We got up early for breakfast, and then we were picked up from our hotel in a pre-arranged luxury minibus to take us to Halong Bay.

On route, the bus stopped to fill up and as a toilet break for us. As we came out of the toilet, we were accosted by a woman who then showed us the many pearls and explained the different kinds of pearls and the process of cultivating them.

The Tahiti pearls are grown in a black lip oyster and are known as ‘Queen of pearls.’ They can contain overtones and undertones of pink,yellow, silver and blue, the more precious ones being of the darker variety.

Akoya pearls are saltwater cultured pearls from the akoya oyster. They are quite small in size and are white, silver, pink and creamy in colour.

The Southsea pearls are the most expensive variety and are white, silver, yellowy and gold in colour. They take the longest time to produce, so can be quite large in size.

After a couple of hours of driving, we arrived at the International Port of Halong Bay. We were greeted by one of the Signature Cruise staff who took us to the check-in desk where we could leave our luggage.

We had a bit of time to kill before we could board our boat, so we walked around the shops and had a coffee.

Shortly before 1pm, we were taken to the pier to board a small boat to transfer us to our cruise ship.

Our cruise ship was a wooden ship that can host around 24 people.

Once on board, we were offered a refreshing watermelon drink and shown the restaurant before being given the keys to our cabins. The cabins and bathroom were really nice, and we had a small balcony outside.

Whilst lunch was being prepared, we explored the outside area and the sundeck.

After a delicious buffet lunch, we changed into our bikinis and went to relax and soak up the sun.

The scenery was beautiful as the ship made its way to Bai Tu Long Bay. Bai Tu Long Bay translates to baby dragon, and Ha Long means mother dragon. It is said that the dragons came to Halong to support the Vietnamese against invaders. They breathed fire on the lake, which created the rocks and mountains.

After an hour or so of cruising, we arrived at Vung Vieng Floating fishing village. The village was founded early in the 19th century, and it used to have 80 families back in 2014, but now there are only 15. There was a lack of education for the children, so they had no prospects, and the government moved the families back onto dry land.

We took a bamboo boat and were rowed around part of the bay to see some more of the village, we had to wear the traditional hats to protect us from the sun! The village was mainly used as anchorage for the boats, particularly during stormy weather.

It was quite awe-inspiring being amongst the gigantic rocks.

After the bamboo boat trip, we were once more shown around a pearl shop, and a couple of people bought some souvenirs.

As we made our way back to the cruise ship via the transfer boat, we saw what looked like an eagle flying by. We saw a few more over the next couple of days.

Back on board, we had more time to relax, so we got ready for dinner and watched the beautiful sunset.

It was happy hour from around 530pm, so we made sure we took advantage of that. It was then time for a very tasty dinner.

Then, we continued to have a few drinks on the upper deck.

It was a lovely relaxing time under the full moon.