The best way to explore Halong Bay is on a Kayak. You can be as lazy or active as you like. With a few pointers from your ship captain, you could paddle to little caves, deserted beaches, grottos or mini tourist towns for a drink.

As for me I'm not that adventurous and was not keen to explore too far out. Furthermore, my colleague was not a strong swimmer (despite the life jacket, he wasn't that confident) So, wherever we went, I always made sure that our boat was in sight. In hindsight, the bay is really calm and there was never a danger of the kayak overturning so we could have gone further out.

When I told others in our group, there were a few who regretted not joining us. Instead, they had spent their time singing karaoke on board and we could hear them from where we were! What a laugh! If you have time, please check out my off the beaten path for a related story.