Located more than 30 km from Tuy Hoa city, Hon Yen, although recognized as a National Monument since 2018, is still a wild, sparsely populated island with no tourism services yet developed. We invite you to join Travellive to explore Hon Yen through the experience of photojournalist Luu Trong Dat, to understand why the beauty of this place is likened by many people to a "surreal painting".

I have a habit of waking up early when arriving in a new land to drive on unfamiliar roads and soak in the brilliant sunrise. When I arrived in Tuy Hoa, I always went to Hon Yen first - before dawn, to fully admire Hon Yen, take pictures of the scene of anchovy net fishing, experience lobster farming and then wait until the afternoon when the water is low to see the coral...

Early in the morning, when the sun begins to cast its golden rays into the sky still covered with night mist, the coastal roads of Tuy Hoa city are already crowded with people exercising. To reach Hon Yen, or any of the pristine beaches of Phu Yen, one must pass through many sandy concrete roads and coastal fishing villages. Riding a motorbike through the winding roads, through rows of casuarinas and walking through the cactus bushes along the way, passing a small sand dune with a few shops…, I always arrive at Hon Yen and climb up to Ganh Yen in time for the sun to rise.

The sky was cloudless, high and vast in shades of yellow, pink and red that covered everything. In the distance, boats were gliding on the waves in search of fish. Fishermen were fishing for anchovies in their seine nets, graceful as butterflies on the sea, or lobster farmers were skillfully maneuvering their baskets through the shrimp cages on the sparkling golden water… These scenes, along with the colors of the dawn, always made me fascinated.

According to the locals, Hon Yen used to be a rather isolated island, far from shore. Every season, flocks of swifts would come here to nest, so people called this place Hon Yen. Over time, the tides rose and fell and the sand encroached, gradually filling the sea, bringing Hon Yen closer to shore as it is today.

Hon Yen consists of two islands, the larger Yen Island and the smaller Sun Island, located next to each other; along the coast there is a range of rocky mountains stretching out to the sea closest to Hon Yen, called Ganh Yen. All of them still retain their natural values ​​with the formation of a marine coral ecosystem over many years.

In the early or mid-month days (according to the lunar calendar), when the water is shallow and the tide is at its lowest, visitors can walk out to sea, climb up to Hon Sun, soak in the wind and cool afternoon sun and admire the surrounding landscape. More specifically, during this time, visitors do not need to take a boat out to the middle of the sea, but just wait until the afternoon tide recedes to see the coral reefs and starfish. The colorful "flowers" of the sea rise up around Hon Yen, blending with the golden sunlight, turning the sea surface into a magical fairy garden.

Every year around May and June, the life of Hon Yen fishermen becomes more bustling and vibrant when entering the fishing season with purse seine nets. Fishing nets are released from specialized anchovy fishing boats, these boats travel in schools. Observed from above, the scene becomes an impressive beauty, attracting many tourists and photographers to Hon Yen in recent years. Everyone wants to see with their own eyes, capture with their own hands the "dance" of throwing nets and many soft shapes on the sea of ​​fishermen in the anchovy hunting season.

Even though I only come and go from Hon Yen in a day, I am lucky to always experience the full chain of changes of time and space in a day here. So that every time I suddenly remember, Hon Yen appears both vaguely and poetically, with the peace of the sun and wind mixed with the rustic, kind-hearted features of the people...