Go to the sea, my friend!

As scheduled, we departed at 3pm from Phan Ri Cua commune along National Highway 1A to the North. After more than 1 hour, we arrived at Vinh Tan commune - Lam Dong province, bordering Ca Na (now Khanh Hoa province), which is called Mui Da Chet by the locals. Chien had tents ready to sleep overnight on the beach, and prepared quite carefully for us from food, drinks to small items needed for an outdoor picnic. We just needed to bring a few necessary personal items and hit the road. Past Vinh Hao restaurant, Chien led us along the trail to the sea. Looking far away, the Da Chet mountain range curved like a crescent moon, hugging National Highway 1A for about 4km.

If you stand on Da Chet Mountain and look down to the East, you will see the vast sea with Cu Lao Cau Island like a battleship in the middle of the ocean. Behind us are towering mountains, in front of us is the immense ocean. The sea here is a deep blue color, interspersed with large and small rocks stacked on top of each other, jutting out into the sea like a flock of seals playing in the water. If you stand on the rocks and look down, you will clearly see clusters of coral growing close together, extremely beautiful. When we arrived, the sun had gradually cooled down, the sea breeze was cool, in contrast to the stuffy, hot air in the city on summer days. We were surprised that the sea here was quite wild and extremely clean, and our group of friends took the opportunity to take pictures before the sun set.

We were born by the sea, but still love the charming beauty here. Sitting and watching each wave crash against the rocks, I felt completely relaxed after the pressures of work and life. The afternoon gradually fell, the pink-gray clouds hovered close to the foot of the mountain, close to the horizon, as beautiful as in a fairy tale. The sky and earth seemed to want to blend together, bringing people the most peaceful and passionate moments. We sat and watched the sunset, no one said a word, but the cool sunlight at the end of the day seemed to help everyone get rid of all the worries in life.

As the sun set behind the distant horizon, we set up tents, lit fires, grilled chicken and seafood, and sat sipping tea in the middle of the windy sea and sky, recalling beautiful memories of our school days. Sitting under the flickering firelight, I looked at my friends of more than 20 years, their faces had many crow's feet but we shared the same love for the sea, warm hearts and a strong friendship despite our different lives.

Chien said: “I heard that the local government has chosen this area to plan tourism development. Later, Da Chet road will be an ideal place for tourists to rest, relax, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Therefore, in recent years, many tourism projects have gradually appeared on this “fresco road”, aiming to bring tourists quality tourism products and services and different experiences”. Chien shared more: “Wherever there is potential for tourism development, I am happy because the lives of the people in that area will change and benefit, but the most worrying issue is the issue of marine environmental sanitation when many people are not aware when traveling”. We understand what Chien is thinking when most coastal areas are facing the same situation of being surrounded by garbage…

We chatted and then fell silent to feel the calm caress of the ocean to heal the wounds... In the middle of the night, we could only hear the waves racing to the shore, letting go of everything to listen, to feel and let the ocean erase our daily worries...

The next morning we packed up and left, returning the peace to the rocks, returning the cleanliness, wildness and inherent silence of the sea. There, there was only the murmur of the waves, somewhere our cheerful laughter was fading away, fading away. If you have never spent a night at the beach, you should definitely try it, to feel for yourself the stillness of time and space in the vast ocean.