Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

We have been told by a few fellow travellers that a really great place to see the famous Halong Bay is via the less touristy Cat Ba Island.  So 2 busses, a ferry and another bus and we arrive in Cat Ba town about 4 hours later.  We stay for 3 nights and opt for the seecond day to do our boat trip to Halong Bay as his looks like it will be the best day weather wise.  It turns out to be the brightest out of the three but also the coldest and still very grey –  our boat is no luxury liner!  We may have been lucky as we have spoken to people since who could hardly see a thing when they went out and some overnight trips had to be cancelled!!  When I say it’s cold we are literally wearing most of our clothes – not exactly what we had in mind!!