Phu Quoc in 72 Hours: Sun, Sea & Serenity

The island of Phu Quoc is located in the Gulf of Thailand, located closer to the Cambodia border than the Vietnam border. It is an extremely popular and family friendly destination for tourists due to the fact that unlike mainland Vietnam which requires visas for many nationalities, Phu Quoc offers a visa exemption for citizens of numerous countries. And it is also appealing for its weather, beaches and affordable prices.

From Bangkok its an easy 1 hour non stop flight to Phu Quoc in Vietnam. Passengers on my flight were nearly all western tourists. The food at the Phu Quoc airport is overly priced; save your dong for local businesses elsewhere on the island. For example a small pho with a soft drink and a small tart was $28. A plastic cup of overly salty ramen, a soft drink and a small tart was $16.

But the good news is prices are extremely reasonable on the rest of the island with a taxi ride from the airport to the main city of Phu Quoc running between $4 and $5, a motor scooter rental about $4.50 for the day and a meal, especially from small shops only a few dollars.

My primary mission of my visit to the island was to meet up with Cuong Pham, the founder and owner of Red Boat Fish Sauce Factory. The factory and grounds are not open to the public and they do not offer tours, but we had arranged to meet up several weeks prior.

The process of producing fish sauce has some similarities to crafting wine. Its origin is an integral part of its quality; for Red Boat, black anchovies are caught in the waters surrounding the island of Phu Quoc at night using light to attract the fish. Boats with up to 20 employees put out nets when a school of black anchovies are located. Dropping and pulling in the several hundred kilograms of net can take upwards of an hour. The capacity of each of the main fishing boats is around 20 tons. Fishing occurs daily unless winds are too strong. Generally their best hauls are during July and August; a large catch in a single night would be around 15 tons. On average however, they catch and process around 100 tons each month.

The anchovies are then transferred to one of two smaller wooden boats for transport to the factory. Cuong said the boats return either when they are full or the boat has run out of food for the employees.

After the anchovies are caught, any resulting liquid is immediately drained and salt is quickly introduced. While there are only two ingredients that go into making the Red Boat Fish Sauce (anchovies and salt), the overall process from catch to bottling must be very disciplined to result in a product of the highest quality. Red Boat Fish Sauce keeps plenty of bags of salt in storage for use as needed. This is natural sea salt produced from a salt farm about 150 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City. They purchase the salt about a year in advance of needing to use it and then store it letting it further dry. The anchovies start fermenting immediately after they are caught. And where they swim, what they eat and the time they are harvested are all integral factors in making a premium fish sauce.

I tried a number of different aged fish sauces directly from the wooden vats. There is a distinctive difference in quality of young versus aged fish sauces both in terms of color, umami flavor and texture. The fish sauces are aged for a maximum of 12 months to fully complete fermentation in the wooden vats; after 12 months there is not much added benefit to any extra aging. And over time due to evaporation the sauce becomes slightly more concentrated.

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Renting a motor scooter is an affordable and easy way to explore the island. Once you leave the city of Phu Quoc traffic thins out considerably on other parts of the island. I visited Suoi Tranh Waterfall, enjoying the serene grounds, but when I arrived at what was supposed to be the waterfall, it was completely dry. I continued around the island, making tracks to the small town of Ham Ninh where I enjoyed a fine plate of raw fish. While dining I spotted Rory’s Bar on the map, a bit further up the east and little visited side of the island. I continued on.

Arriving at Rory’s Bar, I soon realized this was a place I would like to come back to. It is located right on the water with a small man-made lagoon. Presumably the man who greeted me upon arrival was Rory; he offered me towels in case I wanted to swim. I perched myself at the bar overlooking the lagoon and ordered mojito after mojito soon reaching a exceptionally happy place.

Next time I will visit the pearl and pepper farms. As Vietnam’s largest island, Phu Quoc continues to captivate visitors with its charm, making it a must-visit destination for those seeking both adventure and tranquility.