Last year, I visited Hanoi and spent the New Year there. I also spent 2 days on a boat in Ha Long Bay. You can read about my review of the 2D 1N stay in Ha Long Bay here. Ha Long Bay is beautiful and the waters are so calm that it is a breeze kayaking in the waters.
However, not too long ago, the administration of Ha Long Bay has slapped a ban on kayak tours at the World Natural Heritage Site, citing its damage to the local tourism environment. Paddling a kayak in Ha Long Bay allows you to admire and soak in the beauty of the natural limestone environment at your own pace and has become a popular activity for visitors.
This resulted in a rise of unlicensed rogue kayak operators charging tourists exorbitant prices. Authorities felt that it was time to stop this practice so as to protect tourists and the reputation of the Ha Long Bay tourism environment.
The new directive aims to disallow private boat operators to bring their own kayaks for their passengers onboard as well as those kayak operators who does not have an approved license.
The thing for us last year was we were brought to a floating platform where we could choose to be either be sitting on a bamboo boat (rowed by an experience skipper) or kayak around on our own. There is no reason why I think the kayak operator that Aclass brought us to were unlicensed though.