The central coast: boats, nets and basket boats

Vietnam's central coast runs as a long, narrow strip between the Trường Sơn mountains and the sea. Along much of it, fishing has shaped village life for generations, and the shoreline is dotted with small harbours, beaches lined with boats and fish sauce traditions passed down in families.

The most recognisable craft is the thúng chai, a round boat woven from bamboo and sealed to keep water out. It is light enough to carry, easy to turn in surf and used to ferry people and catch between larger boats and the beach. A popular story says the round shape began as a way to avoid a tax on boats in colonial times; it is a good story, though hard to verify.

Nets are cast and drawn in wide arcs, and from above the patterns look almost like drawings on the water. The sea here is not always calm. Storms and typhoons tend to arrive in the later months of the year, and coastal communities plan their work around the weather.

These images are about that rhythm: the round boats, the drawn net, waves over dark rock, and the old instruments that keep boats on course.

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Photos: trieuthien, namden, kenznguyen, macadam13 on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.