It isn't because the waves are huge or that there are dangerous riptides all over the place - even though I am sure there are some of those. The reason why swimming in Da Nang at the beach is not so easy is because of the rather excessive rules they have regarding swimming at all.
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You like the look of that ocean do ya? Wanna go for a swim? Well you CANT!
While I do admire the committment to safety and the presence of lifeguards I feel as though for stronger swimmers like myself that these cordoned off areas that they have all along the major beaches to be beyond annoying. The yellow shirt donning beach lifeguard police will whistle you down in a hurry if you ever get more than ankle distance into the water outside of these swimming areas.
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Even inside the roped off approved swimming areas if you go to the furthest expanse of it you are in waist deep water and the areas are not wide enough for you to consider this any sort of exercise. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer about a free service that is provided at least in part to save lives, but this eliminates the possibility of body surfing, which is one of my favorite things to do at a beach.
They also have these strange water vessels that look like bowls that the lifeguards will patrol the perimeter of the approved swimming regions and whistle at you even more if you dare to step outside of the ropes.
I have discovered a way past this system fortunately: If you have a boogie board or surfboard, apparently you are allowed to go anywhere that you want. So I suppose I will have to invest in a boogie board if i want to be able to enjoy water that's more than 2 and half feet deep.
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This isn't my picture, but you can kind of see how they got masses of people all crammed into certain areas and then they have nobody in-between.
I can understand the desire for safety and other nearby countries have rather terrible records of drownings at beaches that actually have zero rules but it is my opinion that Da Nang has actually gone too far with the rules to the point where it isn't even fun anymore.
Time to go and buy a boogie board I suppose :)
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i have never been to a beach that had something like this. In Krabi we have recommended swimming areas for your own safety because boats are not there but you can swim anywhere you want really. There are also drownings every year, so i guess it is a situation where you have to weigh the pros and cons of restrictions. For me personally, I would rather people take responsibility and swim within their limits without being forced to do it a certain way.
In Australia I encountered a beach that had specific swimming areas but they were much larger than these and you were actually able to swim or at least go out to areas where you could no longer touch the bottom. I can't say for certain but i think they were just marking areas that were known to not have riptides and they still had the staff watching from their perches with binoculars and jetskis to help if they needed to.
I think the case here is that they are just really attached to having a "perfect record" as far as beach safety is concerned.
yikes... that bottom picture is something I would not want to ever participate in.
oh i don't disagree with you there. I tend to stay away from the beach just in a general sense on the weekends although I have never seen it anywhere near as busy as the scene in the photo.
well at least you can go to the beach. Thailand announced yesterday that all beaches are to remain closed until further notice.