National Oceanographic Museum

Housed in a grand French-colonial building in the port district of Cau Da at the far south end of Nha Trang is the National Oceanographic Museum. It’s attached to the Oceanographic Institute founded in 1923, and signs direct you around the tanks of colourful live marine life and the 60,000 jars of pickled specimens that make up the collection. There are also stuffed birds and sea mammals and displays of local boats and fishing artefacts. Most of the signs have English translations, so a guide is unnecessary.

The museum is set in a huge colonial complex of buildings. Signs guide the way through the various exhibits which range from leopard sharks in tanks, to a plaster cast model of a whale skeleton to an entire sea cow or manatee preserved in a huge glass case. Other fascinating displays show Vietnam's oceanographic history. The institute sponsors ongoing research and community projects, ranging from monitoring aquatic life to developing captive breeding programs and encouraging preservation and regeneration of local coral reefs.