April 2026 (ROTM#208) Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Looks great, wait for the monsoon!

Next up in my series of ‘Images Taken off the Web of Famous Tourist Beaches that have Rip Currents that Never Get Mentioned in the Tourist Promos’ is Phu Quoc island in southern Vietnam near the Cambodian border and this image is from the Wikipedia page. My buddy L’il Scott lived in Vietnam for years and ran tours throughout Vietnam and South-East

Asia and he always recommended this island because it was unspoiled and unknown. Well, that was about 20 years ago and things have changed of course and it’s now a very popular destination. And one with rip currents thanks to waves generated in the Gulf of Thailand.

Now I’m not exactly sure where this beach is on Phu Quoc because it’s a big island, but the rip currents are the large channels of darker water where the waves aren’t breaking. Looks beautiful and to be honest, these channels are so shallow and the waves are so small that I doubt the rips were an issue on this day, but the channels are there and if the waves were to increase in size, no doubt the rips would start flowing. Like most of South-East Asia, there is a monsoon season in Phu Quoc and rougher seas and wave conditions occur between May to October – that’s when it would be dangerous to swim.