The Calypso Mekong journey

About Calypso Mekong

A single small vessel carrying no more than six guests across Vietnam and Cambodia, through the season of the flood.

Our story

A small vessel on an ancient river, from Saigon to Siem Reap

Calypso Mekong sails the great river between Saigon and Siem Reap aboard a single small vessel. Each voyage keeps the pace that the water allows, from the hand-dug canals of the delta to the dawn stillness of the Tonle Sap Lake. The spirit throughout is that of a household receiving honoured guests.

We believe that a river rewards patience. Hospitality means giving a guest time: time to watch the barges pass at the turn of the tide, to hear a craftsperson describe the work of a lifetime, and to rest in the splendour of the river. That landscape has shaped the lives of everyone who lives beside it, and we receive our guests in its honour.

A river rewards patience.
The Calypso Mekong belief

Heritage

A heritage written in hulls

Calypso Mekong is operated by SYMC Saigon Yacht & Marina Joint Stock Company, a member of SAMASER Holdings, a group founded in 1986 that counts four decades of maritime and shipbuilding experience.

1986
SAMASER Holdings is founded

The group begins in 1986 and goes on to count four decades of maritime and shipbuilding experience: designing, building and maintaining vessels in Vietnam.
2014
SYMC is registered in Ho Chi Minh City

Saigon Yacht & Marina Joint Stock Company is first registered on 15 March 2014, the group’s arm for trade and yacht operations.
2019
Aquila arrives in Vietnam

SYMC becomes the official Aquila distributor for Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, and the same year a dealer for the Highwater line of Rinker, Godfrey and Hurricane boats.
Newest chapter
Calypso Mekong takes to the river

Three cabins, six guests and a published schedule of departures from Saigon to Siem Reap, and back.

The people behind the voyage

An operator that knows its boats from the keel up

That formative history of designing, building and maintaining vessels in Vietnam gives each voyage a quiet foundation of seamanship upon which every sailing rests.

The group’s record lies in shipbuilding and yacht services, and the river voyage is its newest chapter. SYMC brings its experience of running yachts and serving guests, and from that foundation the team is confident of offering a safe, hygienic and intimate voyage, kept to a high standard from embarkation to farewell.

Operator

SYMC

Saigon Yacht & Marina Joint Stock Company. Runs the yachts and serves the guests aboard Calypso Mekong.

Shipbuilding

Calypso Yachts

Designs and builds twin-hull yachts in Vietnam under licence from Schionning Designs.

Technical operations

DLV Corporation

Maintains yachts through periodic servicing, repair and round-the-clock technical support from six centres across the country, and oversees the technical operations that safeguard each voyage.

The vessel

A twin-hulled yacht, small by design

The vessel is an Aquila 44 power catamaran, a twin-hulled motor yacht 44 ft 1 in (13.44 m) in length, with three cabins and room for six guests.

Its size allows it to enter narrow canals such as Thầy Cai and Vĩnh Tế when the water level and the permits of the day allow, and each of those canals opens a quieter river to the guest.

The vessel sails only by day, so that scenery and river may be savoured in full light, and it anchors each evening, sparing the voyage the risks of night navigation. Guests reserve a cabin on a published schedule, and the salon and deck are shared among at most three parties. A family or a circle of friends who wish to sail alone may reserve all three cabins.

Explore the yacht

The river and the route

A river that breathes

The voyage begins in the Chợ Gạo Canal, dug by hand in 1877 and still the road of rice boats and barges, and climbs the Mekong through Mỹ Tho, Sa Đéc, Cần Thơ and Châu Đốc. It crosses into Cambodia at the Vĩnh Xương – Kaam Samnor border post, calls at Phnom Penh and crosses the Tonle Sap Lake at dawn, when the water lies calm, to reach Siem Reap.

The voyage keeps the season of the flood, from about mid-August to December, when the lake holds at least 7 ft 3 in (2.2 m) of water by the readings of the Mekong River Commission. Thirteen anchorages, nine in Vietnam and four in Cambodia, mark each evening’s rest. Three lengths of 8, 11 and 15 nights sail in both directions, so that every guest may choose the pace that suits.

Here the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow once a year: in the flood months its water runs up into the lake, and in late September it runs back to the Mekong. Guests witness a river that breathes, and each day they record the water level, the silt and the birds in a log that they carry home.

Source: Mekong River Commission, Annual Flood Report 2005

13Anchorages: nine in Vietnam, four in Cambodia.

The craft of the delta

Trades met at the workbench, not on a stage

Hands of consummate skill speak in their own words. In Cambodia, the silver and bronze workshops of Koh Chen and the potters of Andong Russei, who shape clay without a wheel, continue the thread.

On one evening the deck belongs to đờn ca tài tử, the chamber music of southern Vietnam that UNESCO inscribed on its Representative List in 2013, followed by cải lương, the region’s sung theatre. The programme aboard stays spare by design, so that the music, the river and the quiet of the deck may be heard without competition.

Mang ThítBrick kilns
Sa ĐécRice-flour kilns
Lanh My A, Tân ChâuSilk
Định YênMats
Koh ChenSilver and bronze
Andong RusseiPottery without a wheel

The timetable never outranks the safety of the guests.
The captain holds the final word

The art of welcome

Hospitality, measured in attention

With six guests aboard, the captain and ship guide care for a small household rather than a passenger list. The day is arranged so that nothing asks to be arranged by the guest: each anchorage offers a guided option or an unhurried morning aboard, transfers included, and the evenings are left to rest.

The ship guide gives each day its frame, the captain speaks of water and depth, and on-site guides describe each place; in Cambodia, a local guide leads the Cambodian sites. Guests choose how much of the story to hear, and a quiet deck is always open to those who prefer the sound of the river alone.

The captain holds the final word on whether the vessel sails. Before each crossing of the Tonle Sap, at 04:30, the captain reads the wind and the visibility, with a local pilot at hand. The crossing moves if the wind exceeds 15 knots (17.3 mph, 27.8 km/h) or the visibility falls below 1.2 mi (2 km).

04:30The captain’s reading

15 knWind limit

1.2 miVisibility limit (2 km)

6Guests at most

At a glance

Calypso Mekong in brief

The essentials of the vessel, the route and the operator, in one place.

Vessel	Aquila 44 power catamaran, 44 ft 1 in (13.44 m)
Cabins and guests	3 cabins, up to 6 guests
Route	Saigon (Tân Cảng) to Siem Reap (Chong Khneas), and the reverse
Season	About mid-August to December, set by the water level of the Tonle Sap Lake
Lengths	8, 11 and 15 nights, in both directions
Sailing hours	By day; anchored each evening
Operator	SYMC Saigon Yacht & Marina Joint Stock Company, a member of SAMASER Holdings

Learn more

Learn more about Calypso Mekong

The yacht

Aquila 44

Three cabins, a flybridge and a shallow draught.

The day cruiser

Crownline cruiser

The quick, private way onto the river.

Aquila 44 with guests on deck, among palms on a Mekong canal

The flagship

11 nights · Heart of the Delta

Our flagship voyage, in both directions.

Good to know

Questions, answered

Seasons, safety, visas and what is included.

Visit us

Write or telephone

Guests, advisers and partners are invited to write or to telephone. An answer given in writing remains the surest record, and the team answers each enquiry with the care of a host who is expecting a guest.

Company: SB Investment Singapore Pte Ltd
Address: 152 Beach Road, Singapore 068808
Email: bookings@calypsomekong.com
Telephone: +84 (0) 986 300 094