South Island Seafood Day: market, herring, sea urchin

An Thoi, at the southern tip of the island, is one of the two places on Phu Quoc where the fish sauce houses cluster, and the port the island boats leave from. Its market, also known as Cau Sau market, is the largest in the south and is used mainly by people who live there rather than by visitors, which is exactly why it is worth an hour. You see the morning's catch sold by the kilo, the dried squid and shrimp hung in rows, and the fish sauce sold by the bottle to cooks who use it every day.

Bai Kem is a beach a few kilometres from An Thoi, about 25 km from Duong Dong, and the place islanders name first for goi ca trich, the herring salad. The herring is filleted, dipped in lime juice just long enough to turn, and tossed with shredded coconut, onion and herbs; you roll it in rice paper with lettuce, cucumber and more herbs, and dip it in a sauce of fish sauce, chilli, garlic and roasted peanuts. People who are wary of raw fish often find this is the dish that changes their mind.

Bai Sao is the white-sand beach on the east side of the south, roughly 45 minutes from Duong Dong. The small restaurants along it are where we finish, with two things the south is known for. Sea urchin, grilled in the half shell with scallion oil or eaten with lime, and lau ca bop nau xoai: a hotpot of cobia cooked with green mango, sour, slightly sweet and a little hot, with noodles and herbs on the side. Grilled pen shell muscle from the small stalls usually turns up too.

The restaurants are chosen by our guides and can change from season to season. Read the list as the likely menu rather than a fixed one; the herring salad and the cobia hotpot are the two dishes we build the day around.

• Private - the default. A car, a driver and a guide for your group only, from two to twelve people. You can stay longer in the market, skip the swim or move lunch earlier for children.
• Joined group. Shared with other guests, in a larger vehicle. It runs once three guests have booked and never takes more than twelve. If your date has not reached three guests two days before, you choose a private car at the private rate, another date or a full refund.

• Anyone allergic to fish or shellfish - the whole day is seafood.
• Strict vegetarians.
• People who want sightseeing: there is no museum, pagoda or viewpoint on this day.
• Anyone staying in the far north who does not want two long drives in one day.