Grass Island is well-known for its gentle undulating paths surrounded by grass and cows. This time coasteering it.
- Beauty/fun: 6/10. The island is nice, there are several picturesque areas, monotonous flattish areas too. It would get better marks but for the long transportation required, in and out.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 5/10. A big part of the island is quite easy (3/10). But if you try to do it all, there are several cliff areas that increase the overall difficulty (7/10). You could avoid them all just by heading to the hiking paths above.
- The map
And the Garmin track.
If using 100% public transport the steps would be: 1. Arrive at SaiKung: mini buses departing from Hang Hau, MongKok, Choi Hung would be the fastest. 2. Take a bus to Wong Shek pier. 3. Ferry to Grass Island itself (also called Tap Mun), as of September 2017 on weekends there were ferries every hour.
Once on the pier, you need to decide whether to go South or North. We did the latter. Walk up to the bathrooms and just on the right side of them you will be able to go down to the sea.
Mud… Tons of it, so you might want to walk a bit more on the concrete paths to avoid it (marked on the map above). Once the little bay is passed you leave the mud behind.
Almost all of the West coast is flat. Scrambling is easy with no big boulders around. The only significant entertainment we had here was the huge birds that we were kind of herding around the island.
A bay with rafts for fishing
and random rubbish collecting…
A wash machine, TV, and others on the raft… 🙁
Be careful in this area, quite some trash, iron structures etc on the rocks too…
Little by little improves. You can start seeing the next island: Port Island (Chek Chau), where I have never been before but as per what we could see from and pictures in internet looks interesting, but would require a really long swim or hiring a boat up till there. Update 2021: I went kayaking there, full post about it.
Arriving at the Northernmost point, there are a bit more picturesque rock formations. On the right, anyone sees the Head of the Dragon? (see later)
Just before starting the way Southward.
There is no real beach on the whole route, but this tiny sand strip, where we decided to take a rest and cool down.
Finally the first significant “obstacle”.
You can wade part of it or
scramble up. She looking from the top, me in front: “aha, so the upper route was not the easiest, right?” Nop 😀
Not especially difficult, but significantly different from all the previous. Just after, arriving at a wide pebble “beach”.
Here you have the first easy early exit. There are hiking paths meters above. We continue on the rocks though.
This is the most tricky/technical section. Once you pass the “Neck of the Dragon”. I think it is what the rock formation on the left is called by the locals.
You need to be comfortable scrambling/climbing high or swimming in wavy water (the Eastern coast is way more exposed). Passing next to a small cave.
Carefully scrambling.
Arriving at another pebble/stone beach. This full of rubbish…
It was quite late for us and we decided to exit coasteering here and enjoy a bit of the views from above. As mentioned, this is an island that hikers and campers like to go to.
The little section that we did not coasteer (which is pretty easy, confirmed on a later outing), with the “Balanced Rock”.
And the cows.
The main hiking path goes just next to the shore thereafter. We arrived at the village almost with the sunset. Perfect to grab something to eat and get into the last ferry out at 18:00.
So the decision is yours. If you want to visit the most interesting areas and maybe skip half of the island head SE and just find the main hiking paths out halfway. If you are up for a longer day coasteering all over the island, choose a cooler day and enjoy! Third option would be to include Kung Chau to the outing (post here).
Did not bring my drone, but this video can let you see a bit of what this island looks like from the hikers’ perspective.
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