Although I haven’t been there myself, Tyler, Colin, and others have been. Therefore adding information for your reference (several readers asking).
Colin‘s map for coasteering, starting from Po Toi. Definitely not for beginners: long swims + timing limitations due to the ferry schedule.
Tyler’s video a day that he and friends went kayaking and coasteered the island. Due to the East coast being very exposed, with a bit rough sea, felt more like a 4/5 difficulty route for them.
If you have a boat the outing is significantly easier. The small beach and sheltered area on the South side might be the best approach/anchoring point.
Finally hiking to one of the high parts of the island provided by Corentin, who went there kayaking and paddling. Here the path up to the boulder, where they were climbing. Pics by him. Kayak approach.
The lower part of the hike.
The views from above of the area hiked. The “path” in the right side of the pic, and Po Toi in the left.
Hong Kong Island on the North.
The boulder where they spent quite some time climbing.
And a random video found on Youtube of a group that went to Waglan and Beaufort for an easy boat + scrambling outing.
Everything you should know before coasteering.
Apr 2023: After long months finally we had a perfect wave and kinda weather forecast (a bit too hot, max of 29°C and completely sunny, but seawater was cool enough) to attempt Beaufort in coasteering + swim mode.
- Beauty/fun: 7.5/10 nice slabs, several interesting caves, peculiar rocks, good traverses. Beaufort feels like little Po Toi.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 8/10 a long route including 2 very long swims in a channel that can have significant boat traffic. Very exposed to East swell and wind waves. Slabs require good grip shoes to be on. Ferry time limitations. If just doing the island itself with speedboat start and finish the difficulty reduces significantly.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track (green line hiking by Corentin).
Video and
Pics of the day
After passing Noah’s Ark we found a perfect place to hide Janis’ bag and start the swim (less coasteering on Po Toi than Colin’s). A very distinctive high rock that would help us find our way back later. This route is really long and therefore I dialed up the “logistics” to make it safer. We swam to Beaufort only with my very bright orange Overboard backpack and a swim buoy. I was in charge of the latter, keeping us in a completely straight line (she is bad with swim directions) and checking any potential boats around (we saw quite a few and I needed to use my bright paddles and the buoy to be sure that they could see us from far enough to avoid any accident). The current and weight (water to be drunk later) on the backpack made us go 5 min slower in the initial swim. Once on Beaufort, we hid the buoy and she coasteered without anything on. Faster and safer for too long a route otherwise for her. On the map several highlights marked. We liked the caves in the Northern area more, cleaner and deeper. Although way less impressive than those in Po Toi. The slabs are mainly on the South and Eastern shores. A few fun long traverses available.
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