After doing Kai Sau Chau East I decide to continue checking ALL the coastline. As expected almost nothing interesting here. Just one more island ticked out.
- Beauty/fun: 3/10 one nice beach, a cute islet en route and the small islets succession within the bay, a few pretty rocks, and no more. Only for the most hardcore “I want to see it all”
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 4/10 only because of the channel crossing and distance. With a boat approach, the island itself would be a 2/10 difficulty. Super sheltered from swell and wind waves, with almost no scrambling at all. You could rent a kayak too to come from Sai Kung. 5km+ light blue line below.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track.
I was alone and ready for a so-so route. As I have mentioned before I was trying to check every single non-concrete corner of the coastline in Hong Kong. Including islands and islets in Sai Kung. You could simplify a lot this route as mentioned, by taking a boat going to the island. It should be easy, with people visiting it for short hikes, cleaning the tombs, going to the fish farms, etc. There are a couple of big piers and tons of other places where the speedboat could land you. You could also rent a kayak. I have marked the pool as a well-sheltered place where you could land in high tide. Or actually, it might be easier to land on the tiny beach on the Northern part close to the pier, also marked. A bit more than 5km and a bit bumpy ride with tons of boat wakes.
In my case, I used the same logistics as East Kau Sai Chau: ferry to Yim Tin Tsai, coasteered to the fishing pools, and got ready for the channel swim. Considering that I was alone and that there is very heavy speedboat traffic here, instead of the usual waterproof backpack, I had the running vest and the swimming buoy, for faster swim & maximum visibility. Put the vest in the buoy, a bright swimming cap on my head, paddles, and cross, first stopping
on this cute islet with the smallest tombolo.
I took some time here to check how much time the speedboats needed to arrive from where I was able to see them on the “horizon”. In this direction, the crossing looked easy. In the pic above you can see the wake of the speedboat. All of them were, similarly, passing relatively close to the islet, approx 30m. Once I could not see any coming from North or South, jump into the water. Strong fast swim, and already in the safe zone. Land on Tai Tau Chau, reset all the gear, and start coasteering clockwise. Once you pass the big pier on the North West corner (used by those visiting the cemetery) there is nothing interesting in all this part of the island.
Far, already approaching the Southernmost point, is when the rocks start to look prettier, plus you have a decent beach.
Just a bit later another pier and a concrete path up to the nearby hill. Full of tombs and under the next islets to swim to.
Longish initial swim, short easy scrambling, swim/wade/walk to cross on the islets, seeing the fish farms next, swim back to the main island, continue on the rocks and see another old fishing farm pool.
Back again at the starting point, early afternoon, there were fewer boats. Nevertheless I spent some time waiting to check the passing lines. Strong fast swim checking North & South continuously. Safe back on Kau Sai Chau.
I had plenty of time to take the kaito back and I decided to check a bit more. So this time I walked to the very end on the man made sheltering wall and jumped for the last swim to
the North of Yim Tin Tsai. Nothing especially interesting here. Arrive at the pier and back to the civilization.
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