The last sea arch that I had pending to write about. Super wellknown these days with people taking boats and kayaks there. Good coasteering too!
- Beauty/fun: 8/10 the sea arch is pretty above all when without the crowds 😉 Good scrambling in approx half of the route, flatter initial and final sections. Usually clear Saikung sea water. Tons of cliff jumping points for those who enjoy it.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 7/10 in the way I did 😅 The island has tons of inlets, you can try to scramble most or swim shortcut them for easier/faster day. The island is not as exposed as Basalt or Bluff but can have big waves with certain swell/wind directions (mainly South & SE). Bay Islet (Si Chau 匙洲) adds a 270m x2 swims with possible fast boats around.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track.
Both air and sea water were already above 20C in mid March. Time to go to a super Instagramy spot before the crowds arrived. Early wake up to avoid the Saikung traffic and take the 9am ferry. It goes to the Fishing “Wonderland”, but you can ask them to drop you on Kau Sai village. Cantonese speaking recommended, although not necessary. In 2023 ferries on weekends departing Saikung at 9:00 & 10:00, return at 16:30 & 18:00. Check their web for updated schedule and contact info.
Land, get all our stuff ready and jump into the water.
50m swim between the two islands to start the day. Afterwards the coastline is quite flat and we were able to coasteer fast up
till Tai Wong Wan.
Moving forward Janis & Wayne decided to shortcut a bit in some of the inlets. You can save quite some time/energy that way. I was trying to go fast on those and catch them.
We didn’t swim to the tiny Tiu Chung Pai. It didn’t look too interesting compared with the coastline that we were on. The closer you get to the Southern point the more dramatic the cliffs, time for proper scrambling and the only significant waves we had all day long.
A little later 潮音洞 Tidal Melody Cave. Video getting into it (at 00:16 footage from Janis and her GoPro Max), among others.
Scramble approx 100 meters more on this really nice & peculiar coastline (cave on the upper right corner),
easy walk on rocks, turn and you will arrive at the arch.
A “secret” a decade ago. Crowded these days as soon as it warms up a bit. More info of the no coasteering options at the bottom of the post 👇 In our case, we were alone. So perfect spot to reapply sunscreen, eat some snacks and enjoy a short snorkeling break before continuing our coasteering.
A shallow cave, nice pillars, clean water, fun scrambles and cliff jumps for a while.
We were well within schedule and therefore we attempted Bay Islet. We let their two backpacks behind, to try to swim the approx 270m faster. Bright swim cap, my red paddles, the neon yellow part of my backpack floating upwards to make us as visible as possible. In the return, thanks to all that, a fast yacht was able to see us from far enough to avoid any problem.
The Islet itself is relatively small. The Southern part again is the nicest. Approx 40 min fast coasteering for the whole perimeter. With them two enjoying the weightless (no backpack) coasteering.
Once back on Jin we still had a bit more of coasteering to end the full loop. It is not as easy as the very initial part, but nevertheless we did it in a bit less than an hour.
Half way through Wayne called the ferry people (as they had recommended us) to let them know that we would make it for the 16:30 ferry. Actually with plenty time to eat and drink, change clothes, remove the sand from the shoes and even Wayne have a little shower with the hose of the WC. A small boat brought us to the fishing spot and from there we took the ferry back to Saikung.
Everything you should know before coasteering.
You can go to the arch in drier mode. For that you can take a speedboat that will land you on the aforementioned Tai Wong Wan beach, from where you can hike on the green line. The only benefit of this version is that you will be awarded with the views from above of the arch area. From this perspective it is easier to see why it is called 金魚擺尾 = goldfish tail.
And later take the downhill path/scramble with quite some ropes that we could see from the shoreline.
A bit bushy but very doable for the usual audience of this web. You could combine both for a short outing too. Land on the beach, coasteer till the arch area (+ a bit more my recommendation) and return through the hiking path for boat pick up.
And if you kayak there be wise and check the forecast beforehand + know your skills and assess the situation… As explained in the coasteering 101 link above, tunnels channel and amplify waves. You do not want to be entering there when the big waves series do too…
They could have get seriously injured in that situation…
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