I had a few islets pending to check on the very North of Hong Kong. Just further up than Kat O. Ticking out the last parts of all HK coastline.
- Beauty/fun: 4/10 Several peculiar rock formations, colorful sedimentary rocks, a few corals & quite some fish. Flat, almost no scrambling required. Long transportation & swims.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 3/10 if you are OK with long swims. It is a relatively short route. Completely protected from swell and most wind waves. Beware of speed boats, above all on the crossing of Ap Chau to the Egg and from Little Ap Chau to the peninsula. Very colorful clothing and bags highly recommended.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track.
We should have done this route in springtime. But the day I was going there friends convinced me to do Tai Shing instead. Because it had rained a bit and they wanted to hike their first stream of the season. Tai Shing was just OK and I missed the better sea water quality days… Already in June and recovering from a sprained ankle, time to tick this out from the “to-do” list.
Ferry from Ma Liu Shui pier departing at 9:00 am. We had an interesting chat with the crew there. They have round trips to Ap Chau and Lai Chi Wo. Finally, they understood that we wanted to go to one and return from the other. No problem. A bit less than 2 hours ride with tons of explanations (mainly in Chinese) of all the geological formations on the way, including the Devil’s Fist.
Land on Ap Chau. A tiny island with pretty houses and peculiar history. First, we went up to its lookout to check all that we would swim and coasteer. Go back down to the pier and start the easy coastal walk all around the island.
Even in quite a high tide,
we were able to do so completely dry. On the Northernmost point the feature that gives the name to the island: the duck beak.
Get ready for the swims (very bright caps and others to make ourselves very visible for potential speedboats around) in front.
To those two islets. One looks kinda like a croissant from above, although it is called Duck Egg in Cantonese (Ap Lo Chun).
It also has a hole in the middle. The second islet (Sai Ap Chau 細鴨洲 Small Ap Chau) is significantly bigger. Mainly sandy on the Southern part, more rocky on the Northern with a few very shallow caves.
Video of the previous two.
Moving forward connecting with parts that I had coasteered on in the route starting on Starling inlet with sedimentary rocks of different colors all around. Then the longer swim (half a kilometer) to Tai Nim Chau which has a very distinctive pillar.
A bit more than 300m swim to Siu Nim Chau. Nothing remarkable about this one. And end up in Lai Chi Wo where to see the restored old Hakka Village.
We went to have lunch there before the ferry at 15:30. If you want you can hike out instead. Approx 4-5km + 260m elevation gain to Wu Kau Tang or Bride’s Pool road on a well-maintained path.
Video of our outing.
If I would go again I would combine this and the aforementioned Starling inlet route. Start with all the ducks, go to the tombolo, and finish on Luk Keng. Longer day but with less swimming.
Everything you should know before coasteering & open water swimming.
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