Coasteering to the Easternmost point of the Hong Kong peninsula including peculiar small islands, a long swim, caves, a tunnel & clear seawater.
- Beauty/fun: 8.5/10 some of the best beaches in Hong Kong, a big sea tunnel, several caves, varied rocks, high cliffs, a sea canyon, clearer water.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 8.5/10 a long route including a long swim. Very exposed to East swell and wind waves. Tricky tunnel crossing depending on the tide and waves. The scrambling is easier than other routes in the area. 7/10 if without the initial two islands.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track.
Good weather, wind, & swell forecast in September; almost (explained later) the perfect time to try another long route in Saikung.
We confirmed the earliest speed boat time possible with one of the companies. 9am from Saikung pier. We told them that we were happy with a wet entry around Tsim Chau. So get close to it and jump into the water with all our gear on with the surprised faces of the people who were with us in the boat heading directly to Ham Tin.
Swim and land on the tiny island. It has some peculiar rock formations (lower left pic) and a little more. Tai Chau is more interesting. With good cliff-jumping spots and a tunnel that crosses the whole island.
The tide was too high to do it fully though. It gets tight on the Western side and with the waterproof bags and waves trying to dive under the water line and cross the tunnel exit was a bit suicidal. So back again to the Eastern side and coasteer almost all the perimeter.
Drone footage so that you can watch both islands in full detail.
Long swim to Tai Wan. 0.9 to 1.2km, depending on where you land, rocks or the beach itself. The rock section between Tai Wan & Tung Wan was prettier than expected, even if I had swum around and I had seen it from above hiking.
Cute. Ditto for the small beach, this time (September 2022) with a big tidal pool connecting with the stream above.
After the beach back on the rocks. The initial part
is the less interesting of the whole route. Relatively flattish, a tiny creek where to cool down (way cooler than the sea), some “photogenic trash”, and arrive at the main cave.
Pretty high and quite deep with tons of bats on the dark side.
Tyler was struggling with the heat and the high ozone levels. To make things worse he put his hand on an urchin. Ouch! I could see a faint path on the satellite image just after the cave, but I was not sure how open it could be. Now is marked on the Openstreetmap, so should be doable. In any case, he decided to continue mainly swimming while I was trying to keep the pace on the rocks.
This second section
is way prettier. With more colorful rocks, a few caves, inlets,
up to 60m high mountain-like cliffs, a big sea canyon, and a final big cave with more bats.
A pity that we did it a bit too fast. But Tyler needed his swims. The exit is clear towards a hiking path.
This area is relatively well-hiked. So with easy-to-follow paths with nice views of the bay. We walked it slowish with a couple of stops. The first one in the upper part of the aforementioned creek and the second for Tyler to enjoy a plunge into the stream of Tung Wan.
Easy scrambling to follow the path and end up on Ham Tin. We had a late lunch there and we took the boat back to Sai Kung.
Video by Tyler with the outing, including the tunnel section for which I did not have pics.
And once he forgot to include the footage of the mid-way long cave, added here
I did not go to the very end. The bats were not happy with my presence and I decided to let them relax.
Leave a Reply