When most people think about diving, the Philippines or other tropical areas come to mind. In Hong Kong, we do have some spots where to enjoy it too.

First, the disclaimer. I’m far from a diving enthusiast. I have friends who love it. They are happy spending days or weeks in a life aboard diving 3, 4, 5 times a day. I like diving, but not so much. A trip like the one we did in Raja Ampat would be my max preferred option. Mixing diving with other activities. That said I have dived 100+ times all around Asia Pacific including Hong Kong.

Actually, I got my PADI Open Water certificate here. Would I recommend this option? It provided me a solid foundation. Visibility in some of my first dives was close to zero and focusing on the lesson and improving initial skills was therefore the only goal. Very focused and detailed. I have friends who did it in the Philippines and the experience was… Different 😆 For the good and the bad. The main pros are that they were doing the course in extremely good conditions (temperature, visibility) enjoying all the beauty around at a very similar price (accommodation etc included). The main con, in the Philippines the professionalism of each dive center can vary incredibly and they might be way less safe than HK or your regular Western country. A buddy of mine was allowed to get into a wreck in her first dive ever! 🤦‍♂️ Down 30m and in a huge ship going through the cabins in her 7th dive 🤦‍♂️ The standards are improving little by little all around the world, but beware. I have lived bad enough experiences in the Philippines & Indonesia (gear breaking mid-dive, inexperienced divers being allowed in too technical areas getting freaked out and needing to help them, etc) to be way more cautious when selecting who to dive with. An intermediate option is going to the Philippines arranged by a diving shop in Hong Kong with a HK teacher/dive master. It is how I did my Advanced course in Puerto Galera.

In any case, coming back to Hong Kong. You can find several companies and individual professionals to teach you from the basics to the most advanced skills. A friend, Simon, is an eminence for the latter.

Quite some of my friends have done all kinds of courses with him: rescue, nitrox, the full dive master, etc. His company is more focused now on diving trips abroad though.

With him, we did a two-days one-night boat trip in Hong Kong. Depart from Central. Dive mid-way in the islands of the Geopark. Night dive just starting with the sunset under Sharp Peak 👆 Big barbecue and camping tent night at Nam She Wan (蚺蛇灣). Morning dives around Tung Ping Chau, before return. A peculiar HK weekend out. Sai Kung Scuba still offers the Tents & Tanks weekends.

The main diving areas can be approached in a single day. Easiest from Saikung. I have seen big diving boats departing from the main Saikung piers and also Wong Shek. Among other destinations: Bluff, Basalt, the East Dam, the aforementioned Tung Ping Chau, Hoi Ha marine park, Sharp Island, etc. I have found divers closer to the main city areas too. In the Tolo channel or Little Palm Beach, for example. The second is a quite common destination for free divers.

In the map above quite of the previous included. Also places where we have snorkeled, most significant sightings, and shops that I had checked before. I will continue adding the more that come to mind.

The best water quality tends to be in late winter and spring-time. Slightly better with rising and high tide within the bays. But it is quite unpredictable. I have dived in late May early June with a surprising 10m visibility. The further you get from the Pearl River delta the better. So Saikung, East North Islands, or further South East.

What kind of stuff you can see? Most hard corals I have seen were bleached but there are beautiful formations.

Pretty colored soft corals. Fish, from “Nemos”

and other small fishes

to sharks or even whale sharks. The bigger, above all the latter, are extremely rare these days though, so keep your expectations low. In my case, black tip sharks & dolphins were the most exciting encounters, while swimming/ coasteering, not diving. I have seen stingrays in different places. Even a butterfly ray within the net in Repulse Bay. Only one person I know has ever seen a turtle while snorkeling in Hoi Ha. We have seen dead ones. Latest while coasteering next to Pak Lap. Also, finless porpoises while kayaking. An old biodiversity map from WWF HK for your further reference.

If you are a good diver already, you could help sea cleaning. For example, several groups try to remove ghost nets.

Recommended destinations abroad? The Philippines has been our easiest getaway. A lot of places each one with its own “specialties”. Anilao, Puerto Galera, Coron (tons of wrecks, lake diving, and more), el Nido, Malapascua (plenty of thresher sharks & 40m dives to see Hammerheads), Bohol, Legazpi (whale sharks snorkeling), etc.

Diving in Thailand was not so good. Taiwan is a great starting point for Chinese speakers: more impressive than HK, good safety standards and not as expensive as other developed countries like Japan or Australia. In Green Island, for example.

In Indonesia is where I have done my most peculiar dives. Derawan Islands snorkeling with mantas, no sting jellyfish, and my first serious reef hook drift diving.

Muck dives in Lembeh (Sulawesi), the aforementioned Raja Ampat trip, and more. My brother and wife lived in the country for some years and I took advantage to travel with them, who really liked diving.

If you want to go further or just simply more pro, Simon arranges trips to Norway, South Africa, and others for the most impressive diving that the world can offer. Contact him.