Once upon a time, this was a remote island. Easier to reach now. A few peculiar rock formations in an easy & shortish coasteering route.

See full screen & Alexa’s Garmin track & my Garmin track with the swim from Kat O.

I have been on Crescent Island several times. In my first swim run explorations of these Northern islands before the ferries. In our unsuccessful attempt to go from Kat O to the Devil’s Fist. I have been a couple more times in 2024. Taking the ferry to Lai Chi Wo and kayaking from Sam A with Alexa. Later on my own directly swimming from Kat O. I took the wrong ferry this time 😅🤦‍♂️ and arrived late the long way, with a stopover in Lai Chi Wo too. So I went directly to check the part I had spent less time on. Adding in this post all the information.

These days for the average reader I would suggest doing it the same way I did it with Alexa. Copy paste from the mini Port post.

University MTR station, walk to Ma Liu Shui pier, ferry to Lai Chi Wo, and concrete hike to Sam A. There we had our kayak ready for pick up. Super convenient. Just WhatsApp him (+852 5938 6360) a day before, PayMe, and very decent sea kayaks with skirts and everything ready to pick up in the spot (single $400/day, double $500). Sit-on tops are available too ($250 for a single, $350 for a double). Get everything ready and kayaking time in the calmest sea possible again (very frequent here).

Video (shaky, wrong GoPro setup…)

We landed on a small sandy area on the West side of the island and we started coasteering clockwise. To finish with the easiest ground last. Anyhow the start (0:14 on the video) is easy too, with minimal scrambling. Turn and here you can already see.

all the Bay.

Most hikers associate Crescent Island with its big beach. Once a solitaire camp spot. Now with more visitors. Frequently more trash too. There is a really short path from there up in this direction.

It takes you, through a bit bushy but not unpleasant path (2015), up to the hill (C) from where you will have, on a clear day, really nice views of the area.

Back again on the coastline, all around the bay is flattish.

And only when turning East

and South

is when it gets,

after a tiny beach and tunnel,

a little steeper. Relatively easy anyhow.

In this area, there is also a tiny hole good for a fun pic. Check picture #41 in the link. We did not see it as Colin was pushing the pace. Fun fast coasteering

with several short swims.

There are more little caves, but nothing like those in Kat O.

A few tafoni sections.

Seen the very nice beach of Double Island in front.

Moving forward the South West coast is mainly pebbles and sandy areas. You can hike very fast on them.

On my last check, I confirmed the correct location of the arch (4). I had read about it but we didn’t see it when we were going in the opposite direction. With Colin & Tyler because we were in extra fast coasteering mode to catch the speedboat. With Alexa because a sudden storm was approaching and we wanted to find a more secure spot. Going counterclockwise it is more obvious.

I have fixed the location in Openstreetmap. Before it was wrongly marked 300m further North. The scrambling up to see the arch close from below is a bit tricky. Tons of loose rocks & gravel. You can watch it at 1:55 in this video.

There might be another path to arrive at the top. I saw on the OpenStreetMap a “helipad” marked on a nearby hill. So I decided to check it starting from the beach marked with the B (2:45). Steep sandy path with ropes and a thin chain. And on the top… A tomb 😅 (I fixed it too). Later checking at home on the satellite images I realized that there might be a faint path heading towards the arch. It would explain the pics I have seen in the area and why hiker groups had set the ropes to help themselves hike the tomb path.

After the last bend of the clear path if you zoom in enough you can see a very faint path start heading South East.

I didn’t see it, as I was focused on the other side. Trying to go to the highest spot of the hill for the views. If any of you go and check it, highly appreciated if you comment below.

Can you coasteer all the island just taking the ferry? Ehhh… doable, but you need to be very fast. Nowadays the (correct) ferry arrives at Kat O at 10:30. That departs on its way back to Ma Liu Shui at 15:30. So you have 5 hours to trail jog Kat O East (partly bushy) + swim + fast coasteer all Crescent+ swim + jog back. If you miss the ferry, you have another one leaving at 16:00 to Lai Chi Wo. From there you will need to hike more than 7km and 300m of elevation gain on a very civilized path to the closest minibus stop.

The 300m swim can have boat traffic. In my case, in one of the swims I needed to wait a while. A big fishing boat was in the area and I wanted to be sure it would not head in my direction. Later a speed boat passed next to me, but they could see me clearly with my big orange bag, neon yellow cap, and red paddles. In a nutshell, be careful with the crossing.

If you just want to coasteer Crescent and you have a decent-sized group you can rent a speed boat from Wong Shek. That way you can make this a super easy route with extra time to snorkel and check every corner of the island. Ask the driver to leave and pick you up at (B) for a bit cheaper pricing. The beach next to the “helipad”. It is approx 3km less each way, compared with stopping at the main beach within the bay. But you might need some serious Cantonese bargaining skills for the conversation.

Everything you should know before coasteering and kayaking and open water swimming.