Tiny islands in the middle of Wang Chau, Town and Basalt islands. For those wanting to see every little corner of Hong Kong.

  • Beauty/fun: 5/10 the islands are cute, there are chances of good water quality and marine life around, but they are really tiny. You should have checked all the major islands around and most of the GeoPark before considering this. If you are just ticking out all the possible routes or you are up for a short one, it is a good option.
  • Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 5/10 just only because how expose they are to swell and wind waves. The scrambling, even if you are trying to push yourself, is relatively easy. Short swims (<30m) to connect the three islands. Paddling required, unless with boat approach or extremely long swim coasteering day out, including full Town island outing + 240m x2 swim.
  • The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)

See full screen & the Garmin track.

I had very few spots in the HK coastline pending to visit and these three islands were one of those. The logistics required are long and good wave and weather forecast a must. So I had them in my to do list for long. Early August, sunny and wave less forecast. Summer in her final recovery of a sprained ankle ready for a tiny outing. Perfect time to try this. I messaged the Pak Lap cafe (shop facebook & WhatsApp number 68584208) to book the kayak just the day before and relatively early we took the transportation there. If you want to go full public transportation now you can, but it is extremely long: (various) bus(es) to Pak Tam Chung and from there minibus in East Dam direction. There can be huge queues in the latter. So you better start any outing in this area really early, also to avoid both direction heavy traffic. In our case, we shortcut with taxi ride to the path heading down to Pak Lap. Extra tip: you can take the taxi from Wu Kai Sha station. Usually the roads on the Northern side, instead of going through the Saikung village itself, tend to have less traffic in good weather weekends. Consider this even more at your return. Actually some taxi drivers would only take you if you say that you go in that direction.

15 minutes concrete downhill and set up everything for kayaking.

As mentioned these tiny islands are in the middle of Wang Chau, Town and Basalt.

We landed in the smallest of all 圓崗洲 Yuen Kong Chau. A pebble beach there in the most wave protected area. It looked perfect in the satellite image and it was a good option indeed.

Leave all our gear behind, but the mini GoPro, and start coasteering counterclockwise. In no time and without difficulty we arrived at the swim to cross to 棟心洲 Tung Sam Chau (0:43).

We were trying to challenge ourselves a bit with the only “tricky” traverse just after. If you want to avoid it just swim 10 meters further right 😄🤷‍♂️ You can intuit the characteristic Geopark formations but to see them more clearly you need to swim again (1:11) to 扁洲 Pin Chau, the third island. Pretty columns there, although not as spectacular as in the East dam route or several others around.

Eventually we swam back to the first island (2:06). Meanwhile Summer was enjoying the clear water (only there, as it had been heavy raining whole week long) and tiny sandy area, I climbed (2:24) to the top of the island (clear path at my second try) and checked the views from atop. Spend some time with the lady laying down on the sand and start the kayak return. This time going through the tunnel in Wang Chau. Return the kayak, rest a while on the beach, and leave early to avoid the late afternoon traffic.

Drone footage of the three islands, mainly focused in the group spending time on the northernmost, Pin Chau.

Everything you should know before coasteering.