Adventurous adventures

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Visiting Sharp Island - HK

So hot is Hong Kong! We needed to cool down and what would be more perfect than to dunk our heads underwater. Last time we went to Hoi Ha Wan for some snorkeling action but this time, we decided to head to Sharp Island as this was also another place reknown for its coral/aquatic life. We did once head to Sharp Island but ended up at the wrong side of the island. This time, we caught the right boat to Hap Mun Bay which costed us HKD40 per person for a return trip back to Sai Kung. I don't know how much the locals paid but I felt it was ok.

The boat trip took around 15-20 minutes and the breeze was amazing. There are several different groups that offer the same service but comes with more frequency. The one I took was with a red ticket and I found that this had the least boats but appeared to have the most customers. Maybe because of it's price? If you don't want to wait for the boat, especially on the way back, get the blue tickets!

On our way to Sharp Island

As soon as you hop off the boat, you are welcomed by a cosy cove where the water is clearer than any part of HK you have seen. There were unexpectedly more people that we thought and we also saw a few junk boats anchored. It didn't really matter because we were heading to the other side of the island.


Right off the wharf of Sharp Island - Hap Mun Bay

Once you get to the main area of Hap Mun Beach where the kiosks are, there is a path that takes you to the bbq area and all it takes is less than 5 minutes and voila, you're at the other side of the island where it is deserted! One take a look at the picture below and you'll see why! The shore is rocky and not friendly to bare feet. However, this was the famous part of the island and it was evident with a few scuba boats moored right there.

This was where we snorkeled!

It was quite a challenge to get into the water because of all the rock. We had to be quite cautious and took our time getting into the water. It didn't help that large waves attacked us periodically.

The water was perfect, not warm and not cold. No wetsuits needed at all. We snorkeled straight out.... we weren't overly impressed with the aquatic life here and found Hoi Ha Wan much more exciting. However, we did manage to see coral, a seahorse, squid, and also a clown fish. Picture of the sea horse below..

A rare sight!

Bounce Bounce Bounce..

One of many coral species

Dashing school of squid (pardon the pun).. can you see them?

Bye bye Sharpie!

We were only in the water for about an hour and decided to leave as it was getting late and we knew that we had to fight the crowds to get back on the boat. However, it was great to be back into the water after so long and to enjoy our natural underwater surroundings. I'm thinking about heading back to Okinawa this year so hopefully I will be blogging more about my underwater adventures!

Happy snorkeling!

Chad

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Photoshopping around

Using the magical tool photoshop, I played with some of my images and this one stood our particularly well compared to the others.

If you have noticed, I have cropped this image as the header picture. Enjoy!

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Is snorkeling too fashionable?

I found this quite amusing while flipping through Pinterest posted from The Inspiration Room. Unfortunately it's just an exhibition and not for sale but can you actually imagine anyone wearing these to snorkel? It would just be so bizarre...