Hong Kong Dive Sites

[four_engines]

Hello all you Hong Kong divers and those who've dived there.

It's hard enough finding a book on diving in Hong Kong, so I guess I have to pose this question to you guys.

If I want to do a day of diving in Hong Kong, say start in the morning and have the last dive in the afternoon, which will be the best dive sites to go.

If you can state it as:

- Dive Site:
- Location: Sai Kung?
- Marine Life:

It'll be really helpful.

Also, what is the modus operandi of most dive operators? I spoke to a couple of shops and it seems like on the dive day, I have to make my way down to Sai Kung myself, by 8 or 9 am. Whenever I go to Hong Kong, I'm always on Hong Kong Island so travelling to Sai Kung would take 2 hours or so. That's quite a ride! Any better suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

F/E

 

[pakman]

4 Engines,

Well the question is when do you plan on being in HK cuz the water is still pretty cold right now... So unless you like diving in a semi-dry or 7mm+ of wetsuit, it won't be fun. Although I recall some of my club members saying that visibility has been amazingly good (for HK) last month.

Transportation: yeah its a pain especially if you're luggin all your gear. The better sites are mostly up north around Sai Kung. If you don't have a car, getting out there can be a hassle especially for someone not familiar with HK. It can be done by public transportation. I've done it a couple times - MTR and then a taxi to the pier (maybe cheaper if you can find the right mini bus). South of HK island, there is OK diving in Poi Toi.

I'm still pretty new to HK and late last year I ended up joining a local dive club (South China Diving Club). To be honest, the dive sites around here aren't too exciting. Vis can be bad, few coral, and few fish... Most dives are around the 5-15M range. That being said, you will occaisionally see some neat stuff... but don't expect a Sipidan or even a Tioman... I do it mainly to get out of the "city" on the weekends and get some practice in between overseas dive trips. Since I joined the club, either we will car pool it out to the Sai Kung area, or hire a van for a group.

I can't seem to find a website that had a good description of the dive sites in HK, but if you look at the "reports" and "photo" section in the SCDC site, you'll get an idea of the diving you find around here. Also prodive has a brief description on local diving on their website including a map. http://www.prodive.com.hk/eng/local_diving.asp

Check with prodive or diving adventure (www.divinghk.com), they are both on the HK island side (wanchai and causeway bay). Since they are bringing up tanks and rental gear from their shop to the pier for their boats, maybe you can arrange a pickup from HK island? I think our club rents tanks from prodive, so everytime we go to the saikung area, the prodive van will dump off the tanks right before we board our junk.

check the SCDC dive schedule, usually we have a dive on Sunday twice a month. Also, you can check Hong Kong Underwater Club (www.hkuc.org.hk), another predominantly expat diving club. Both clubs are very friendly with newcomers and out-of-towners

 

[buksida]

There is a whole load of dive site info for Hong Kong here:

Hong Kong dive sites

 

[kkfok]

http://www.lesmart.com/MarineWeb/index.html