swimmingpooldivein
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Context
Dive Location: Longdong area, Taiwan (day trip from Taipei City)
Dive Shop: 四分之一潛水訓練中心 Quarterdiving
Timeframe: April, 2025
My Credentials: PADI Rescue; 445 dives across 13 countries
Taiwan was a 5-day layover vacation on my way to a Palau liveaboard. In my diving research, it was easy to interpret all online review of Taiwan diving as "just average." Anything near Taipei was described as "below average" due to the low population of fish and thus not worth the effort. However, I truly love underwater exploration and first-hand knowledge of all experiences, so despite the Internet and low expectations, I still signed up for a triple shore dive.
Review of Diving
Completely underrated - the diving was incredible!!! The abundance of critters fully overshadowed the low fish count!
First dive site was Longdong No. 4, aka Hemei Elementary School, which was essentially the Longdong Bay with entry along the south. 8m visibility; 22C at max depth of 23m. I was astonished by the number of sea slugs we found: sea hares, sap-sucking slugs, and so many nudibranchs of halgerda, ceratosoma, goniobranchus, hypselodoris, chromodoris, and phyllidia (last one:
) genera. One was 15cm long; another was swimming. In terms of fish, the biggest grouping was about 20 pearl-spot chromis, so quite tiny. Besides that, giant cuttlefish, stout moray eel, nebulosus snake eel, eightband butterflyfish, percnon sinense crabs, pair of batfish, bentstripe pipefish, scorpionfishes, lionfishes, and clownfishes darting around their host anemone. Although we tried but couldn't find any, the site also had flamboyant cuttlefish 
, emperor shrimp, harlequin shrimp, and several types of seahorses. The topology was much better than your average muck diving spot, but that's objectively not saying much. I enjoyed the ridges, valleys, and an overhang that created a swim-through. Large boulders near the beginning were excellent hiding spots for crustaceans and the like. Logistics: entry and exit were very easy, and especially with a DSMB and a quick weather conditions check, the dive site should be simple to self-organize while staying safe. We did 2 dives here, both in the morning.
Second dive site (i.e. 3rd dive; afternoon) was Hero's Hill aka 83K. I'm astonished to say this was one of my favorite dives ever
. 8m visibility; 24C at max depth of 26m. The first part of the dive involved swimming at 8m over rocky areas with multi-colored growth, passing over very narrow valleys, then actually swimming through these narrow valleys. The walls inside the valleys had various nudibranchs, including my favorite, hypselodoris festiva. We heard the boom from waves crashing against the valley's upper walls and saw a line of sunlight, hence the 3rd nickname of the dive site, A Line of Sky. We descended to a max depth of 26m which transformed the experience into a wall dive and sometimes a current dive. Not only were there, again, a slew of nudibranchs like the bornella stellifer (a treat for me), but we found fields of purple and pink soft coral as well as walls completely covered in orange cup coral. Additionally, several large octopi, trumpetfish, emperor angelfish. Logistics: a guide is necessary due to the tricky and slippery entry/exit and complex underwater navigation.
Review of Dive Shop: 四分之一潛水訓練中心 Quarterdiving
Great! I met them at their dive shop in Taipei, and they drove me to and fro. They offered 2-tank dive days (both in the morning) and 4-tank dive days (2 in the morning, lunch, then 2 in the afternoon). I purchased the 4, but I only did 3 dives due to a headache. For the first 2 dives, we split up into groups of 1 guide for every 2 to 3 customers, but we still all dived as one pod, so our group underwater was a bit bigger than I would've liked. However, there weren't really any fish to scare away in the first place, and I was able to keep my distance from the pack. Also, since I had way more air than everyone else at the end of each dive, the co-owner would send everyone up but continued the dive with me 1:1 to continue exploring and looking for the flamboyant cuttlefish. So in summary, the group size didn't actually matter. For the afternoon dives, I was the only one who signed up, so I had 1:1 private guide with the co-owner again
. Also, since he saw my diving competence in the first dive, he was willing to take me to the more advanced dive spot in the afternoon, which I was really grateful for. All the staff were extremely friendly, professional, and prioritized safety. I rented everything except mask, wetsuit, and dive computer: all their gear was in good shape. For lunch, several of us went to a nearby trendy restaurant with yummy food and fun conversation.
Summary
Longdong was a macro diving wonder. Its prestige is a well-kept secret when you consider the lack of (English) information online, even though several other self-organized divers at the morning dive site had twinsets or a pony bottle, and a foreigner had a large camera rig. PADI dive shops lined the street around Longdong Bay, and yet iNaturalist was missing so many marine life sightings pictured on a dive shop’s wall. If (upgrade: when?) I go back to Taiwan, my future vacation will include multiple days of diving in Longdong, coordinated with Quarterdiving, including night dives
. I recommend!!!
(Thank you to the entire community for all the existing posts that helped me determine what I had wanted to dive and how! This trip report is my way of giving back.)
Dive Location: Longdong area, Taiwan (day trip from Taipei City)
Dive Shop: 四分之一潛水訓練中心 Quarterdiving
Timeframe: April, 2025
My Credentials: PADI Rescue; 445 dives across 13 countries
Taiwan was a 5-day layover vacation on my way to a Palau liveaboard. In my diving research, it was easy to interpret all online review of Taiwan diving as "just average." Anything near Taipei was described as "below average" due to the low population of fish and thus not worth the effort. However, I truly love underwater exploration and first-hand knowledge of all experiences, so despite the Internet and low expectations, I still signed up for a triple shore dive.
Review of Diving
Completely underrated - the diving was incredible!!! The abundance of critters fully overshadowed the low fish count!
First dive site was Longdong No. 4, aka Hemei Elementary School, which was essentially the Longdong Bay with entry along the south. 8m visibility; 22C at max depth of 23m. I was astonished by the number of sea slugs we found: sea hares, sap-sucking slugs, and so many nudibranchs of halgerda, ceratosoma, goniobranchus, hypselodoris, chromodoris, and phyllidia (last one:
) genera. One was 15cm long; another was swimming. In terms of fish, the biggest grouping was about 20 pearl-spot chromis, so quite tiny. Besides that, giant cuttlefish, stout moray eel, nebulosus snake eel, eightband butterflyfish, percnon sinense crabs, pair of batfish, bentstripe pipefish, scorpionfishes, lionfishes, and clownfishes darting around their host anemone. Although we tried but couldn't find any, the site also had flamboyant cuttlefish , emperor shrimp, harlequin shrimp, and several types of seahorses. The topology was much better than your average muck diving spot, but that's objectively not saying much. I enjoyed the ridges, valleys, and an overhang that created a swim-through. Large boulders near the beginning were excellent hiding spots for crustaceans and the like. Logistics: entry and exit were very easy, and especially with a DSMB and a quick weather conditions check, the dive site should be simple to self-organize while staying safe. We did 2 dives here, both in the morning.Second dive site (i.e. 3rd dive; afternoon) was Hero's Hill aka 83K. I'm astonished to say this was one of my favorite dives ever
. 8m visibility; 24C at max depth of 26m. The first part of the dive involved swimming at 8m over rocky areas with multi-colored growth, passing over very narrow valleys, then actually swimming through these narrow valleys. The walls inside the valleys had various nudibranchs, including my favorite, hypselodoris festiva. We heard the boom from waves crashing against the valley's upper walls and saw a line of sunlight, hence the 3rd nickname of the dive site, A Line of Sky. We descended to a max depth of 26m which transformed the experience into a wall dive and sometimes a current dive. Not only were there, again, a slew of nudibranchs like the bornella stellifer (a treat for me), but we found fields of purple and pink soft coral as well as walls completely covered in orange cup coral. Additionally, several large octopi, trumpetfish, emperor angelfish. Logistics: a guide is necessary due to the tricky and slippery entry/exit and complex underwater navigation.Review of Dive Shop: 四分之一潛水訓練中心 Quarterdiving
Great! I met them at their dive shop in Taipei, and they drove me to and fro. They offered 2-tank dive days (both in the morning) and 4-tank dive days (2 in the morning, lunch, then 2 in the afternoon). I purchased the 4, but I only did 3 dives due to a headache. For the first 2 dives, we split up into groups of 1 guide for every 2 to 3 customers, but we still all dived as one pod, so our group underwater was a bit bigger than I would've liked. However, there weren't really any fish to scare away in the first place, and I was able to keep my distance from the pack. Also, since I had way more air than everyone else at the end of each dive, the co-owner would send everyone up but continued the dive with me 1:1 to continue exploring and looking for the flamboyant cuttlefish. So in summary, the group size didn't actually matter. For the afternoon dives, I was the only one who signed up, so I had 1:1 private guide with the co-owner again
. Also, since he saw my diving competence in the first dive, he was willing to take me to the more advanced dive spot in the afternoon, which I was really grateful for. All the staff were extremely friendly, professional, and prioritized safety. I rented everything except mask, wetsuit, and dive computer: all their gear was in good shape. For lunch, several of us went to a nearby trendy restaurant with yummy food and fun conversation.Summary
Longdong was a macro diving wonder. Its prestige is a well-kept secret when you consider the lack of (English) information online, even though several other self-organized divers at the morning dive site had twinsets or a pony bottle, and a foreigner had a large camera rig. PADI dive shops lined the street around Longdong Bay, and yet iNaturalist was missing so many marine life sightings pictured on a dive shop’s wall. If (upgrade: when?) I go back to Taiwan, my future vacation will include multiple days of diving in Longdong, coordinated with Quarterdiving, including night dives
. I recommend!!!(Thank you to the entire community for all the existing posts that helped me determine what I had wanted to dive and how! This trip report is my way of giving back.)
