After a great first time snorkeling experience in Green Island last week, I have become addicted to snorkeling.
My birthday is in July and I need to request days off for work ASAP so I am starting to research where to go snorkeling for my birthday. I thought about Kenting and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that there is snorkeling, but I can only seem to find info on diving and surfing and well…I’m just a beginner and am happy with snorkeling. Plus my boyfriend (Taiwanese) can’t swim and I really would love for him to be able to experience this!
So, have any of you gone snorkeling in Kenting? Are there travel packages? I know Green Island Adventures has one, but it’s only “Surf and Dive” and I just want snorkeling and sunbathing (plus my boyfriend wants us to visit Kaohsiung as well…and all of this on JUST a weekend!!!)
If you CAN go snorkeling in Kenting…is it worth it?
I’ve done the search function as always to avoid people yellign at me, but I’m not finding what I want…I’m still researching travel agencies and plan to email a couple more later on this week!
[quote=“Breezy”]After a great first time snorkeling experience in Green Island last week, I have become addicted to snorkeling.
So, have any of you gone snorkeling in Kending? Are there travel packages?
Bre[/quote]
Wow, not one reply.
Yes, you can snorkel in Kenting and no, you don’t need to go through a travel agency to do so. Just rent a scooter and run out toward the harbor of Ho bi hu. Take a right, and go down until you see the Nuclear power plant outlet. On the right is a little bay full of snorkelers. Surprisingly, there are still fish to see there despite the mass of humanity as most float on top with life vests. The gear will be easy to rent there and cheap. You can also snorkel around Sail rock, and several smaller reefs nearby.
Avoid the east coast sections or around the lighthouse unless you are very experienced. Currents there can be strong.
You’ll find the reef quite different than Green Island. But, is still much beauty for those who care to look. Over CNY I did a dive down there (clean up trash) and found a frogfish hiding in a very common spot. The camouflage was so good I took several empty water bottles from within 6 inches before I even spotted it.
Expect vis to not be as good. Count on 10-20meters.
If you are in Taipei, Long2 dong4 is about an hour by car from there. No where near as good as Green Island of course but nice enough I go there a few times a year. Was there today actually. There was quite a wallop (coming in off the northwest I would guess) and didn’t have fins so that was a little hairy given that I usually swim out and around “the island”…
Anyway, long dong is easy enough to find, it’s on the north coast highway…oh… 20KM from Keelung. You’ll come to a little fishing village, a tunnel and a big bay, as you get past the bay there is a road that spilts from the highway and hugs the water, take it to the end, park, and you’ll see where people have pounded a bit of a trail through the boulders to a little opened channel (150 meters from the end of the road) that’s been created by an island just off shore. Most people swim there. I did today. Lurvly.
But as always, I have another question…will these snorkeling companies bring guides a long to show you where to go and help you? When I was in Green Island, I had a snorkeling guide and he brought lifesavers on a rope and he would pull us around and would show us all the cool spots…unfortunately there were TONS fo snorkelers there, but for my first time, I really enjoyed being pulled around. It was so relaxing and I’m lazy! Haha! We didn’t even use flippers, our guide did and just pulled us around…while I took pics with my REALLY cheap underwater camera!
Plus, I would like to have a guide because I’m worried about my boyfriend. I told him I would teach him how to swim…if just a little bit, but we haven’t had a chance to go to the pool and practice. It’s been years since I had lifesaving class (I was 8 years old) and wouldn’t know what to do if he started panicking or something…or…my biggest fear (haha!) Jellyfish! (I need to find a CPR class and take it again). I guarantee he wouldn’t panic, but things happen.
Ok, so I will try to research this with no travel agent, but I decided to go through one because I really have no idea how to go about getting these things and my Chinese is VERY limited. Plus, my boyfriend is VERY busy and since I’m the travel researcher (I get it from my stepdad who is ALWAYS doing travel research-they are big fans of cruises) I have decided to take action and do it! Plus travel research is fun!
Also, do any of you use underwater digital cameras to take pics when you go snorkeling or diving? If so, what do you use? Where can I find these? I saw a few on Yahoo! Shopping, but this is also something I want to research!
As for Long Dong, I will look into that as well! I considered Keelung, but boyfriend has been wanting to take me to Kaohsiung and Kenting and so I just decided on Kenting, but I’m definitely open for other possibilities!
[quote=“Breezy”]
When I was in Green Island, I had a snorkeling guide and he brought lifesavers on a rope and he would pull us around and would show us all the cool spots…unfortunately there were TONS fo snorkelers there, but for my first time, I really enjoyed being pulled around. It was so relaxing and I’m lazy! Haha! We didn’t even use flippers, our guide did and just pulled us around…while I took pics with my REALLY cheap underwater camera!
Bre[/quote]
Please be careful breezy. TAiwan waters are very dangerous. Many deaths every year. You really should be an above average swimmer to even be in the ocean. And you need to recognize where the rip currents are, etc. Unless you go to where MJB suggests where there are lots of snorkelers, etc. The problem with having a floatation device is that the currents can take you away from shore and you can panic and try to make a swim for it and then drown.
Lungtung had these rocked off swimming spots that are quite large and were used to farm abalone. That was a safe place to swim. Not a lot of fish though.
At any rate. Be aware Taiwan waters are VERY DANGEROUS. And not suitable for beginners without expert attention.
I was going to chirp in with some smart ass response about Taiwan waters not being any more dangerous than anywhere else, but actually I can’t think of many places that are really like wading pool safe. The “expert” attention sometimes leaves alot to be desired as well. I was at some beach (forget the name) one time and had swum out past the waves that were breaking hard and really close to shore, and was bobbing around just outside the break point when the life guard came and told me it was too dangerous. Meanwhile he was letting everybody: little kids, old people etc, three quarters of whom probably couldn’t swim, wander around in the wash. “Profoundly” stupid. No wonder so many people drown here.
Lets agree that the Ocean is not suitable for beginner swimmers PERIOD. Wherever that ocean is.
I saved a young lady once who had floated out on her inner tube and panicked. At a beach known to kill several people every summer. People floating out a bit too far, getting scared and trying for shore.
The same stretch of beach can be safe one day and next day be dangerous. I was a Red Cross certified life guard and I myself nearly drowned at a beach in Wanli. We were body surfing in waves that were six to 8 feet high and we got caught in a rip current. I was the first one in , swimming about 45 minutes and being rolled by the waves and taking in water. The others made it in soon after I did. We swam parallel to the beach as we were trained. And body surfed in when we cleared the rip currents. But that was an experience that taught me that the Ocean is not to be messed with. Go equipped and be safe. No joke .
I used to be one of those idiots who thought a typhoon alert meant it was time to go swimming, and am the sole living practitioner of the sport of snorkel surfing, which involves, well, snorkel surfing.
As such I think I’m qualified to point out that a lot of accidents with water could be avoided if people could remember two things:
It’s really heavy. If you are floating around in it and it moves, so do you.
If you want to go swimming around, particularly in places where water crashes against rocks, it helps to be a little :loco:
You can’t breathe the stuff.
That second point is particularly worth remembering.
I just want to know in what way does this activity actually equate to snorkeling? Being dragged around by a guide without fins isn’t even swimming.
Let a 9 year old instruct you on what snorkeling really is
And this is the same kids father instructing his 5 year old sister. See any dragging going on?
Snorkeling/Freediving is one of the most amazing, sublime experiences you can have in the ocean. Unencumbered with Scuba or extra gear you can freely move around in the water column as long as your breath holds out.
With as little sarcasm as I can muster…You’ve never been snorkeling.
If you want to be dragged around on a rope once more then yes, Kenting is THE place for you.
This is one of the first adventurous things I have done in my life(OK well maybe not entirely, but pretty close) and whether or not you call it snorkeling, I enjoyed it very much. Who cares what it was called…the experience was amazing!
Maybe in the future when I am more experienced, I’ll do it your way or even try scuba diving, but for now I’m fine with it!
Everybody is different. Some people can just jump right in, some people just need a little time…that’s life.
I’m not trying to cause trouble because I seriously hate drama especially on message boards as it is really pointless and stupid, but I only posted because I just want to post my point of view.
Anyway, thank you for the positive feedback and for the warnings on safety in the water. Even though I know about how dangerous the ocean can be, I still get caught up with it’s beauty and can forget.
I also want to say I’m sorry if this post has caused problems-like I said I just wanted to give you all a different perspective.
[quote=“Breezy”]This is one of the first adventurous things I have done in my life(OK well maybe not entirely, but pretty close) and whether or not you call it snorkeling, I enjoyed it very much. Who cares what it was called…the experience was amazing!
Maybe in the future when I am more experienced, I’ll do it your way or even try scuba diving, but for now I’m fine with it!
Everybody is different. Some people can just jump right in, some people just need a little time…that’s life.
I’m not trying to cause trouble because I seriously hate drama especially on message boards as it is really pointless and stupid, but I only posted because I just want to post my point of view.
Anyway, thank you for the positive feedback and for the warnings on safety in the water. Even though I know about how dangerous the ocean can be, I still get caught up with it’s beauty and can forget.
I also want to say I’m sorry if this post has caused problems-like I said I just wanted to give you all a different perspective.
But…if you have any more info, I’d appreciate it [/quote]
dont worry breezy , we are a very friendly bunch here at forumosa. welcome. And glad you had a great time and thats all that matters in my book !! Keep us up to date with your new adventures.
Thank you Tommy! I just think it is so sad when people start getting sarcastic and superior on message boards, everyone does things differently, so what? Just live your life and enjoy it. But I guess people are entitled to their own opinion negative or not, I suppose. I just take the good with the bad and make the most of it…it is all you can do!
And if you want to see me Snorkeling or NON-snorkeling or whatever you want to call it Here are my pics! Although my underwater (NOT digital) camera was free and yes it is my first time so they are crappy by your standards, but I love them and have such good sentimental value And I WILL buy and underwater digital camera…any suggestions??
Anyway, I am also seriously considering going to beaches in Thailand and doing snorkeling there…This is my first time traveling Asia and just have to see Thailand!!!
Back to Kenting…I think I will do it for my birthday even though people say it’s not as good as Green Island, but I heard Kenting is still anice place…and good shopping and sunbathing…I hope! I just need to figure out how to organize it!
MJB just came across wrong I am sure. Hes just understandably proud of his childrens abilities to swim well and it was a great place he seemed to have been. And yes, you can/will graduate to that stage of the game soon enough. I am sure he meant no malice. Probably just wanted to point out just how exciting it can get.
Am gonna check out ur pics now
p.s. just checked out your pics. Pretty cool ! looks like tons of fun. I lived in tAiwan for a hecka long time and i NEVER went to gReen island So jealous
And you survived the barf boat too it seems? Theres only the small plane or the barf boat to get there. Both very exciting im told.
And can be quite a bit of a ride too it seems.
i LOVE kenting. Always been my fav place in TAiwan.
All sarcasm aside, let me explain why I utterly despise these types of tours. And I’ll stand by what I said, getting dragged around on a rope isn’t snorkeling.
The guides are unqualified/untrained. In 1997, I spent a good 4 full weeks in Kenting working toward my Divemaster certificate. Part of my workings included working with these “rope a dope” tour guides to try and get them at least some rudimentary training in both in-water rescue and CPR. None of them could either make a ten meter freedive or had the slightest inkling of how to perform an in-water rescue. Why should they be? At 450NT a pop they could make 8,000NT an hour dragging some hapless folks around the reef with one fin and 20meters of rope. In the 4 weeks I spent in Kenting 3 people drowned on these “rope a dope” tours. One of them was a 7 year old girl. In the interest of tourism I suppose, these incidents never made any local press. The girl “drowned” inside her own mask and snorkel because she was near the back of a 16 person “rope a dope” tour and couldn’t get her head out of the water. The “guide” never even noticed he was dragging a corpse until the end of his professional tour. The expat dive professionals that work in/around Kenting will be only too happy to confirm that many drownings in Kenting go unreported.
Summary is that unqualified people are taking people that shouldn’t be in the water to begin with. I’m guessing that the OP, with her non swimming boyfriend should probably not be doing “rope a dope” tours for their own safety. Hiring a licensed instructor would only cost a few hundred more, you’d see 10x as much and be in the hands of a diving professional who would know what to do in case of swimming panic, rescue or worse. Seeing the priest with the wailing family next to the water isn’t anything I want to experience again.
Tommy 525, snorkeling by nature involves a mask, snorkel and fins. It also involves a reasonable amount of in-water skill to be done safely…Whether it be done by the OP herself or provided by a trained guide. Bottom line is if you are too lazy to kick…Get a seat on a glass bottom boat.
And if the OP thinks I’m a cocky bastard, then so be it. I’ve been freediving all my life, and I’m not young.
This, Tommy525 is me: I could only wish I was as thin as the French dude
To the OP: In the photo I dropped off the camera to my buddy who was on the surface and dove through sunlit tropical waters to mingle with a large school of snapper. Looking back up at the photographer silhouetted against the sun, having a large school of fish surrounding me in crystal clear water, and knowing I am completely relaxed in my environment, I slowly kick back toward the surface. Check the face…sheer bliss.
Incredibly sad about the 7 year old girl. There has got to be rules. LIke cant take more then 4 people on a rope a dope . And they should pass an International Red Cross course and be a certified life guard or something. Im talking about the rope a dope (as you call it) guides.
The water is dangerous. We had a drowning of young boy at Great America here. In a wave pool. There were many lifeguards but no one noticed this young boy in trouble till it was too late.
FAct is the water is dangerous. Better to be a good swimmer to be in it. Otherwise, stick with a pool you can stand up in.
I am a REd Cross certified life guard. But I myself nearly drowned soon after getting the certificate because I disrespected the ocean. I never will do that again.
As for your snorkeling , obviously you and your kids are doing it right. And its great that you want to point people in the right direction. However, you couldve been more humane in your treatment of a newbie who is just expressing pleasure at her first time in the water?
Gentleness here , while being firm with important info (like watch out for the rope a dope in kending) would probably have been appreciated.
If you were a pro race driver and you were talking to someone who just had her first hot lap. No doubt you know all the dangers and can do all the tricks. But its not gentlemanly at all to be blasting her away !!!
I taught many young persons how to swim and I was gentle with them, while being firm about the rules because the water is no joke.
No need to blast a newbie out of the water I think.
You should be better then that as a snorkel pro , no?
p.s. I like to put on swim goggles and just dive into the water. I dont like to use fins because I dont need to go far and they can induce cramps. I dont have a snorkel either. But I enjoy doing it and like having a cold beer or two afterwards. And my fat belly helps me to float naturally to the surface. My natural floatation device.
Step one, be safe in the water, dont be stoopid.
Step two. have a hecka lotta fun
Step three. repeat
Dont have to be jacques cousteau to have fun in the water.
I talked to a professional diver whos job was to go down in a diving bell to the bottom of oil rigs (and that my friend is DEEP) and then check out the area and then back up.
thats serious diving and very dangerous. Hes as pro as they come and hes very modest.
[quote=“tommy525”]
If you were a pro race driver and you were talking to someone who just had her first hot lap. No doubt you know all the dangers and can do all the tricks. But its not gentlemanly at all to be blasting her away !!![/quote]
This analogy only works if you were on the floorboard working the pedals because she just wanted to “enjoy the scenery” and you’d only been driving for a week.
Hey Mjb, lets not argue whos good at what. And i dont make the best analogies . haha.
Great place you were snorkeling. where was that?
All i want to do is point out that you couldve imparted all that good knowledge you have. Especially that very important knowledge bout the dangers of the rope a dope in a bit more diplomatic way. And you owe the young girl an apology in my book,
if you refuse to hear another voice outside your own, then fine.
The problem with getting older (well one of many problems) is that we can become inflexible and non-listening because we know it all.
I myself am guilty of this very thing on many occasions. AT least I try to listen to others?
You were not nice to a newbie who wanted to point out that she had a great time in the water.
Who knows? Maybe shes from the US MID WEST and aint never seen the ocean before??? You wise wizzened owl of a snorkeler couldve been a bit more accomodating I think??
So jealous 
