If arbitrary detention is the OP’s main reason for skipping mainland China, then your comment is valid. However, HK is VERY different from Mainland China in pretty much all other aspects. They’re still very much completely different countries culture-wise, and have more differences than similarities.
My HK suggestion was made under the assumption that the OP wanted to skip mainland China because they have already been there and done that, and not because they wanted to avoid arrest!
The ferry between Kinmen and Xiamen might take 30 minutes if it’s foggy that day. Probably more like 30 minutes from arrival at the Kinmen port to arrival at Xiamen’s immigration. Wherein you risk arbitrary detention, because this is China in 2023 we’re talking about.
Edit: if you’re already in Kinmen for a few days of chilling out with wind lions, sometimes people with small yachts do tours that leave from Kinmen Matou (port) and go past Xiamen. Maybe like a three hour tour, ala Gilligan’s Island?
Yes, admittedly when I said mainland China I was talking about HK and Macau too. Having lived in mainland China proper, and having spent a lot of time in both Macau and HK, I also don’t see them as independent in the slightest way. When I say mainland China I am talking about all parts of China that are controlled by the mainland, the same way that when I say Taiwan I am referring to all the places that are under control of Taiwan, so including Kinmen. If I wanted to exclude places like Kinmen I would say Taiwan mainland, Taiwan proper, Formosa, or Taiwan island.
Good man.
Yeah, took it a couple of times on visa runs coming back from Macau- unce beautifully and clear, once horrendously choppy/ Still, made a nice change.
Because he satd he was looking for regular boat trips to
international destinations? Most cruises are round-trip
Well, the only one I can see is that test ferry but it’s only a test.
Cruises can’t be regular? They depart pretty regularly.
And international trips can’t be round-trip? I assume OP has to come back.
there used to be one going to okinawa.
I also wouldn’t count cruises as “regular boat trips […] to international destinations”. I see the latter as regularly scheduled boats primarily serving to get people from A to B, at which point the people get off at B and stay there for a bit, as opposed to cruises where the main purpose is the trip itself and staying on the boat before coming back (even if the passengers get off briefly at ports on the way). Cruises tend to be slower and way more expensive too.
What could the OP be asking about then? Ferries? Why would there be ferries from Taiwan to another country? That’d be a super long trip for a ferry ride.
Bottom line, there are no ferries from Taiwan’s main island to any other country. There are only cruises out of Keelung or Kaohsiung.
If OP was looking for a ferry ride, then the answer is no.
Yeah, that’s how I’d interpret it - ferries, hydrofoils, etc. going from Taiwan to nearby countries. Like they have in the Philippines and other countries.
Yes, it’d be a long trip (>12 hours, I would imagine, based on how long it takes to go much shorter distances like to Green Island or between islands in the Philippines).
Sure, but they existed before, right? So it’s not like it’s a totally bizarre question.
And occasionally Tainan and Hualien.
Did anyone say it was a bizarre question? Missed that if someone did.
The Yilan to Yonaguni ferry is 110 km and takes 2 hours.
It’s a fast boat doing 30 knots.
It’s not a cruise ship.
Many years ago there were gambling ships that would leave Taiwan waters and then go back.
There was also a ferry to Ishigaki. But no more.
I wonder what the ticket price will be…
Would love to know when this route plans to open.
Arimura Lines used to run 2 separate cruise ferries weekly. One from Keelung and one from Kaohsiung. They stopped in Naha and then stops into mainland Japan up to Nagoya and back…sometimes Miyako and Ishigaki.
The Naha trip was like 8,000 r/t.
The galley was open 3 times per day and had 3 choices on the menu if I remember right- pork cutlet, Japanese curry or omrice. Breakfast had 2- Japanese or Western style.
There were vending machines with very cheap duty-free Japanese beer and other drinks.
The trip was around 25-30 hours.
The only thing to do was to drink those beers up on the helicopter deck, nap or eat.
Some pictures here:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Cruise_Ferry_Hiryu_(ship,_1995)
A post here about the Keelung route?
Great info, thanks. I liked the story about the ferry trip. Yes, that’s sounds about how it must have been. Same thing still happens.
What really made me laugh was one of the comments from 2007 to that story you posted. I shall quote that here for your conbini. Ergo:
henry la farge
February 6, 2007 8:07 am
I once took the ferry to Naha from Keelung too. When I got to Naha, the clerks at customs said my papers were not in order and they made the captain keep me on board, stay on the ferry all the way to Japan, Osaka, where we docked, and then I had to ride back to Naha under the captain’s gaze and then back to Keelung, without once getting off the ship, all because my Canadian passport was somehow not in order? This is true story. Beware of Japanese immigration clerks, they are insane. Japan is insane. I was so happy to get back to Keelung, after 8 days at sea, under a kind of house arrest, that the first night in Keelung i went to a whorehouse, got drunk and stayed drunk for five days, and then I went back to work in Hualien.