Since my bicycle was stolen during my short travel to Alishan (from Kaohsiung railway station), I went to Liuqiu Island on 27-Jan-2009 by public transportation.
From Kaohsiung to Donggang by bus (buses every hour or so). From Donggang to Liuqiu every second hour (I got 9 AM boat).
The symbol of the island = Vase Rock.
It’s a coral island, but nobody was snorkeling because of dangerous underwater currents (so they say). Anyway I guess currents provide fresh water for fish hatcheries (=those round things out there in ocean).
Yep, diving and snorkeling are fine. Swimming without fins is considered dangerous outside of a small beach just beside the main town. There are a few other places where the water is protected but it is only waist deep. Pass the coral barrier and yes the current is awful.
I was planning on heading out to Xiao Liuqiu for Moon Festival but the typhoon and other circumstances will probably delay this trip. A couple of questions.
The ferry/scooter rental seem simple enough. Is there any concern of the ferries selling out and not being able to get tickets on arrival? I might have to take the last ferry on a Saturday night.
Where is the best place to park a motorcycle in Donggang? I traveled to Donggang on a day trip last month and there seemed to be a pay parking lot that they kept trying to get me to park in a lot near the ferry. Is this the recommended place to park or is it fine to find a free place on the street? Obviously I don’t want to be towed but I could park a block away from the ferry.
How long will the water be cloudy from the recent typhoons going through Taiwan? I really want to snorkel when I go. How much is snorkeling and how do you find a good snorkel tour? Or are there good places to snorkel from shore if you rent gear?
How is the camping? Is the only place to camp at the campground?
[quote=“Abacus”]I was planning on heading out to Xiao LiuChiu for Moon Festival but the typhoon and other circumstances will probably delay this trip. A couple of questions.
The ferry/scooter rental seem simple enough. Is there any concern of the ferries selling out and not being able to get tickets on arrival? I might have to take the last ferry on a Saturday night.[/quote]
Possible. But there are two ferry terminals: one private and one public. The private is better and is the first terminal.
[quote]
Where is the best place to park a motorcycle in Donggang? I traveled to Donggang on a day trip last month and there seemed to be a pay parking lot that they kept trying to get me to park in a lot near the ferry. Is this the recommended place to park or is it fine to find a free place on the street? Obviously I don’t want to be towed but I could park a block away from the ferry.[/quote]
I always park my car in the lot just at the end of the road past the terminals. Never seem to have to pay. There is scooter parking there.
No idea about the water. Don’t know any grecommended snorkelling outfits but you usually just ask at your hotel and they’ll call someone. There’s a diving/snorkelling place near the 7-Eleven, or just around the corner.
[quote]
How is the camping? Is the only place to camp at the campground?[/quote]
Lovely grounds on a bluff overlooking the sea. I’m pretty sure they have snorkelling gear. You can’t camp anywhere else not least because half the island is graveyards.
I finally visited Xiao Liuqiu a couple of weeks ago and it’s a great weekend trip.
There seem to be two resorts that you can camp at and they are right next to each other. They are kind of expensive as far as camping goes (200-300NT/person) but you do get to use very nice facilities. Although Samaji (I think that’s the correct name) includes a mediocre breakfast buffet. It is an awesome sunset viewing spot though.
The snorkeling was fantastic at vase rock despite the overuse that the area sees. It’s worth mentioning that Taiwanese are funny snorkelers. They all wear life vests with one hand on a long line of flotation tubes and use guides. They really have no interest at being more than one meter away from the group. there is snorkel gear rental everywhere (we paid 200/person). And there is probably better snorkeling elsewhere on the island away from the mobs of people.
There are also scooter rental shops everywhere. We rented (350NT for 26 hours for a new 125cc scooter) from the shop at the top of the stairs at the private ferry terminal. They took my Taiwan DL as collateral but I don’t know if they require it. There will be a ridiculous line for the ferry back on Sunday. Forget about the ferry schedule. They just run the 2 (or 3) boats continuously. We arrived about 4:15 and stood in line until 5:45 (and it’s hot). so get there early or if you’re buxiban teacher stay an extra night.
One thing to note is that the island is really small (hence the xiao). You can slowly scooter around it in 30-40 minutes.
[quote=“Abacus”]I finally visited Xiao Liuqiu a couple of weeks ago and it’s a great weekend trip.
One thing to note is that the island is really small (hence xiao). [/quote]
I think it’s called Xiao Liuqiu because the real Liuqiu is a hell of a lot bigger (Okinawa prefecture in Japan: the Ryukyu islands, or Liuqiu in Taiwanese).
The guidebooks say that it means drifting ball in Chinese. I don’t know what Ryukyu translates to but it doesn’t change the fact that the island is really small.
The expression “liuqiu” has in the past not only been applied to Okinawa but also to Taiwan and other nearby islands, sometimes with qualifying expressions that can be translated as “greater” and “lesser”. So i am not at all surprised to hear of a place called “xiao liuqiu” - given what it means, a good number of islands could be called that, without any intended political connotations…
Japan has a good number ofl islands called “big island” - in the respective local contexts that is quite understandable…
It’s like many of the Ryukyus in that it is surrounded by a fringing coral reef, and in that it is a small island off to the southwest of the ‘main island’.
Anybody been snorkeling here recently? I would like to go but don’t want to “snorkel” tied to a rope, and yet I wouldn’t mind being with a group. What about hiring a local guide? Has anyone done that?
The story is more complex.
Here is an account of related history, seen from the perspective of a Chinese writer (note that many place name spellings are modern Mandarin and do not reflect actual usage at the time the reported events happened). imperialchina.org/Ryukyu_Kingdom.html (scroll down a bit to get at the stuff of interest)
In comparison, here is a short account that reflects the history of Ryukyu (today’s Okinawa) from an Okinawa perspective: sanshinshop.com/Okinawa_History.html
And also Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom
You can see how the accounts overlap…
EDIT:
For anybody with a general interest in the history of Liuqiu (Ryukyu/Okinawa) here is another decent (less complex) summary: uchinanchu.org/uchinanchu/history_early.htm
I’m sure you could hire a local guide but I wouldn’t count on being able to join a group that wasn’t holding a rope 15 feet from shore. I did not see anyone (other than myself and gf) leave the shore area snorkeling (at vase rock). but there were 2 boats with watchers if you did get into trouble. However the best snorkeling is probably not at vase rock.
Thanks, Abacus. I am thinking of going sometime next week, if I can get away. If I do I’ll give a report here. Otherwise, I might have to wait some months.
The ocean looks like great for swimming. I don’t see any strong currents.
