Taiwan might not be an obvious choice for a dive holiday for Europeans,
given what other dive destinations exist a similar distance away, but a little
research confirmed it was worth travelling to the south of the island (after a brilliant
5-day mountain trek in the north) for some warm, colourful dives south of the
Tropic of Cancer. We booked 6 days of diving with Sheffield expat Andy Gray (www.taiwandive.com), who operates through
Dive Pro (www.divepro.tw) in Houbihu in the
Kenting National Park. We stayed in Dive Pro’s accommodation (basic, clean en-suite
single rooms with AC and TV, but they also have a dorm) above the dive shop.
On our first day of diving we drove in the back of a pick-up truck the
short distance to the harbour and boarded the Nanjing, a dive boat with plenty
of space and cover. Andy was amiable and had the right attitude towards
wildlife conservation. Dive Pro staff kindly did most of the shifting of kit
for us, and cold water and snacks were available. After that good start, things
didn’t go so well – there was no safety briefing before the dive, Andy drifted
off at the start of the dive before we had completed our weight checks, and to
join him we had to surface swim a considerable distance (without SMBs or our
flagged boat nearby) across water being used for jetskiing and inflatable
banana boat rides. Gareth from our group had trouble descending, and after
Daniel rejoined him on the surface, they were picked up by another boat. It was
only 20 minutes into the dive that I was asked where 2 of our group had gone.
Needless to say, words were had before the next dive, and although we still
weren’t entirely convinced we were diving safely, the 4 other dives we did with
Andy passed without incident, however after 1 dive there was a long wait for a
pick-up, due to our boat attending to a group of freedivers some distance away.
All these dives were from the Nanjing, and were scenic dives over corals and
interesting rock formations. I don’t think I’ve seen such a wide variety of
different types of coral on a single dive before. Moray eels, lion fish, clown
fish and other critters were also seen. Visibility was good to excellent – up to
20 metres. Waters were 27 to 29 degrees.
Day 4 was blown out due to Typhoon Dujuan (aka Typhoon Jenny in the
Philippines). Although we avoided the worst of the cyclone (it passed over the
north part of Taiwan), it made the waters in the south too choppy to dive.
Andy was not available for the rest of the week, and we did our
remaining 4 dives with Dive Pro’s Taiwanese staff (Mike, Rudy, Olga and
others), who gave us illustrated briefings, and who were very good at pointing
out features and creatures during the dives, including a tiny thing that
resembled a scrap of seaweed (possibly a sargassum fish), 2 nudibranchs and
many barracuda. These were all shore dives, one known locally as the “outlet”, where
water used for cooling the nearby nuclear reactor is pumped out, resulting in
visible thermoclines where the 30 degree water met the cooler (as low as 25
degree) sea water. The other dive site was the “feeding area”, so-called
because many of the dive guides operating in the area unfortunately bring bread
to attract fish with.
9 dives, 7 nights in a single room, kit hire and 3 lunches cost me NT$27,430
(about £553). Eating options in Houbihu are limited but not bad, and on some
evenings we took a 20-minute taxi ride to Kenting Main Street, which is
brilliantly hectic and brash, and worth a look. If you get blown out, there is
the nuclear power station visitors’ centre and local fish market to visit,
otherwise the massive Museum of Marine Biology (out of town – get there by taxi
or bus) is recommended.
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