Advise for diving in Kending, Taiwan in mid March?

[Torontonian]

Hi.

I'll be taking my family (wife plus 3 kids 15, 12, and 10) to Taiwan in mid-March. Will be attending a conference in Kaohsiung Fri. night Mar. 14 to Sun. Mar. 16 noon.

Either right before the Kaohsiung conference, or right after, would we go to Kending for 2 days. So that'll be either Mar. 12-14, or 16-18 (during weekdays) I'll be bringing my own gear and would like to do a few dives. Like to get my 15-yr son (maybe even the 12-yr son) to try intro scuba. My wife and the kids will also snorkel or just enjoy beach.

I couldn't find much info on dive ops, sites, etc. on-line.

Any suggestions on how I go about making arrangements for guided dives in Kending? Do they pickup from hotels or I need to arrange to get to them? Should I arrange a couple of boat dives, or are there lots of good shore dives.

Any on-line maps showing the good snorkeling locations? My wife is not a good swimmer, but my kids are good swimmers.

Also, any suggestions of the hotels there? We don't need luxury, but convenience would be good.


Oh, I was born in Taiwan and immigrated to Canada when young. I can speak fluent Taiwanese, can read and speak ok Mandarin.

Thanks a lot.

 

[hdlee]

As I know,it's not very easy to find a boat diving during weekdays. The diving boats usually operate their activity in the weekend (or holiday). They operate their boat at least for 6 customer.
Shore diving is very tough at Kending, if you are planing to go to the most beautiful dive site there. You have to crawl in the coral rock then jump in. (not the sand beach entry).
In my opinion, if you want to bring your family to Kending, Ho Be Hu (後壁湖 出水口）might be a good choice. easy and beautiful enough. You can do some easy entry shore diving there, and your family may be doing snokeling or swimming there.
If you can read Chinese, you can visit this website: ¶§¥ú¼ç¤ô ¬¡°Ê¦æ¨Æ¾ä
The owner is my friend, a very experienced instructor and dive guide in Kending. He take a lot of photo in his photo dive logs.

 

[shellbackdiver1]

PM sent....

 

[Torontonian]

Thanks hdlee. I didn't know shore diving could be tough (to climb thru rocks) in Kending. Thanks for the pointer about Ho Be Hu (後壁湖 出水口） for my family to snorkel. I had trouble finding English info doing searches, and don't know how to type Mandarin. But your words 後壁湖 出水口 allowed me to do searches and found several Mandarin language sites.

Thanks shellbackdiver1. Great info.

It's very cold here in Toronto (city just issued another extreme cold weather alert), so my family will definitely enjoy the warm water in Green Island and Kending. My kids would love it, they're all good swimmers. I just need to figure out the details of taking them there.

 

[ambertiger]

Hi there,

I would be happy to take you diving in Kenting or if I am busy introduce you to a good DM or instructor to guide you. Your youngest could become a Junior Open Water diver and the eldest an Open Water diver with 3 days of practical in water training. They could do the academic work on-line whilst they were at home Canada. The shore diving in Kenting is pretty good, you do not have clamber over old coral rock at every site. The boat diving is the better of the two but it is more expensive.

Regarding your question about Green Island. I run trips most winters over to Green to see the schooling Scalloped Hammerhead sharks. The season for the sharks is usually late December to early March. They seem to prefer cold weather and disappear or perhaps go deeper during the warmer weather. I have not heard of any recorded sighting past mid-March. Optimum time is around Chinese New Year in February, after all they are Chinese sharks and CNY is the traditional time for family gatherings The dive itself is safe provided the skills of the divers involved are adequate and redundant signalling systems are carried. A reel and an SMB are essential. The local dive shops prefer divers to have at least 100 dives under their belts and be active divers. The dive is deep 22M-28M, depending on the tides,the current varies from fairly strong to vicious flood your mask and purge your reg type stuff if you turn your head into it. Several divers have had accidents there but this IMO was due to lack of training or panic. Planned well it's an awesome dive and divers may see up to 100 + Hammerheads or they may only see one or two. It really depends on the visibility that day and of course the big factor in most dives 'luck'. There might be a couple of 100 of these guys swimming along just out of visibility!

See my website www.taiwandive.com - Kenting - Green Island - Orchid Island - XiaoLiuChiu for pics of the sharks on Green plus other pictures of diving in general in Taiwan, especially Kenting, Green Island and Orchid Island. I would be happy to answer any questions at all regarding diving in Taiwan. I have been a PADI instructor here for the past 16 years.

Regards and Dive Safe.

Hi.

I'll be taking my family (wife plus 3 kids 15, 12, and 10) to Taiwan in mid-March. Will be attending a conference in Kaohsiung Fri. night Mar. 14 to Sun. Mar. 16 noon.

Either right before the Kaohsiung conference, or right after, would we go to Kending for 2 days. So that'll be either Mar. 12-14, or 16-18 (during weekdays) I'll be bringing my own gear and would like to do a few dives. Like to get my 15-yr son (maybe even the 12-yr son) to try intro scuba. My wife and the kids will also snorkel or just enjoy beach.

I couldn't find much info on dive ops, sites, etc. on-line.

Any suggestions on how I go about making arrangements for guided dives in Kending? Do they pickup from hotels or I need to arrange to get to them? Should I arrange a couple of boat dives, or are there lots of good shore dives.

Any on-line maps showing the good snorkeling locations? My wife is not a good swimmer, but my kids are good swimmers.

Also, any suggestions of the hotels there? We don't need luxury, but convenience would be good.


Oh, I was born in Taiwan and immigrated to Canada when young. I can speak fluent Taiwanese, can read and speak ok Mandarin.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Torontonian]

Thanks Andy. Great info.

I remember asking you a while back and that you only dive weekends not weekdays, so I didn't look at your website in detail. I took a closer look and am impressed. (Oh, my kids will just do discovery scuba. When they get older they can decide if they want to get certified)

Good info describing the dive sites in Kending. Your comment there
suggest that all divers to clean up the reef at every opportunity and refrain from removing anything from the water. It is easy to slip an onion sack into your BCD pocket and pick up the plastic waste you will see around on a dive. You can make a difference. I would recommend carrying an all-plastic box cutter on dives to cut fishing line from the reef or free animals caught in illegal gill nets.
is excellent. Sad to hear people not taking care of the environment. I have a BP/W, no pocket yet, but will get a pocket and when diving there, do as you suggested to take an onion bag or something to help clean up.

Your comments about establishing a marine reserve at Green Island is also appreciated. I want to speak to some people about those comments from you when I am in Taiwan. Thanks very much.


Now for some other general questions:

* I have think socks and closed heel fins. Would the rocky entry for shore dives in Kending and Green Island require hard sole boots (and open heel fins)?

* How does the time of the day vary for boat and/or shore diving, in light of the wind, tide or other conditions?

* Is Ho Be Hu (後壁湖 出水口）the best place to find accommodation for my family, for beach and snorkeling purpose? Not sure how much walking may be required to get around if we are elsewhere. Most hotel rooms show up to 4 people, so I may have to just book one of those quad rooms and add a rollaway or have my little daughter squish a bit.

 

[ambertiger]

Thanks for your comments/compliments on my website. Re your questions. The diving in business in Taiwan is fairly small and most instructors like myself have day jobs to make ends meet. So diving mid week in Taiwan off a boat may present dificulties, many dive shops are closed or open with a skeleton staff. Most boat captains would not see any profit in taking out one or two divers only. Of course you can shore dive to your hearts content mid week. Most of the over 20 shore diving sites are quite safe [please see my website for details of the site] and offer shallow dives to 15m. Regarding winds and tides. The NE monsoon winds are blowing now in Kenting so most of the winds are off shore, this means that shore diving is usually OK every day but boat diving really depends on wind strength as you will often see the ocea covered in white caps during winter monsoon season. To check out the tides go to Central Weather Bureau Web Site and click on South Bay. I would advise wearing open heel fins and booties for shore diving. Closed heel will be fine for diving off a boat. In March you should be able to dive with a 3mm wetsuit and hood. Re accommodation, you can find decent accommodation at most of the dive shops try going to ¾Á¤B- Às¿[¼ç¤ô¥ð¶¢«×°²¤¤¤ß or email: boss@longjing.com.tw they have family style cabins and dorm type accommodation and throw in a free breakfast if you would like really gorgeous family accommodation, with an ocean view, not far from some excellent shore diving sites try ªá¶é¬õ¤F or Email: red.garden@msa.hinet.net they also throw in free breakfast. This place is a bit expensive but really nice.
Re environment in Kenting and the marine environment in Taiwan in general. Taiwan desperately needs to establish marine parks and ban or restrict the use of gills nets, collecting for private aquariums and the restaurant trade. The should begin with Kenting and then go on the Orchid Island and Green Island. Over the past 16 years I have seen a steady decline in marine life in general at all these sites. It's a shame.

 

[jdsmith]

Just dove Orchid two weeks back. 40-50meter viz, eagle ray, turtles, blue spotted rays, snakes galore, jacks, barracuda, great barracuda and lots of other goodies. I don't know what it was like before, but it's not too bad now.

There are many many unexplored dive spots there IMHO. I'd love to see that place protected and built up a bit.

 

[Parikh1234]

Hello,

I am going to be in Taiwan from the 2nd of August to the 14th of August. Looking to go diving one of the days. I will be staying in Tainan. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!

 

[ambertiger]

Hi, I would be happy to take you diving or give you info regarding dive shops and accommodation in Kenting. Please drop me a line or give me a call when you come into Taiwan. I am based in Kaohsiung an hour south of Tainan.