I finally made it to Hainan Island in the south of China. I had read an article in Asian Diver magazine a few years ago that downplayed the diving in Hainan but offered that a diving experience could be had there. Otherwise information on diving in Hainan is sorely lacking. Even the information provided on the Net is scarce.
The Asian Diver article didn¡¯t do justice to Hainan¡¯s diving. In fact they overdid it. It is absolutely the worst diving I have done anywhere and I have dived quite a few countries. Hainan¡¯s diving is located in the southern part of the island near the city of Sanya. A major dive setup is located on a nearby island of Sidao (West Island). Before crossing the short body of water to West Island people are required to queue in a long procession; you are made to weave through the many turnstiles before finally entering a speedboat for the quick trip over to the island. On West Island the process begins over again, what I liken to, cattle-car diving.
Everyone is basically a first time diver. Chinese seem to believe that Hainan is the Chinese equivalent of the Great Barrier Reef and indeed they do advertise it as such. The advertisements are blatant lies featuring crystal clear waters with pasted in tropical creatures.
Well, of course, I was not interested in an introductory dive but I saw on the price board that they had deep diving. Okay, I thought, I'll go for that. I asked if it was a boat dive and they replied in the affirmative. Turns out it was a 2-minute boat trip over to a platform just offshore. The maximum depth turned out to be 12 meters and I went along with this because from what little I could see underwater (absolutely maximum viz was 2 meters) below 12 meters was just sand.
Above 12 meters were a few dead lumps of coral with heavy algal growth. Fish life was sparse. I saw one lionfish, a few squirrelfish, one flounder, one small grouper (that made the dive guide have an orgasm). The dive guide was most irritating. As many may know, the Chinese have another concept about how animals should be treated; well, this guide insisted on picking everything up like a starfish and one time he had even captured an anemonefish inside his garden-gloved hands. For me this was just plain ignorance. The guy kept bumping into me constantly though I signalled him many times to give me space to kick freely. The shallow dive ended after 42 minutes because the guide bled his tank dry. The tanks were only filled to 150 PSI to start.
Running out of air is especially unpleasant since the rental gear features no octopus. My dive guide was on his own but in shallow water. There is no discount for using your own equipment. The rental equipment is no-name brands and I mean this literally. I could not find a brand name on the BCDs, wetsuits, or regs. Also you will need to add on a few sizes to what you would normally wear. E.g., I usually use a Scubapro BCD size M but in Hainan I used an XL and it just fit me.
As for other diving, I was told Yalong Bay was better but after going there I could see that Yalong Bay was more of the same. I eyeballed the situation there and asked where the boat was going to. The guide pointed to a nearby island. Maximum depth was to be 12 meters again. No thanks. I only considered it because I was stuck on a beach and had 3 1/2 hrs to kill in a scorching sun.
Hainan diving ¨C forget it!
:shaking:
The Asian Diver article didn¡¯t do justice to Hainan¡¯s diving. In fact they overdid it. It is absolutely the worst diving I have done anywhere and I have dived quite a few countries. Hainan¡¯s diving is located in the southern part of the island near the city of Sanya. A major dive setup is located on a nearby island of Sidao (West Island). Before crossing the short body of water to West Island people are required to queue in a long procession; you are made to weave through the many turnstiles before finally entering a speedboat for the quick trip over to the island. On West Island the process begins over again, what I liken to, cattle-car diving.
Everyone is basically a first time diver. Chinese seem to believe that Hainan is the Chinese equivalent of the Great Barrier Reef and indeed they do advertise it as such. The advertisements are blatant lies featuring crystal clear waters with pasted in tropical creatures.
Well, of course, I was not interested in an introductory dive but I saw on the price board that they had deep diving. Okay, I thought, I'll go for that. I asked if it was a boat dive and they replied in the affirmative. Turns out it was a 2-minute boat trip over to a platform just offshore. The maximum depth turned out to be 12 meters and I went along with this because from what little I could see underwater (absolutely maximum viz was 2 meters) below 12 meters was just sand.
Above 12 meters were a few dead lumps of coral with heavy algal growth. Fish life was sparse. I saw one lionfish, a few squirrelfish, one flounder, one small grouper (that made the dive guide have an orgasm). The dive guide was most irritating. As many may know, the Chinese have another concept about how animals should be treated; well, this guide insisted on picking everything up like a starfish and one time he had even captured an anemonefish inside his garden-gloved hands. For me this was just plain ignorance. The guy kept bumping into me constantly though I signalled him many times to give me space to kick freely. The shallow dive ended after 42 minutes because the guide bled his tank dry. The tanks were only filled to 150 PSI to start.
Running out of air is especially unpleasant since the rental gear features no octopus. My dive guide was on his own but in shallow water. There is no discount for using your own equipment. The rental equipment is no-name brands and I mean this literally. I could not find a brand name on the BCDs, wetsuits, or regs. Also you will need to add on a few sizes to what you would normally wear. E.g., I usually use a Scubapro BCD size M but in Hainan I used an XL and it just fit me.
As for other diving, I was told Yalong Bay was better but after going there I could see that Yalong Bay was more of the same. I eyeballed the situation there and asked where the boat was going to. The guide pointed to a nearby island. Maximum depth was to be 12 meters again. No thanks. I only considered it because I was stuck on a beach and had 3 1/2 hrs to kill in a scorching sun.
Hainan diving ¨C forget it!
:shaking:
