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About the Dive Site
Port Island is the small island just past the Mir's Bay end of the Tai Po Channel. The best area to dive is the area in front of the light house. There is a lot of soft coral and other colourful sea life in the moderately shallow water.
The island has three small sheltered bays located north, south and west. In these bays there are patchy areas of hard coral, especially around the rocky areas.
Diving around the rocky cliffs at the south and southwest of the island is down to 25 meter with a muddy seabed. There is some sea life on the cliffs and amongst the rocks at the base of these cliffs but little to see at depth.
Hazards & Warnings
The normal warnings for diving in Hong Kong apply to this area.
Since the Tai Po Harbour empties into this area, it is possible to experience very strong currents, especially in the southern tip of this island. If you must dive this area try and make sure that it is slack tide. Combined with this visibility deteriorates quickly during an outgoing tide. These factors need to be considered when planning dives in this area.
Sharks have been sighted in this area between May and August. There are also reports of small sharks being netted in the northern part of Port Island.
Most of the eastern coast of the Sai Kung Peninsula becomes very rough by any sort of an easterly wind. Divers using small boats to access this area should have an agreed diver recall procedure decided before entering the water. Conditions can change rapidly.
Getting to Port Island
Port Island is at the end of the Tolo Harbour Channel. You need to use a boat to reach the island and the dive site if you intend to dive around the lighthouse. The boat can reach this dive site either from Tolo Harbour or from Hebe Haven. An alternative may be to get to Wong Shek Pier and hire a boat from there.
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