A new ferry service between Sai Kung and High Island was launched on Saturday, which will operate only on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays. This new service will take passengers to High Island from Sai Kung, Kau Sai Village, Leung Shuen Wan, and Pak A. One-way tickets for the ferry cost HK$65 for children and adults, and payment can only be made using cash or an Octopus card.
There will be four departures from Sai Kung on each of the days that the ferry is operational, and four sailings from High Island. It takes one hour to complete the trip between Sai Kung and High Island, including a stop at Kau Sai Village on the way back to Sai Kung. In addition, ferries that depart from High Island may stop over at Pak A until January 28, 2024 on a trial basis.
Visitors could previously only access High Island by hiring a boat or hailing a cab from Sai Kung, or taking a minibus to Man Yee Road and then walking the rest of the way.
High Island used to be the highest island in Sai Kung, but it is now connected to Sai Kung Peninsula via two dams. It was once a massive volcano and its molten volcanic material was transformed into spectacular hexagonal rock formations — a geological rarity that is among the world’s First 100 International Union of Geological Sciences Geological Heritage Sites.
The former island is part of the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, also known as the Hong Kong Geopark. Visitors can also explore the area using a new land route that starts from Pak A pier and ends at Sha Kiu. During the course of this two-hour walk, visitors can stop by at the Hakka settlement of Tung A, the Leung Shuen Wan Tin Hau Temple, and the fishing village of Sha Kiu.
Header image credits: Leung Cho Pan via Canva