HONG KONG’S SOUTHERNMOST POINT, Po Toi Island (蒲台島), Hong Kong
While remote Fan Lau (分流) is the westernmost village in Hong Kong, Po Toi Island (蒲台島) is its counterpart at the southernmost point of the territory. From 2000 inhabitants in the 1950’s down to about 10 today, like many rural communities in the city, Po Toi Island has gone through a rapid decline in population in the modern era. The remote island with a population of merely 10 would become lively during weekends when a few boat loads of visitors arrive at the dock. Beautiful granite formations, ancient stone carving, a lone lighthouse, a few simple houses, several fishing boats and nets, and racks of drying seafood and seaweeds, Po Toi Island is a peaceful getaway less than an hour ferry from either Aberdeen (香港仔) or Stanley (赤柱). A day before Chinese New Year in a fine Sunday morning, we decided to take the 8:15 ferry, the only scheduled departure of the day, from Aberdeen to Po Toi.
There are either one to two ferries on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from Aberdeen going to Po Toi Island. On Sunday, there are more Po Toi bound ferries departing from Stanley. For us, we opted for Aberdeen because of the unique scenery of its famous typhoon shelter, the home of Aberdeen Floating Village (香港仔水上人家). There were once over 6000 inhabitants living on the boats in Aberdeen, one of the most significant port in Hong Kong since the 19th century.
Today there are still a number of boat villagers staying, and so as their fleet of fishing boats, seafood stalls, floating restaurants, and the seafood wholesale business, etc. At 7:30am on a Chinese New Year’s Eve, local residents were busy shopping for seafood from the fishermen at Aberdeen Waterfront Promenade. On such an important day of the year, their seafood would be sold out in less than an hour.
Decorations for the Chinese New Year could be seen at piers and boats along the promenade.
Under the soft morning sun, colourful boats of all sizes crisscrossed the waterways among the boats parked between Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau Island. The Ap Lei Chau Island sheltered Aberdeen from the wind and waves of the open sea, making Aberdeen Channel one of the best typhoon shelter in Hong Kong.
Despite most fishermen have moved onto apartments in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau, the scenery of Aberdeen is still dominated the channel and typhoon shelter.
The open waterway in the middle of Aberdeen Channel was like a water highway to us.
Our ferry also passed by one of the famous floating seafood restaurants in Aberdeen.
And we also passed by the Ocean Park, the iconic ocean-themed amusement park and aquarium.
From a distance, we also recognized the beautiful Repulse Bay.
Our ferry finally docked at Po Toi’s pier at Tai Wan (大灣). There weren’t that many visitors around. We only shared the island with a handful of tourists and the remaining Po Toi inhabitants.
Po Toi remains as a remote, sleepy and simple fishing village. From the pier, we walked for a few minutes to reach the main beach in the middle of Tai Wan (大灣). There was a seafood restaurant called Ming Kee, probably the only seafood restaurant on the island.
Dried seafood (fish, squid, and even octopus) were common sights.
There were racks on the main beach Tai Wan (大灣) where villagers dried their fishing nets and other fishing equipment.
Some houses on Po Toi were colourfully painted, presenting a great match to the bright blue sky.
On the other end of Tai Wan (大灣) stood an old Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to the sea goddess of Tin Hau for protecting the fishermen at the sea.
Inside the temple, we saw a number of decorations related to the fishing culture of Po Toi, such as the wooden model of a dragon boat.
Adjacent to the Tin Hau Temple, we followed the metal chain up the granite hill to start our day hike.
On two thirds the way up we could clearly see the magnificent scenery of Tai Wan (大灣) and the public pier below.
Looking south we saw Lighthouse no. 126 and the southern tip of the island.
We leisurely walked down the hill in the direction of the lighthouse.
On our way we passed by some graves facing the sea, quite a scenic resting place for the departed.
Atop another hill we encountered a well known attraction on Po Toi. Known as the Monk Rock, this rock formation resembled a Buddhist monk when viewed from afar.
A few tents were set up near Lighthouse No. 126. Po Toi is a popular spot for camping. Far from the city’s light pollution, those who brave for the night here get a chance to admire and photographing the starry night sky.
We finally reached the No. 126 Lighthouse, a simple white washed structure perched on top of granite rocks, overlooking the southern shore and the vast South China Sea.
Reaching the No. 126 Lighthouse at the southernmost point of Hong Kong overlooking the boundless water in a day of very fine weather was emotional and satisfying.
We then moved on to the real southern tip of the island. The South China Sea looked surprisingly busy with cargo ships.
Heading back towards the pier, we reached another attraction of Po Toi, the interesting rock formation with large vertical stone strips known as the Buddhist Palm.
More graves appeared as we walked closer to the village. Like grey boulders, the tombstones looked quite blended in with the overall natural setting.
There are a number of ancient stone carvings in Hong Kong and its outlying islands. There is a mysterious one on Po Toi, simply known as Po Toi Island Stone Carvings (蒲台島石刻).
Back to the village, we decided to sit down at Ming Kee (明記海鮮酒家), the only seafood restaurant on the island.
We just ordered their set lunch with shrimps, squid, small abalone, sweet and sour pork and stir fry vegetables.
After lunch, we wandered along the beach at Tai Wan (大灣).
Po Toi is the most famous spot in Hong Kong for seaweed and kelp. We could clearly see the seaweed above the water.
There were drying kelp and seaweed allover the tiny village. We couldn’t resist but bought a few packs.
A dog lying beside the rack as if guarding the drying kelp.
Before leaving the island, we sat down at one of the simple snack shops and ordered the kelp and green bean soup (海帶綠豆沙), a sweet delight full of aroma of seaweed and herbs that every visitor should try a bowl.
