We spent more time at Fo Sek Chau than any of the others. Sha Tong Hau Shan has the coral, which is nice to look at, but Fo Sek Chau has better coves and caves to swim around. There are more than enough large boulders sticking out of the water to use as diving boards and the water is clear enough to see all the jagged rocks hiding underneath the surface. The current is not especially strong around the island, so swimming through the sea caves is not at all dangerous. Even if a current did pull you away, it would simply take you in one mouth of a cave and spit you out another.
I love swimming and have been doing it all of my life. It is great exercise, of course, but I think I mostly like all the floating and freedom of movement. I have always loved the way water feels, but it took me a long time to realize that swimming naked is a million times better than swimming with a bathing suit. Wet clothes never feel right, while wet skin is natural.
Unfortunately, Hong Kong has laws against that sort of thing. There are a few nude beaches, but they are technically illegal. And we were nowhere near any of the unofficial nude beaches. I might have risked it anyway, but I was with Hisoka. Seeing each other naked on our third date was not the issue. Due to circumstances beyond my control, we saw each other naked on our first date. You can probably swim around the islands without any law enforcement ever seeing you. We saw almost no one patrolling the waters the entire time we were bouncing around from island to island. If caught swimming nude, I might have been given a small fine, at most. But Hisoka is a visitor. His visa could be affected, and losing it could threaten his job. His bosses might not care about swimming nude, but they would care about losing face because of some recklessly illegal activity.
So I had to swim with a bathing suit. It was not ideal, but it was far better than nothing. I avoid public swimming pools in Hong Kong for reasons too graphic to get into, and outside of the big house at Clear Water Bay, there are too few options around here. Seven million people live in Hong Kong, a city of islands and peninsulas, yet most of us rarely go into the water. Even at beaches, people are more likely to stay on land. Swimming around Fo Sek Chau is something everyone should do, assuming they know how to swim. There is a gentle peace you get from floating on your back in an enormous body of water away from the traffic and construction of civilization. In the city, you hear noises all the time. It is a constant chorus of machinery and humanity pushing forward. Floating in the ocean, you hear the gentle brush of water flowing against your body. People pay big money to get that kind of serenity. Nature gives it to us for free.
Where I come from, we don't do a lot of swimming in December. But this is Hong Kong. The water around Fo Sek Chau was not tropical summer warm, but it was warm enough. For whatever reason, the water is much cleaner in winter than in summer. It was clear and looked clean enough to drink around Fo Sek Chau and Sha Tong Hau Shan, if it were not salt water. I don't know why the water gets cleaner in winter, but I assume less traffic and less rain has something to do with it. There are more people in the summer, and summer rain drains the city pollution out to sea.
We spent the night at Tai Long Bay. There are a few small islands in the bay, but we never bothered going to any of them. Once the sun goes down, there is no point anyway. Dinner was on the boat. Tai Long Bay is not the best place for restaurants and we had a stocked kitchen with us. More often than not, when I am with people and we are having a home cooked meal, or boat cooked meal, I am doing the cooking. This time, Hisoka wanted to do the cooking. That was fine with me. I don't need a giant executive kitchen, but the combination of tiny and rocking on the water made the boat's kitchen less appealing. Hisoka knew that I would not be able to taste anything, so he had nothing to lose.
After dinner, we sat out on the back deck and watched the stars. In Hong Kong, you almost never see any stars. Kowloon and Hong Kong Island are giant balls of light at night. Tai Long Bay sits between one of the largest country parks and the South China Sea. There is still plenty of light bleeding over from the city, but it is far darker than Nathan Road. I want to say we got naked and took a romantic swim in the bay, but that was never going to happen. Swimming at night is never recommended. If a current drags you away, no one will ever see it. There was light from the boat, but if you face east, which is where the water would take you, it is nothing but black.
The boat had two bedrooms, so spending the night was never going to be awkward. One was slightly larger than the other. Hisoka let me take the larger bedroom because he is a gentleman. Realistically, it never really mattered. The larger room was maybe a few square feet bigger. The most noticeable difference was that it had more windows and they all faced the bow. Had the boat been moving, that would have been the better room. While sleeping, it was all the same.
I briefly thought about inviting Hisoka to my room, or even going to his smaller room. We have known each other for months, but this was only our third date. We have seen each other naked, and we seem to get wet on practically every date, but a third date is just too soon for me. I know about him, but I don't truly know him yet. On one hand, it is a shame. We were so secluded from civilization that we could have done unmentionable things on the deck under the stars and no one but the NSA satellites would have seen us. On the other hand, I simply don't roll that way. I am more vanilla than Izzy's.
The next day, I went for a morning swim in the bay. Hisoka had breakfast ready by the time I was finished with the tiny shower. Imagine trying to take a shower on a plane. Some of the more expensive airlines actually have showers in first class, but the boat's shower was economy size. If Hisoka was hoping to get some morning action, that shower would be the last place two people could fit.
I have had fewer boyfriends than everyone I know. Hisoka is not my boyfriend, obviously. This was only our third date. But if he were, he would be the only one who is as much of a morning person as I am. I generally wake up before dawn. Some of my previous boyfriends had a hard time getting up before noon. Eating breakfast together on a date is a new experience for me. Eating on the deck of a boat in the morning air of the bay is something entirely different. I would love to do it more often, but then it would not be as special.
After breakfast, we headed to Mirs Bay, which is just around the corner from Tai Long Bay. They are close, but nothing alike. Tai Long Bay is maybe two miles across and no more than three miles from beach to ocean. Mirs Bay is larger than Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Lantau combined. It has some of the deepest water in the city and almost all of the scuba diving sites. The bay houses three different marine reserves and a fair amount of sharks from time to time. It is also the eastern border between Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Our first stop in Mirs Bay was Tap Mun, one of the more developed islands on our journey. The local fishing village only has about 100 people, but the island is a popular camping spot with daily ferries from a few different locations. There are paved hiking trails and park benches that face the rocky beaches. Tap Mun has a few small temples dedicated to sea gods. There is even a public basketball court in the middle of the village.
From Tap Mun, we sailed north to Yan Chau Tong, a small harbor just east of Plover Cove. Yan Chau Tong is entirely too close to Mainland China, but mostly in a protected marine park. We sailed around Wong Wan Chau and Ngo Mei Chau before stopping at Kat O. Kat O has one of the larger fishing villages of the smaller islands and a few small temples, but is mostly protected wilderness. It is also one of the largest islands we saw. Though no more than a few hundred feet wide at any given point, it is three miles long. Kat O has one of the longest coastlines with both rocky and sandy beaches, but nothing as beautiful as Kiu Tsui Chau.
On the opposite side of the bay is Tung Ping Chau, the farthest you can go east and still be in Hong Kong. The island is technically inhabited, but we saw absolutely no one there. The tiny village looked and felt abandoned. Someone is clearly maintaining the small temples on the island, but definitely not full time. Tung Ping Chau is another paradise for rock climbers, with jagged cliffs carved by the sea. Most of the islands in Hong Kong were formed by volcanoes, but Tung Ping Chau is one of the rare sedimentary islands. Best of all, only a few ferries go to the island and only on the weekends. Tung Ping Chau is popular with divers because of the coral and deep waters, but is deserted during the week. We had the place to ourselves.
I don't know if we spent more time on the boat or on the various islands. Getting from one island to the next did not take that long, but we also sailed around smaller islands and rarely went from A to B in a straight line. When I took the steering wheel in Mirs Bay, it was anything but a straight line. While I appreciate how fast some boats can go, I would still rather drive fast in a car. Boats just don't feel right to me. I think the best thing about taking a boat around Hong Kong versus a car is that you have a kitchen and bathroom with you at all times. Finding food while driving around is easy, but public restrooms can be challenging. Especially if you like cleanliness. The view is also a lot better from a boat. There are a few great scenic driving spots in Hong Kong, but the city is mostly traffic and red lights.
As for Hisoka, we both assume there will be a fourth date. No one knows when or where that will be. He goes back and forth from Japan to China all the time and I just started a new job in Amsterdam. The great thing is that neither of us are pushing the other for more information. Whatever happens, it will happen whenever everything works out however it should. The complete absence of pressure and stress is refreshing. Almost like lying on the deck of a boat and watching the stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment
No hate, please. There's enough of that in the world already.