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Diving
in Green Island
Green
Island is situated 33K off the east coast of Taiwan and
access is by ferry from Taitung [45mins] or by plane from
either Taipei [25 mins] or Taitung [12 mins]. Unfortunately,
there are no flights from elsewhere around the island.
Formerly known as Fire Burnt Island or Burnt Fire Island
the name was changed to the pleasant sounding Green Island
in 1949. The resident population is quite small but the
island is flooded with visitors during the holiday seasons
so accommodation is often in demand and needs to be booked
well in advance of any holiday.
Green Island was once a notorious prison island for political
prisoners of the KMT, consequently much of the island’s
offshore reefs were in a restricted security zone. This
allowed the marine life to proliferate and effectively
formed a marine sanctuary along the north side of the
island. Unfortunately this all ended when they closed
the prison in the 90’s. A free for all on marine
life ensued, with fisherman, aquarists and scuba diving
spear fishermen from all over Taiwan visiting to collect
and kill the marine life. If I were to compare the marine
life today to what it was when I first dived there in
1990, Green Island is now a shadow of its former self,
with whole areas around the island decimated of marine
life. Fortunately, the locals have now realized this and
recently enacted laws to prevent the worst abuses, cyanide,
dynamite and electric fishing. However a whole lot more
should be done. In my opinion a Marine Park Reserve ought
to be established, permanent anchors set up for dive boats,
spear fishing and collecting for aquariums banned and
certain areas made entirely off limits to all fishermen.
Green Island has well-developed fringing coral reefs and
diverse marine life. There are over 600 species of fish,
150 species of reef building corals and 50 species of
soft corals. Green Island, like Orchid Island is also
home to the endangered Coconut crab (Birgus latro). Unfortunately,
well over 300,000 seafood-consuming visitors per year
have taken a severe toll on the environment. Green Island
is home to the world’s largest coral, it is a 16m
high by 31m wide coral bummie shaped like a large bell.
It sits in Nan Liao Bay and is easily accessible as a
shore dive. Unfortunately, it is showing signs of wear
from careless divers touching it. It is estimated to be
1,200 years old.
The main attraction for divers, apart from the beautiful
corals and unique UW topography, is Shark Point or Gun
Swei Bi. This dive site is at the south east corner of
the island, directly opposite the salt water sulphur hot
springs (one of only three in the world). Here during
the winter months from December to early March schooling
hammerheads abound! The hammerheads are most likely either
Smooth Hammerheads (Sphyrna zygaena) or Scalloped Hammerheads
(Sphyrna lewini). This dive is not for the novice diver
or the faint of heart. If safety conscious, most local
dive shops will not take divers who have less then 100
dives under their belts. It is an Advanced dive plus!
The site has powerful currents both topside and below
and the sea state on the surface can be turbulent with
large swells 4m to 5m high. Last year I was actually looking
down on the dive boat from the top of a wave! That said
it is an adrenaline charged dive, well worth the expense
and effort of getting there. The hammers hang out at about
25m to 35m; divers latch onto a rock with a reef hook
and watch the show. If you are lucky upwards of 80-100
hammerheads may parade past above or below and at the
same level just a few meters away! The sharks are large
2 to 3 m in length and powerfully built. They look like
the Arnold Schwarzeneggers of the ocean! To avoid disappointment
divers planning to go to Green Island to see the sharks
should allow for at least 2 or 3 days of diving, as the
captains will not go if the weather or currents are too
bad. I believe the optimum time to go to see the sharks
is from early February to the first week in March.
There are about 30 dive sites scattered around the coast,
most are seasonal i.e. some are autumn/winter sites and
the others spring/summer. There are a couple of decent
wreck dives. The north side of the island has the best
overall marine life and is best dived from late May to
September, weather permitting.
I organize fun diving and Advanced Open Water certification
trips to Green Island throughout the year as well as the
dives to see the hammerheads in winter. If you are interested
and possess the appropriate skill level (to dive on the
hammerheads) please contact me well in advance and I will
send you further information. Divers should have decent
airtime, be comfortable in a current, and know how to
accomplish negatively buoyant entries as well as how to
deploy an SMB from 10m. I would also advise divers to
have their own gear. The quality of the rental gear available
is average at best.
Links:
Project
Aware
More articles related to Taiwan’s marine ecology
can be found here: www.reefbase.org
Tide tables for Taiwan can be found here.
Also, see the navy charts for the Kenting Marine Park
area, depths are in meters. |
