Junk Trip

We went on our first junk trip of the season this Saturday.  A junk is a traditional wooden boat with large sails, like this one:

courtesy of Sassy Hong Kong

but now pretty much refer to any yacht or boat that can take a carousing group of friends / family / co-workers out to one of the many bays and beaches in the New Territories of Hong Kong.  People indulge in day-time drinking, lounging on the boat's ample decks, jumping off of the junk itself, and sometimes swimming to the sandy shores.  Our boat did not have the unfurling sails, but did have a spacious top deck lined with pads and bean bags and a wide, generous bow with unobstructed views.  Our boat looked like this (but was not this exact one):

courtesy of the rental company, Island Junks

The day dawned cloudy and gray and chilly, which was quite unfortunate.  The skies opened as soon as we boarded the boat with the catered tacos and craft beer and prepared to sail out of Hong Kong harbor.  Not deterred, everyone cracked open beers, began to mix margaritas, and generally got to know each other in the enclosed cabin.

angry skies as we leave port

We were heading to Snake Bay in Sai Kung, but about halfway through the trip the waters became so rough that half of the occupants on the boat were green from the boat's lurching and thumping.  I found myself gulping for air, simultaneously trying to "go with the rocking" of the boat and the waves as Michael earnestly encouraged, and to strenuously ignore the possibility of throwing up all over the side of the boat. The crew quickly realized they'd have no happy campers left if they continued onto our original destination, so we found ourselves on a quick detour into Clearwater Bay instead.

The view of our surroundings where the crew mercifully dropped anchor:

 A "shark protection" net enclosed the nearby beach, which was reassuring but for the fact that we we were anchored directly outside of the net:

After a pretty tasty lunch of tacos and margaritas, Michael and I quickly headed for the water.   It stopped raining as soon as we pulled into the bay, and the afternoon proceeded to get warmer and sunnier.  Michael climbed to the top deck and hurled himself off the edge, creating a spectacular splash.  Surfacing later, he admitted that it was a much longer way down than it appeared.  I opted for the more demure route, via the ladder off of the stern of the junk.  The junk had a good collection of floating noodles, which combined with the salt water made us quite buoyant.   Considering how hot Hong Kong has been lately, I found the water to be surprisingly cold.  It took a good few minutes of moving around in the water before we warmed up.  

A few snaps from our return trip:

Despite the rocky start of our journey, it turned out to be a very relaxing and fun day.  I loved the calm of the green, rolling hills that surrounded us once we dropped anchor.  It is amazing how quickly you can leave the congestion of Hong Kong island behind.    Of course, nothing quite beats the thrill of returning to the majestic skyline:

I look forward to more junk trips in the future!