Junk Trip!! Circumnavigating Hong Kong Island

 We have had an action packed schedule since I last posted.  We did two major spontaneous events which were wonderful, though tiring - a full day junk trip about ten days ago, and a beach excursion to Pui O in Southern Lantau shortly thereafter.

I'll do the boat trip as a standalone post, because it was so wonderful and amazing and fun! And because I have so many pictures. No regrets, although there were quite a few moments after I hit the confirm on the non-refundable payment that I worried.  I booked this boat trip at the very last possible minute - at 7 pm the evening before were due to set sail at 9 am the next morning. 

Basically, I hired an entire junk boat that in pre-Covid times would fit 40...and during social distancing measures during Covid had a max capacity of 20... but I hired it just for us.  Four adults, three kids.  We got the junk for the entire day, from 9 am until 5 pm, and without any food or beverages, but it did come with ice for drinks/keeping things cold.  The operator was clearly a bit... flabbergasted.  She asked me if she could bring her family, and then quickly hastened to add, "just joking!"  I did ask around some friends in case anyone was interested, but it was so last minute most people could not commit.  In retrospect I am really glad we had the whole boat to ourselves.  I'm not sure everyone else could have lived with our crazy. 

It was amazing!  There were definitely moments when the boys were crying and unable to nap that I felt twinges of regret, but then they either fell asleep (Teo) or eventually came to terms with the fact that they were not going to fall asleep again (Al).  Al did manage to get in a morning nap so it wasn't complete insanity.

In the chaos I neglected to actually get a picture of our boat itself though, alas.  We embarked and departed from Central Pier No. 10.  We had food, drinks, swimsuits, toys, and a baby travel crib.

It was an amazing, beautiful, clear (eventually scorching) and sunny day.  We could not have asked for better.

Pulling out of the harbor as we headed for the south side, I was surprised by the swell of emotion I felt looking back at the city.  This place is beautiful, and I felt so lucky to get to enjoy it on a boat with my kids.

Lola loved climbing up and down the stairs - we pretended that she had a bottom bunk, a middle bunk and a top bunk, and each level of the boat was a bunk.  Have I mentioned previously that she loves stairs?  Little girl is born and raised in Hong Kong, the most expensive city in the world by price per square foot, and "all" she wants is stairs in her house, a backyard, and a pool. 

Al took a nap - the incessant humming of the engine and the swells of the waves put him to sleep quickly.

Once we pulled out of the busy swells of Victoria Harbor the captain let the kids steer the boat.

We saw huge container ships coming and going...

I had missed being on open water.  This was such a nice reminder of how much I love being on the water, how much I enjoy snorkeling and diving...and what a sense of freedom and possibility you get with such wide expanses ahead of you!

We saw Ocean Park!

We dropped anchor by Deepwater Bay and went swimming.  The captain of the boat was so sweet and had included a little floating pool for us.

 

After the swim, we sat on the top deck and watched the nearby boats as the boys and Lola played. 

Enjoying a moment on the South Side.

Here I am with Al:

Lola took a nap on the top deck.

I just chilled and enjoyed the breeze and the beautiful scenery.  It was so peaceful.

And then before we knew it we were rounding the corner back toward Central!

Wrangling my crew... very grateful no one fell overboard!

Al wanted to go for one last swim...

We ended our trip by just before 4:30.  Happiness!