Scuba diving in Taitung

Taiwan – May 2022

My Taiwan diving adventure starts in Chenggong, where I stay in an Airbnb for 3 weeks. I quickly find what I’m looking for on the Internet when I search for “Dive sites Taiwan”. “Green Island” is recommended several times, but this island is a little too far away for a day trip. But at least I now know that you can dive here. So I continue on Google Maps. There, in a village between Chenggong and Taitung, I find a diving center with promising reviews and even a Facebook account. The owners confirm that the store is open on May 21 – but they don’t respond to my further questions about planned dives.

So, on a sunny Sunday, I set off south on the slow bus. There aren’t many other travelers on the road and I’m the only one who gets off in Donghe. The dive store is only about 3 blocks from the bus stop. 2 dogs barking loudly in front of the building announce my arrival. Inside, I find a man who speaks very little English. I use Google Translate to ask if I can dive today. A short time later, he hands me his phone. The voice on the other end of the line greets me in English and explains that 2 dives are only planned for the afternoon at 1.00 pm. I say that’s fine with me and hand the phone back to its owner.

Full of anticipation, I make my way to the beach, where I spend the next 3 hours swimming and watching surfers perform their tricks. On the way back to the diving center, I make a quick stop at 7-11 and buy a bottle of iced tea. In the store, my buddies are already busy filling out the forms for today. I sit down with them at the long table next to the pool and ask if they speak English. “Of course!”, the three Taiwanese women reply and ask where I’m from. We quickly strike up a conversation and the guide (who I spoke to on the phone this morning) reluctantly interrupts us.

He also asks me to fill in the usual form and then brings me a wetsuit to try on, as well as fins, mask and weights. The 3 fellow divers are well equipped and have their own wetsuits as well as oxygen tanks and complicated-looking underwater cameras. I learn from one of them that wetsuits are easier to put on when they are already wet. As it’s very warm anyway, we cool off in the pool until the guide gives the OK to set off. We all get into the pick-up truck and I still don’t know exactly where we’re going diving. After a stop at 7-11, we head north, where I came from in the morning.

It soon turns out that I already know the dive site – at least above the water. It’s a small fishing harbor outside Chenggong, where I’ve ridden my hosts’ bike a few times to watch the sunset. There is a small temple next to the pier, in the shade of which we finish getting dressed. As soon as all the zippers are fastened, weights fitted and buddy checks carried out, we set off on the short walk to the shallow entry point. We have a short briefing in the refreshing, knee-high water and then swim out with inflated BCDs to the small lighthouse at the end of the pier.

The guide gives the usual signal to descend and we slowly sink down to 6 meters. The start of this first dive is unspectacular. We drift over a gently sloping sandy stretch further out into the small bay. After about 2 minutes we reach the first rocks with small fish buzzing around them. The reef grows quickly and soon we are in the middle of the hustle and bustle of fish, corals and rock formations. The 3 Taiwanese women keep finding interesting photo opportunities and our guide has to stop now and again until everyone is back together again. All the divers have their own preferences as to what they want to see underwater.

Ich mag zum Beispiel bunte, weiche Korallen und Fische. Einer meiner Mittaucherinnen haben es hingegen die kleinen farbigen Nacktschnecken (Nudibranches) angetan. Während ich also einem Kugelfisch zuschaue, wie er zwischen Felsen hindurchschlüpft, verliert sich meine Kollegin beim Erkunden einer kleinen Höhle. Später, als sie mir grosszügigerweise ihre Aufnahmen von dem Tag zukommen lässt, sehe ich den Tauchplatz nochmals ganz neu durch ihre Augen. Wir waren am selben Ort, und haben ihn komplett anders wahrgenommen. Vielleicht liegt das aber auch daran, dass ich während einem Grossteil der Zeit damit beschäftigt bin, meinen Auftrieb zu regulieren, und niergends anzukommen.

Although the dive was only supposed to last 40 minutes, we end up spending more than an hour on the seabed thanks to our low oxygen consumption. I have lost my bearings and am quite surprised when we surface relatively close to the pier. We swim backwards to the exit and carry our equipment the short distance back to the waiting pick-up truck. There, the driver immediately pours me a cup of tea and offers us small packets of crushed instant noodles. A little confused, I open the bag and pour the noodles into my mouth. They taste a bit like Jumpys or other potato chips that I remember from my childhood.

During our surface interval, a middle-aged man suddenly emerges from between the parked cars. In a mix of Mandarin and English, he explains that his parents grew up in Chenggong, but that he was born in California. He recently moved back to Taiwan and is also a passionate diver. He has even been diving in Alaska. Now he is looking for a good store here. Line numbers are quickly exchanged and we get ready for the next dive. This time the guide doesn’t give us any information about the planned duration. We swim out to the end of the pier again and pose for a group photo, which the driver takes from the shore, before diving down.

Regulating the buoyancy is already much easier for me now and I can concentrate on the inhabitants of the underwater world. This time we move around a large rock that serves as a habitat for corals, moray eels, puffer fish and many microorganisms such as the colorful nudibranchs. Once again, time passes far too quickly. When we disembark after about 50 minutes in the shallow water, the sun is already beginning to set behind the mountains in the west. After we have stowed the equipment on the bed of the pick-up truck, I have a short time to enjoy the idyllic atmosphere. Then it’s back to Donghe, where we wash out our wetsuits, take a quick shower and then exchange contact details.

Tina promises to send me photos and I wish the three of them lots of fun on their next dives. Then I have time for a quick stop at the 7-11 before taking the bus back north. While paying for my snack, I have a brief panic attack when I see a Ding Dong bus (yes, it really is called that) whizzing past. After all, the connection I’ve picked out is the last one! Luckily, it must have been the penultimate one, which is probably trying to make up for the long delay. My bus arrives on time at 7 p.m. and 30 minutes later I’m lying happily and contentedly in my comfortable bed in Chenggong.

If you want to read more about diving in East Asia: Seogwipo – Jeju’s hidden gem. And I’ll tell you about other adventures on Taiwan’s east coast here: Hiking in Taroko National Park in Hualien.