Chinese New Year Cruise to Mirs Bay

Chinese New Year is always a quiet time for us 'gweilo' who stay in Hong Kong for the holidays. Our cruising friends planned a week-long cruise up to Mirs Bay and Double Haven to spend a week out on anchor. 'The Chinese New Year Armada,' as we called ourselves — Ben and Lyndsey on Alluna, Ryan and Fanny on their boat (long overdue to be renamed), Andy, Devere, Will and Steve on DragonFly, and myself, Sean, on Malarky 1 with the ship's dog Bonnie.

We departed Hebe Haven about 11am and motor-sailed north with less than 5 knots of wind. Lucky for me, the coast up around Tai Long Wan was flat with barely a hint of swell.

For the first night, Ben and Lyndsey suggested we head up to Tai Po and Tai Mei Tuk to anchor there — new territory for all of us. There's a great little anchorage right in the corner of Tai Mei Tuk, near the BBQ pits and the Tai Po boat club, with good muddy holding. We dropped anchor about 4pm, while the boys on DragonFly tucked into the beers, I took Bonnie ashore to look around. There was a BBQ site full of folks enjoying the first day of the CNY holidays, people riding by on bicycles and young folk walking over to the youth hostel.

That evening we crossed the road to survey the restaurants along Ting Kok Road. After checking menus and prices, Ben got into a little negotiation with the manager of a Tulsi Indian Restaurant — "Bucket of Kingfisher, 5 bottles $150," said the affable manager. "7 bottles for $150," Ben replied, "and we'll order a lot of food — 10 very hungry sailors." "OK, OK," he agreed, and we all took our seats and ordered a veritable feast. The bill came to roughly $150 a head and the food was excellent — highly recommended.

Stuffed and tipsy, we headed back to the boats. A party broke out on DragonFly, but I was knackered and headed to bed.

In the morning I borrowed one of the many shared bikes strewn everywhere and rode along the Plover Cove Reservoir seawall — Bonnie had never seen me on a bicycle and loved running alongside. Being the first day of Chinese New Year, we were greeted everywhere with "Kung Hei Fat Choi."

Back on the boat, it was time to head for Double Haven — our destination, Sam A Chau. Alluna, DragonFly and the third boat had a great little sail up the Tolo Channel. Halfway up, there's a police checkpoint where all boats must check in, but they waved us through without a query — we didn't look the smuggler type.

Exiting Tolo Channel, we turned toward Double Island with a gentle northeasterly on the stern. Wing-on-wing, we all sailed beautifully through the narrow channel between Double Island and Crescent Island, everyone snapping photos, before clearing through Chek Mun Hau into Double Haven.

Dropping anchor at Sam A Chau an hour later, I took Bonnie ashore to scout a site for the evening's beach BBQ — only to be greeted by a large AFCD sign: no fires, no BBQs. Sam A Chau is part of the Marine Park. Not exactly what a crew of misfits looking to get loose on a beach wanted to hear.

Back aboard, we studied the charts for another beach within striking range. Ben suggested Camp Cove — the chart showed a beach and a decent anchorage. We pulled anchor and said farewell to Sam A Chau. Camp Cove looked nothing like the tourist-guide photos, and fires weren't allowed there either — a deal-breaker. So we ventured another 300m down the shore to a second beach strewn with driftwood and free of sandflies. We soon had a roaring fire going, with a separate cooking fire manned by Will — thanks, Will, for the cooking. What followed was a night gathered around a fire on a remote beach, not another soul in sight — good wine, good food, and a bit of a singalong.

That night the after-party moved to Malarky, where a bottle of Baileys got finished off, followed by what remained of the rum, vodka and tequila.

The next morning I dove into the clear turquoise water to wash away the night before. The water in Double Haven is so clear you can see all the way to the bottom.

That afternoon, Ben, Lyndsey and I felt like a walk — "let's go check out the pagoda on the hill above the bay." Instead we found the trail to Kat O village on the other side of the island, and our little walk turned into a three-hour adventure. Twenty years ago there were 6,000-plus people living on Kat O; now only around 250, mostly older residents who refused to leave for the city, remain. The village was largely deserted, but we met Peter, a real character, who told us everyone had left to look for work and the place was crumbling. He pointed us to the island's five viewpoints.

The plan had been one night in Camp Cove, then another anchored off Kat O — but after the walk, we decided to stay another night in Camp Cove instead. The other two boats had to head back that morning, only able to stay two nights, but Malarky and Alluna were in for the long haul.

農曆新年對於留港度假的「鬼佬」來說，向來是個寧靜的時光。這次，我們一班航海朋友計劃了一趟為期一週的巡遊，北上大鵬灣的印洲塘，在那裡下錨度過一整個星期。 我們自稱「農曆新年艦隊」——Ben 和 Lyndsey 駕駛 Alluna，Ryan 和 Fanny 駕駛他們那艘船（早該改名了），Andy、Devere、Will 和 Steve 駕駛 DragonFly，還有我，Sean，與船上的狗 Bonnie 一同駕駛 Malarky 1。 我們約早上十一時從白沙灣出發，靠引擎輔助帆行北上，風速不到五節。幸運的是，大浪灣一帶的海面平靜，幾乎沒有湧浪。 第一晚，Ben 和 Lyndsey 建議我們駛往大埔及大美督下錨——對我們所有人來說都是新地方。大美督的一角有個很不錯的錨地，就在燒烤場和大埔遊艇會附近，泥底抓力良好。下午四時左右我們下錨，DragonFly 上的男孩們忙著喝啤酒，我則帶 Bonnie 上岸四處看看。那裡的燒烤場擠滿了慶祝年初一的人群，單車穿梭其中，年輕人則走向附近的青年旅舍。 當晚，我們過馬路到汀角路一帶物色餐廳。看過菜單和價錢後，Ben 與一家印度餐廳 Tulsi 的經理討價還價起來——「五支 Kingfisher 一桶，150 元」，老闆和氣地說。「150 元七支吧，」Ben 回答，「而且我們會點很多食物——十個餓壞了的水手。」「好的，好的，」老闆答應了，於是我們坐下，點了一頓豐盛大餐。結賬下來每人大約 150 元，食物非常出色，強烈推薦。 酒足飯飽、微醺地回到船上，DragonFly 上開起了派對，但我已經累壞了，直接去睡。 早上，我借了一輛隨處可見的共享單車，沿船灣淡水湖的堤壩騎行——Bonnie 從未見過我騎單車，開心地在旁邊跑著。適逢年初一，我們一路上都被「恭喜發財」的祝賀聲包圍。 回到船上，是時候前往印洲塘了——目的地是三椏洲。Alluna、DragonFly 和第三艘船沿吐露港航道愉快地帆行。航道中段有個警察檢查站，所有船隻都要「報到」，但警察揮手讓我們通過，沒有多問——我們看起來不像走私的。 駛出吐露港航道後，我們轉向雙島方向，船尾吹著和緩的東北風。我們以雙翼帆的方式，漂亮地穿過雙島與月眉島之間的狹窄水道，大家紛紛拿出手機拍照，然後穿過赤門海峽，駛入印洲塘。 一小時後在三椏洲下錨，我帶 Bonnie 上岸物色晚上沙灘燒烤的地點——結果迎面而來的是漁護署的大告示牌：不准生火、不准燒烤。三椏洲屬於海岸公園範圍。對一班就想在沙灘上盡情放鬆的「烏合之眾」來說，這可不是好消息。 回到船上，我們翻查海圖，尋找附近另一個合適的沙灘。Ben 早前提議過龍落水灣，海圖顯示那裡有沙灘和不錯的錨地。我們起錨，向三椏洲道別。龍落水灣看起來跟旅遊指南上的照片完全不同，而且同樣不准生火——這對我們來說是個致命傷。於是我們再沿岸邊走了大約三百米，找到另一個沙灘，那裡堆滿浮木，也沒有沙蠅。我們很快便生起了熊熊營火，另外由 Will 負責看管「煮食用火」——謝謝 Will 的好手藝。接下來便是一整夜圍著營火，在杳無人煙的沙灘上，享受美酒佳餚，還有一點點大合唱。我們喝光了好幾瓶好酒。 當晚的續攤轉移到 Malarky 上，大家先幹掉了我帶來的一瓶 Baileys，接著是喝完的蘭姆酒、伏特加和龍舌蘭。 第二天早上，我跳進清澈的碧綠海水中，洗去前一晚的疲憊。印洲塘的海水清澈見底，可以一直看到水底。 那天下午，Ben、Lyndsey 和我想去散步——「不如去看看海灣上方山上的那座涼亭吧。」結果我們找到的卻是通往島嶼另一邊吉澳村的小徑，一趟小小的散步變成了三小時的探險。二十年前，吉澳島上曾住着六千多人，如今只剩下約二百五十人，大多是不願離開、遷往「大城市」的長者。村莊大致上已經荒廢，但我們遇到了 Peter，一位真正的「奇人」，他告訴我們大家都已離開去謀生，這裡正逐漸破敗。他還告訴我們島上五個觀景點的位置。 原本計劃是在龍落水灣住一晚，再到吉澳村外下錨多留一晚——但散步過後，我們決定在龍落水灣多留一晚。另外兩艘船當天早上便得啟程回航，牠們只能逗留兩晚，而 Malarky 和 Alluna 則打算長留下去。