Diving in Xiao LiuQiu Island 小琉球 | Taiwan

Liuqiu Island, also known as Lambai Island or Ryukuu Island, is a perfect place to launch into the seas of Taiwan from Kaohsiung City.

Diving in Xiao Liuqiu was part of my two-week-long itinerary in Taiwan in Jan 2023. I had the great opportunity to experience the Lunar New Year celebration with a friend and check out some of the mountains and touristy spots around the sweet potato-shaped island.

My last dive before Liuqiu was at Miri, Malaysia and The Poor Knights Island, New Zealand.

Aside from exploring the underwater world of Xiao Liuqiu, there’re at least 8 other activities and attractions you could do on the island!

I did this dive in Jan 2023. Photos courtesy from Liuqiu Dive. This post contains affiliate links that cost nothing to you but support my blog! It may also be updated periodically. Cheers!

Liuqiu from Kaohsiung

If you’re not already in Kaohsiung, book a seat on the high-speed rail to Zuoying Station.

Kaohsiung to Donggang

Private Transfer

Getting to Liuqiu from Kaohsiung without a car or scooter requires a bit more planning.

The fastest and most efficient way is, needless to say, to hail an Uber or taxi. But this is also the costliest option.

Another affordable option, especially if you’re travelling in a group, is to take a private transfer from Kaohsiung to Donggang or Kenting.

Shuttle/ Shared Transport

For those who want to save more money, the shuttle is another alternative, but it can be complicated.

Take the red MRT line to Kaohsiung Main Train Station (TRA), then walk to Spring Tourist Rental (春天旅遊汽機車出租) for a shuttle taxi to Donggang ferry terminal.

Public Bus

The ultimate money-saving option: take the public bus.

Board Bus 9117 or 9127 from Kaohsiung and get off at Donggang Station. Next, walk for about 10 mins to the port. For Bus 9189 (Kenting Express Line), get off at Dapeng Bay Station and change to Bus 503 towards the port.

Scooter

We took a scooter and travelled from Kaohsiung to Donggang – the ferry station. The journey was dusty and bumpy but a lot of fun. It took us almost an hour with a toilet break in between. The scooter went on board the ferry with us to Liuqiu.

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Donggang Ferry to Liuqiu

There’s practically a ferry every hour from Donggang 東港 to Liuqiu 小琉球 from 7 am to 5 pm. The website is in Mandarin, so you would have to Google translate the page.

We hurried to the terminal and bought return tickets for TWD 950 from a vendor without even stepping into the building. So that’s TWD 400 per person for the return ticket and TWD 150 to bring the scooter over.

The return tickets are valid for a week, which leaves you more than enough time to explore the island.

It takes 30 mins to cruise from Donggang to Liuqiu.

Unfortunately, only scooters can board the ferry. Cars have to be parked in Donggang.

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Transport within Liuqiu

According to a travel pamphlet of Liuqiu, a KBUS Island Tour Bus brings tourists to major scenic spots. The cost for that? TWD 100 per day.

Or else, you could pick up a scooter or an e-bike to tour the island as most of the scenic spots are next to Huandao Road, the main road in Liuqiu.

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Best Time to Dive

Taiwan may look small, but the north and south have different climates, which explains why it is a year-round place to dive, although the temperature in the south is more agreeable for me.

Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, was considerably gloomier, colder and wetter than Kaohsiung when I was there in Jan 2023.

Diving in the winter months from Dec – Feb in Liuqiu may be chilly, but you get considerably less crowded. The water temperature hovered between 23 – 24 dC in Jan 2023.

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Dive Sites

The small island of Liuqiu has a dozen dive sites – sufficient for any leisure diver to spend a weekend or more exploring.

1. Vase Rock 花瓶岩 | Beginner | 12 m
2. Beauty Cave 美人洞 | Beginner | 15 m
3. Lobster Cave 龍蝦洞 | Beginner | 18 m
4. Dafu West 大福西 | Beginner | 16 m
5. SanFu Port 杉福漁港 | Beginner | 16 m
6. Houshi Fringing Reef 厚石礁群 | Beginner | 10 m
7. Duoziping 肚仔坪 | Intermediate | 20 m
8. Shipwreck Reef 沈船 | Intermediate | 24 m
9. Black Dwarf Cave Sea Fan Forest 烏鬼洞海森林 | Advanced | 25 m
10. Zhenhai Battleship Reef 鎮海艦沈船 | Advanced | 35 m
11. ChungAu Shipwreck Reef 中澳沈船 | Advanced | 26 m
12. Venice Shipwreck Reef 威尼斯沈船 | Advanced | 32 m

Liuqiu is known for its turtles – not only the real ones but also plenty of turtle memorabilia and trinkets in the shops all over the island!

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My Dive School

For my dives in Xiao Liuqiu, I went with 琉潛貨櫃潛水旅宿 Liuqiu Dive, as my friend knew one of the dive instructors working there.

This dive shop has an accommodation that is cleverly constructed using shipping containers, ropes, and plenty of ferns and greens.

You could choose a single dorm bed or two singles if you’re a couple or friends, and each partition has its privacy screen. The rooms, which could hold up to eight single beds each, are air-conditioned.

The toilets and shower rooms on level one were spotless, and as with all dive schools, there was endless hot water. The premise was kept shoe-free, which explains the cleanliness.

I enjoyed my short stay in this dive school very much. It felt cosy and clean, and the entire episode might surpass my experience staying in the cylindrical pods of another dive school at Tioman Island in Malaysia.

Unlike other dive schools, however, most of us travelled to the dive spots ourselves, if it was a shore dive. Those without their own transport board a truck that carries the cylinders, BCD and miscellaneous diving items.

A pre-briefing was made in the school before each dive, and we returned to the school after each dive to restock and clock in surface interval timing.

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My Dive Trip

As only five of us signed up as leisure divers that day – the woes of off-season diving – our numbers did not make up for the min needed for boat dives.

Dafu West 大福西

Our first dive spot was a shore dive that was a short drive away from the shop.

Visibility was ok at 8 – 10 m, and we saw lots of urchins, blue stars, anemones and clownfish. The turnaround point was a Taiwan flag.

My friend found the 23 – 24 dC tolerable, but not for me – I was involuntarily shivering throughout the dive, which explained the higher-than-normal air consumption. I was down to 50 bars for a 50-minute dive.

We surfaced and rode back to the school, taking our interval rest time for toilet and hydration, and a briefing for the next dive.

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Lobster Cave 龍蝦洞

For my next dive, I put on an additional singlet underneath my wetsuit, and that dramatically improved my comfort level.

The entry into the water was tough as waves kept pushing us in. We were also surrounded by those protruding wave barricades.

I didn’t see any lobster for a cave named as such, but I did see three turtles, some more nudis, and a banded pipefish. There were more urchins half exposed around the corals. My diving buddy might have accidentally grazed into one or some poisonous grass as he had itchy bumps covering his hands after the dive.

We maximised an hour out of our cylinders for this dive. I was down to 100 bars by the time we resurfaced.

I saw plenty of banded pipefish while diving down the walls of Pescador Island in Moalboal, the Philippines.

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Conclusion and Rambles

Sorry if this post is too short! Diving isn’t the main objective of this trip and Liuqiu was added in since it was so near to my friend’s hometown.

If diving in Taiwan is your main objective, consider staying in Liuqiu for at least three days to enjoy two full days of dives. You could also move on to other islands like Lanyu (蘭嶼), Kenting (墾丁) or Orchid Island (蘭嶼).

We washed up and caught a 2 pm ferry leaving the island for Kaohsiung City.

Liuqiu Island has a lot more to offer apart from the dive spots. Both of us went on a hurricane visit the day we arrived and cleared all the attractions on the island.

Hoping to return to Taiwan again for its other dive spots! ❤️