Although we actually only had 2 full days in Kenting, we’re pretty proud of all we packed into our short time there. Between the four of us (our two coworkers, Josh and I) we walked half a dozen beaches, scuba dived, hiked the national park, found the southernmost point of Taiwan, snapped photos of the Kenting lighthouse, the old castle-town gates of Henghun, and the natural gas fire pits of Chuhuo, found some great eats and managed not to get knocked off the cliffs into the ocean at Fengchuisha while being buffeted by gale force winds.
The Beach
We arrived in Kenting by rental car just in time to catch a sunset on the beach near our hotel (which is strangely simply labelled as “beach volleyball court” on google maps) . The colors of the sunset stretched out to reach our beach despite being located on the eastern Kenting peninsula, giving us a wonderful welcome to the area!
Scuba Diving
The one thing Josh and I knew we wanted to do in Kenting was go scuba diving. And we are so glad we did! Winter is not the best season for scuba diving in Kenting, but we got lucky and the winds weren’t too strong the day we went. The water clarity wasn’t fantastic, but we still saw lots of beautiful fish, coral and even a turtle! We also got to swim with an enormous school of barracuda and encountered our first Giant Travelly.
We chose to dive with CT Divers based on positive online reviews. Guests mentioned that and the assurance that CT Divers doesn’t unnaturally attract fish by feeding them. The owners are a fantastic couple from Taipei. They met through scuba diving, eventually got married and moved to Kenting to open their own shop. Their English is great and they impressed us with quick and thorough responses to all our emails as we planned our trip. They had great equipment and a very comfy setup to wash gear and take a shower. We certainly would dive with them again. Here’s a link to their website.
Kenting Forest Recreational Area
While we were out scuba diving our other two coworkers split off and went spelunking! Or at least stuck their heads in a few caves. Turns out Kenting isn’t just palm trees and beaches. While Kenting National Park does cover an enormous stretch of coastline along the entire southern tip of Taiwan, it also encompasses some very unique interior landscapes.
Honestly, scuba diving, snorkeling & beaches, were my sole focus for our Kenting trip. So I didn’t even know about the caves. But after seeing our friends pictures of the caves & trees at the Kenting Forest Recreational Area, I was jealous we’d missed it! We’ll definitely make going there a priority, if we visit Kenting again.
The Beach
After our separate scuba and hiking adventures, we grabbed lunch together and then hit the beach! It was a bit rainy, but we weren’t going to let a little bit of rain keep us from the beach. Our reward was getting one of Kentings most popular beaches almost entirely to ourselves. White Sands beach or Baisha is not truly white sand, but it is soft, beautiful sand perfect for sinking your bare feet into. There’s also a rocky area at the edge of the sandy stretch that’s supposed to be good for snorkeling but unfortunately the conditions weren’t right for it.
From there we moved on to another beach (on the same western peninsula of Kenting). This one felt like more of a secret. I believe this spot is what other blogs refer to as Little Bali Bay. The path to it actually began in the area that Josh & I had done our first dive. To the right of that rocky ocean front is a small path that will bring you back to two little hidden beaches. The last beach is a tiny cove that has beautifully colored water. The waters of this protected bay were calm enough to enjoy wading into. I was able to walk quite a ways out into the water before it reached waist height. It was my favorite beach and I regret that we didn’t grab our snorkel gear and try snorkeling (we’d intended to return and the next day, but it was too windy).
With only 2 days to discover Kenting, we decided to check out one last beach for sunset. This time we decided not to set google maps on a course to a predetermined beach. So we just drove around to see what we’d find. Our reward was a solitary stretch of sand and ocean to ourselves just in time for a last sunset stroll for the day.
Kenting’s Lighthouse
*FYI: It’s closed on Mondays!
Monday we woke up to extremely strong winds that only continued to intensify as the day went on. No worries though – we had planned for just such an occasion! Why not a trip to the light house! Welll…. because it was Monday that’s why. And Kentings Lighthouse is not open to visitors on Monday. Although the parking lot that charges $100NT per vehicle sure is 🙁 . Still, we did at least catch a glimpse of the lighthouse. And the lighthouse parking lot is also at the trail head for Taiwan’s Southernmost point. So off we went!
Taiwan’s Southernmost point
I read unenthusiastic reviews about this spot, but I don’t think those people were there on a windy day! Not only is it just fun to say you’ve made it to the southernmost point of Taiwan, but at that tip we witnessed extraordinary waves crashing against the coast. It was spectacular. And the walk itself was quick and easy. Its not more than a 20 minute paved walk from the parking lot.
Old Castle-town gates of Henghun
The wind continued to build and it started to rain. We decided to find a coffee shop and reconsider the rest of the days plans. Unfortunately all of the cute local coffee shops either close Mondays or for the season. But there’s always Starbucks. We had some coffee, played a trivia card game, I’d brought for such a time as this, and as the rain subsided we plotted our next move.
Josh recalled that there were supposed to be ancient Ching Dynasty era gates somewhere in the era and sure enough Henghun just 20 minutes away is “the only castle town in Taiwan that all gates are still standing today”. Despite the buffetting winds, we figured it was a safe bet that they would still find them standing. They were (well, at least the one that we checked out!). We aren’t huge history buffs so we didn’t check out all four gates. But it was cool to see the one, walk under it and take some pictures.
Natural gas fire pits of Chuhou
From there, we were just a few minutes away from the fire pits of Chuhou, Well, we should have been, had google maps not sent us on a wild goose chase. As Josh said in the previous post, overall navigating the rental car with google maps worked really well. But every once in a while it seemed slightly confused about our exact location. The sign for Chuhou is old and faded. We missed the turn to the parking lot twice before finally arriving *ahem* 40 minutes later.
Chuhou is a crazy spot where pockets of natural gas seeps out of cracks in the ground and spontaneously ignite. When planning this trip, Chuhou was the only non-water related attraction that made it onto my must do/see list. Mostly because when I heard about this place it conjured up images of the Fire Swamp from Princess Bride. Spoiler: It’s not like that. The flames don’t make popping noises and suddenly explode out of the ground. But it still is a pretty crazy natural phenomena to witness. There are ropes keeping the humans away from the gas flames. But the pigeons are unperturbed and wander alarmingly close while searching for food.
The Beach
Noticing a theme, are you? Well, it IS Kenting after all! Even in gale force wind, we had to give the beach at least a quick stroll! After a great late lunch at Bossa Nova, we ventured across the street to The South Bay Recreation Beach Area and to our surprise we found throngs of people out on the beach, playing sand volleyball, drinking and having a grand time. It had far more people then we saw on all of the other beaches put together. And this crowd was out despite the fact that every time a large gust of wind picked up it sandblasted eyes and skin!
It was a pretty beach though with great sand and beautiful colored water with impressive waves crashing onto shore, due to the winds. Fun for pictures, but not our ideal beach party weather. So we left the partying crowd opting instead for the shelter of our rental car and a final coastal drive to end the day.
Fengchuisha 風吹砂
We retraced our our steps back down towards the southernmost tip, and then around up the western coast. Along the way we pulled off at a few more beaches to snap a quick photo before racing back to the car to get out of the wind. We wound our way up into mist and rain, shaking our heads in disbelief at the few brave scooters and bicycles who shared the road with us.
The rain lifted (although the wind just got stronger) as we got to Fengchuisha. It’s a fanastic outlook with interesting sandstone formations and an expansive view, made extra impressive by that day’s crashing waves. The wind was so strong that we could barely open the car doors. And we literally had to brace ourselves with widespread legs to stay upright in the wind! But the view (and the hilarious pictures) were totally worth it.
On the way back we caught one last glimpse of the lighthouse, this time with lights on.
The Beach
The next morning we packed up our bags and headed back to Kaohsiung to catch our 11:00 train to Taipei. But Josh and I squeezed one last sunrise walk on the beach before heading out. This is another spot we’d heard was good to snorkel around and had the wind died down we would have done it as our last thing in Kenting… but it had not! We did get a lovely view of sale rock with the full moon still in the early morning sky though. And we enjoyed doing a little tide pool exploring before finally rejoined our party for the trip back to Taipei on Christmas day.
