Cruising the coast of Taiwan: A culture rich in seafaring history

We had been nonetheless 5 miles from port after we realised that clearing into Taiwan may not be so simple as we’d hoped. Our VHF radio crackled into life and a stern voice from the port authority requested who we had been, the place we had been coming from, and the place we had been going.

It was mid-October, and we’d simply sailed 340 miles from Hong Kong throughout the Taiwan Strait, double-handed. The crossing was principally upwind and tough, affirming the strait’s nickname, the Black Ditch. Sturdy currents, uneven waves and sporadic rain was not how we needed to begin what we deliberate can be a multi-year cruise, however packing up our house and saying goodbye to household had taken longer than we deliberate, so we took the climate we got.

Our cruising plans had been obscure, however we needed to overwinter in Taiwan after which sail Teng Hoi, our Hallberg-Rassy 42F, north to Japan. Taiwan is a well-known vacation spot for Hong Kongers, sharing sufficient frequent tradition to really feel neighbourly, however sufficient variations to make it attention-grabbing. Taiwan would supply a comparatively delicate begin to our new cruising life, or so we thought.

We had been happy with ourselves as we closed in on Kaohsiung, on Taiwan’s south-western coast. This was the longest crossing we’d made as double-handers, and we had been in a jubilant temper, showering and making ready for port, when the radio name got here in.

I answered the port authority’s questions, including that we’d submitted all of our pre-arrival paperwork by way of MTNet, Taiwan’s maritime administration web site. We lowered our sails and had been motoring previous the large stone seawall after they referred to as us once more, asking us to attend exterior the harbour whereas they checked our on-line paperwork.

After just a few hours of bobbing within the sea, the port authority invited us to moor at a coastguard safety dock for additional inspection. We had been 2m from the dock, about to forged our mooring traces ashore, after they modified their minds and ordered us to show round and depart port, sending us into the night nightfall.

“We’re a small vessel with solely two crew, and we’re drained from an extended crossing. You might be placing us into hazard by sending us again to sea,” I instructed them over the radio.

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We slowly idled out of the harbour, hoping the officers would shortly change their minds.

“Can’t your motor go sooner than that?” they radioed again. “Pace up, and go at the least 5 miles out. Wait there till we radio you.”

I did as I used to be instructed, understanding that they held the entire energy. We drifted in circles amongst anchored cargo ships as evening fell, all of the whereas making determined telephone calls to marinas asking for help. Lastly, because of a flurry of exercise behind the scenes by sympathetic brokers and officers that overheard our radio site visitors, we had been referred to as again into port.

Six hours after our first try we secured our traces within the darkness, assisted by apologetic marina workers.

“Welcome to Taiwan. It shouldn’t be this manner,” one of many workers mentioned, bowing deeply in apology.

We’d had a small glimpse of the decades-long worry and defensiveness in direction of the ocean that has hobbled Taiwan’s personal yachting tradition, and performs a job in deterring overseas cruisers from visiting.

Within the days to come back we’d be taught that unclear directions on the federal government web site contributed to the confusion. We additionally realised we’d made a mistake by trying to clear into a significant worldwide port, so we had been handled like a cargo ship quite than a yacht. And at last we conceded that we should always have employed an agent, as we’d been suggested to do, to assist us navigate the clearing in course of.

Glittering mahi mahi caught off southern Taiwan. Photograph: Cameron Dueck

A wealthy tradition

As soon as the mud had settled we sailed north to Tainan, Taiwan’s oldest metropolis and former capital, nonetheless with a eager urge for food to discover Taiwan.

Taiwan is geographically properly positioned as a stopover for boats heading north within the western Pacific. From the Philippines it’s solely 200 miles throughout the Luzon Strait to achieve Kenting, a small port on the southern tip. Taiwan can also be solely a three-day voyage from Hong Kong, providing a secure harbour earlier than persevering with on to Japan. Nevertheless, whereas many yachts en path to a North Pacific crossing to Alaska make stops in Japan, far fewer name at Taiwan.

Over the course of the winter in Tainan we’d be taught extra about what has stymied each home sailors and visiting cruisers, and we’d additionally expertise the wealthy tradition, heat folks and beautiful landscapes these cruisers are lacking after they bypass Taiwan.

Through the martial regulation interval from 1949 to 1987, amid fears of a attainable invasion by Communist China, the Taiwanese lived as in the event that they had been a land-locked nation with heavy restrictions on all maritime exercise. Bizarre Taiwanese had been prohibited from going to the seaside exterior of some designated resort areas. The shoreline and outlying islands had been militarised, with land mines and gun placements as an alternative of seaside umbrellas and marinas.

Argo Yacht Marina in Tainan, Taiwan’s former capital. Photograph: Cameron Dueck

Heavy business then took over the coastlines with unpleasant, polluting factories and petrochemical crops.

When martial regulation was lifted the shoreline returned to nationwide consideration, with new parks created on outlying islands. However the authorities’s view of enjoyment boats has taken longer to alter.“The bottleneck is on the authorities degree, particularly the coastguard and maritime bureau,” mentioned Keith Chen, director of United Challenge Middle, Horizon Yacht, one of many largest yacht builders on the island. “They’ve a historic behavior of controlling the whole lot, however they don’t perceive pleasure boats or handle them. The measures they take generally really make proudly owning a ship tougher, not simpler.”

Till 1999, boats needed to return to the identical port that they departed from, and so they weren’t allowed to go to sea for actions aside from fishing. Day trippers needed to present a fishing rod upon boarding to be able to adjust to the regulation. The political clout of the fishing business in small ports additionally hinders maritime recreation. They’ve slowly ceded management however many ports stay hostile in direction of pleasure vessels.

“Now we have greater than 400 fishing and business harbours round Taiwan however most of them don’t enable pleasure boats to dock, although greater than half of them are virtually empty and now not energetic in fishing,” mentioned Peter Pan, proprietor of Taiwan Marine Crusing Faculty in Kaohsiung, and a key native contact for visiting yachts.

Taiwan’s bustling evening markets are stuffed with vitality. Photograph: Shih-Wei/Getty

In distinction, Japan has in recent times opened its tons of of small fishing ports to cruisers, offering primary, however secure and accessible mooring throughout the nation.Formed by seafarers

These restrictions are ironic on condition that Taiwan’s historical past has been formed by seafarers. In 2024, Tainan celebrated the four-hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Dutch maritime merchants who, in 1624, sailed in to the swampy delta of the Zengwun River on the settlement of Tayouan, the place they constructed Fort Zeelandia. A rebuilt model of the fort nonetheless stands, and Dutch structure marks lots of Tainan’s historic districts, whereas its museums inform the story of how the oceangoing Dutch turned Taiwan into one other hyperlink of their world buying and selling empire.

Certainly one of Asia’s most well-known sailors, Zheng Chenggong, often known as Koxinga, was a Ming basic and pirate who drove the Dutch out of Tainan in 1661. He nonetheless looms giant over the town, each figuratively and bodily. Since then, Taiwan has gone by way of Japanese and Chinese language rule, and on to a fragile independence whereas creating a booming semiconductor business. Tainan’s wealth of historic structure and conventional cultural practices defines the town, and as we explored its slender, twisting alleyways it was straightforward to let our daydreams carry us again in time.

At Chihkan Tower, the oldest constructing of Tainan’s historic West Central district, a statue of Koxinga watches vacationers clamber over the weathered stone partitions. Koxinga’s son Zheng Jing constructed the close by Confucius Temple, Taiwan’s first training establishment, to honour his father. The compound is adorned with intricate calligraphy, whereas a granite stela carries directions for all who cross to dismount from their horses to point out respect.

Touring historic landmarks by bike. Photograph: Cameron Dueck

At evening we explored Tainan’s evening markets, that are central to native nightlife and culinary tradition. Tainan Flower Evening Market was filled with grazing guests, inhaling the pungent tang of tofu blended with the heavy scent of deep fried squid. Crowds jostled by way of the slender lanes, creating the specter of being speared by a wayward skewer and becoming a member of quail eggs and grilled beef on a wood spike.

Exploring inland

We had hoped to cruise up and down Taiwan’s coast, however as soon as we discovered of the challenges find moorings we as an alternative made plans to journey inland utilizing Taiwan’s glorious and inexpensive high-speed rail community, which might whisk a traveller from one finish of the island to the opposite in hours.

Going inland shortly leads you to the mountains that kind a towering wall operating the size of the island and entice waves of hikers on the weekends.

The jewel of the mountains is the Alishan Nationwide Scenic Space, stuffed with trails, farms, small resorts, and residential to the indigenous Austronesian folks that decision themselves the Tsou, actually which means man or human being.

Taiwan’s east coast is Greener, wilder and fewer populated than the west coast. Photograph: Getty

Alishan’s forests are identified for his or her big Taiwan purple cypress and yellow cypress bushes, with some bushes believed to be greater than 2,000 years outdated. As we hiked the broad community of trails the tall, straight cypress swayed backwards and forwards excessive above us, dropping a thick carpet of needles onto the shady forest ground. The enormous trunks creaked like ships masts as they moved, their music joined by the rattle of branches and the sighing wind because it filtered by way of the forest. As we climbed increased, the bushes light to gray within the thick, gloomy mist that rolls in each afternoon.

These mountains are famed for producing teas corresponding to alpine Oolong tea and Jinxuan tea. However interspersed among the many tea fields are a rising variety of espresso plantations. The British introduced espresso crops to Taiwan within the late 1800s, and the crop gained renewed consideration about 20 years in the past. At present there are dozens of artisan growers and roasters dotting the hillsides.

Whereas mountaineering is the most well-liked technique to see the inside, biking has change into a nationwide pastime alongside Taiwan’s shoreline, so we had been free to discover.

We had been biking novices – most of our expertise got here from the tiny folding bikes we carried on our boat – however we rented touring bicycles and set off all the identical. Our trip started in Taipei, on the northern finish of the island, from the place we headed south down the west coast to make a counterclockwise loop.

Towering cypress bushes within the Alishan Nationwide Scenic Space. Photograph: Getty

Taiwan is about 200 miles lengthy, and about 80 miles throughout at its widest. The west coast has sizzling, flat plains planted with rice and greens, interspersed with semiconductor factories and oil refineries.

On the southern tip of Taiwan we crossed the mountains and turned north, the place we had been struck by the sharp distinction between coasts. The east coast is inexperienced and wild, with roads and cities hemmed in towards the ocean by the hovering mountains. The mountain barrier has protected this coast from the waves of colonial rule and maritime commerce over the centuries, and even right now it feels quieter and fewer developed than the remainder of the nation.

Two weeks after setting out we returned to Taipei, exhausted, highway weary, however exuberant. Our plans to sail round Taiwan had been thwarted, however we’d nonetheless seen the island in its entirety.Whereas difficulties discovering inexpensive mooring stymied our preliminary makes an attempt at exploring Taiwan by boat, we had been additionally stored on the dock in Tainan by that outdated acquainted foe of sailors in every single place – an engine breakdown.

We’d arrived with an extended checklist of upgrades and repairs we needed to make to our boat, although an engine overhaul was not on that checklist. Taiwan was a number one worldwide boatbuilder within the late Nineteen Seventies and early Nineteen Eighties. Then a pointy appreciation within the NT greenback raised the worth of Taiwanese-built boats, and the worldwide monetary disaster in 2008 additional weakened the business. At present, the few remaining builders are focussed on giant customized motor yachts for export. Nonetheless, we hoped to search out freelance shipwrights obtainable for rent.

Taiwan’s economic system is pushed by its excessive tech semiconductor factories, however the countryside remains to be dotted with terraced rice farms – right here on the east coast. Photograph: Getty

Our hopes had been quickly dashed as we discovered that, because of the restricted variety of cruising sailors, boat repairs in Taiwan are both a DIY venture or an costly haul-out at one of many huge builders. Nevertheless, with sufficient contact-building, analysis and begging for favours we managed, over the course of 5 months, to put in a diesel heating system, make some glassfibre repairs and undertake a major engine overhaul.

Hopes of change

Alongside the way in which we made associates inside the tight-knit neighborhood of passionate sailors in Tainan and Kaohsiung, all of whom desperately need to develop the game and entice extra visiting yachts. We had been invited to a small marine business convention to share our jarring expertise of clearing into the nation, and the business professionals all expressed the identical hope: that sometime Taiwan will change into a crusing vacation spot.

“Crusing can completely change this nation, not just for the economic system and sport, however culturally. We have to return to the ocean as our ancestors did,” Pan mentioned.

We additionally discovered extra about go about cruising to Taiwan’s outlying islands, at the same time as our damaged engine stored us port-bound. Every vacation spot required the submitting of permits and requests, generally by submit, once more validating the usage of an area agent.

uthor’s Hallberg-Rassy 42F Teng Hoi moored in Kaohsiung. Photograph: Cameron Dueck

Penghu, a small archipelago of 90 tiny islands positioned about 45 miles north-east of Tainan, is a well-liked vacation spot with a small personal marina, however it’s too removed from the principle island for a day sail. Inexperienced Island, about 15 miles off the east coast, was a penal colony for political prisoners throughout the interval of martial regulation, and provides one other cruising possibility as soon as a allow to moor within the port has been secured.

However with a restricted variety of outlying islands obtainable for day cruises, Bob Chiang, who runs Crusing Ahead, a Tainan-based crusing college utilizing J/80s, selected to as an alternative deal with creating a racing tradition.

“The west coast of Taiwan has good, regular wind all 12 months round, which makes for superb racing. And for racing you don’t want islands or bays close by, you simply want open water and wind. So my dream is to carry extra of a membership racing tradition to Taiwan, particularly utilizing smaller boats,” Chiang mentioned.

Whereas crusing round Taiwan proved troublesome, exploring the island by bicycle is common with locals and guests alike. Photograph: Cameron Dueck

Spring escape

By April our engine was repaired and the winds had been starting to show southerly. We bid farewell to our new associates in Tainan and turned south to spherical Kenting on the tip of the island. All of a sudden it felt like we had been cruising once more, a sense that was made full by a glittering mahi mahi on our fishing line.

As we sailed away we reminisced in regards to the folks we’d met and the adventures we’d had. We had been already entertaining ‘subsequent time’ eventualities of the islands we’d go to and coastlines we’d discover, now that we’d discovered how higher to manoeuvre Taiwan’s maritime guidelines.

As soon as across the southern cape we turned north, catching a elevate on the highly effective Kuroshio Present. The solar was out, and we had regular wind on the quarter. The Taiwanese coast slowly light away behind us, however its mountain peaks towered up out of the haze for hours in an extended, lingering goodbye.

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