Diving in China?

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Diver - 06 Nov 2004 15:58 GMT

I have a friend who loves to snorkel. She wants to learn to dive and
is going to be in China on the following dates in the following
locations. She wants to do some snorkeling while she's there and if
possible, check out diving.

Nov 10 - 17 Hong Kong
Nov 17 - 23 Lijiang, Yunnan Province (unconfirmed)
Nov 23 - 27 Hong Kong
Nov 27 - 30 Beijing

Does anyone know anything about diving in these locations? Water
temps, viz, where to go etc. Info on snorkel sites also appreciated
although I figure it might be kind of cold to snorkel in Bejing (if
you can at all) in late November.

I recommended that she go on a resort dive to check out diving so I'm
also looking for a dive operation that someone can recommend.

Thanks!

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Alan Street - 06 Nov 2004 19:04 GMT

> I have a friend who loves to snorkel. She wants to learn to dive and
> is going to be in China on the following dates in the following
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> I recommended that she go on a resort dive to check out diving so I'm
> also looking for a dive operation that someone can recommend.

Unless she's into cold lake diving, there's not much opportunity to
dive near Beijing or Lijiang (do you know anything about China's
geography, or did you bother to look at a map before asking this
question?) There is local diving around Hong Kong, but as with
Singapore, it's considered to be a "macro environment" (a clever way of
saying the typical visibility is about 6 inches, which limits you to
seeing tiny critters close up). Most people from Hong Kong travel
elsewhere to dive.

If she wants to learn to dive, she'd probably have a better time if she
took a short trip to Thailand, the Philippines, etc. and did a course
there.

Alan

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Diver - 06 Nov 2004 19:24 GMT

Thanks Alan,

Yes I did bother to look at the map, but the map I had available at
the moment wasn't very large so I could not tell accurately how close
to the coast Beijing was. My apologies if this annoyed you.

What you've related about Hong Kong is pretty much what others who
have contacted me have related. Thanks for the confirmation

B

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 10:04:21 -0800, Alan Street
<agstreet@nonono_san.rr.com> wrote:

>> I have a friend who loves to snorkel. She wants to learn to dive and
>> is going to be in China on the following dates in the following
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
>Alan

Reply to this Message

Alan Street - 07 Nov 2004 01:32 GMT

> Thanks Alan,
>
> Yes I did bother to look at the map, but the map I had available at
> the moment wasn't very large so I could not tell accurately how close
> to the coast Beijing was. My apologies if this annoyed you.

I don't know if "annoyed" is the right word, but I do admit that I have
little tolerance for people who ask for information that they could
look up themselves in 60 seconds or less. I can understand asking about
Hong Kong. It's a port city and unless you've spent time there you
might think there would be good diving close by. I know I did when I
first started visiting Singapore on a regular basis. But Beijing and
especially Lijiang are easily ruled out as diving locations if you look
at any reasonably sized map of China. Beijing looks close, but it's
still about 100 miles from the nearest coastline.

But giving you the benefit of the doubt - here's a map resource I find
very useful:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

Alan

Reply to this Message

Greg Mossman - 07 Nov 2004 04:01 GMT

> I don't know if "annoyed" is the right word, but I do admit that I have

Annoyed is the right word. I was annoyed.

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Diver - 09 Nov 2004 00:02 GMT

Thanks for the map resource. I appreciate it.

Bob

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Diver - 08 Nov 2004 23:59 GMT

> But Beijing and
> especially Lijiang are easily ruled out as diving locations if you look
> at any reasonably sized map of China. Beijing looks close, but it's
> still about 100 miles from the nearest coastline.

Are you suggesting that one needs to be near or on the coast to scuba
dive? More than a few folks would disagree with you. There are
lakes, rivers and quarries all over the word that otherwise landlocked
divers enjoy on a regular basis. Many of them, like quarries, not on
maps.

As for being 100 miles from the coast many divers right here in
California regularly make a 100 mile drive to the coast to go diving.

As it turns out I did get lots of information on Beijing dive
opportunities including an email from a gentleman in Beijing who
founded a dive club there. While the dive opportunities were for
mostly for advanced divers and therefore not suitable for my friend,
there is diving to be had. Next time you head to Beijing, bring your
gear.

Bob

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