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Sail Away! JOLLY JUNK FUN!


Relax, submerge, explore, repeat! It’s no secret that DBers love a junk trip and the good news is we don’t have to look far for the best boats in town REPORTING BY Rachel Sadler PHOTOS COURTESY OF Floatudio Yacht Rental & Pexel

A day out on the water, filled with friendship, food and floaties… life really doesn’t get much better, and junk trips are definitely here to stay. In fact, with overseas trips off most of our radars this year, sailings have been more popular than ever. Hong Kong is renowned for its junk trips and rightly so. A day on a junk is a unique opportunity to kickback and take it easy, but it can just as easily be full of activity. While working on your tan, you can get your water-sports adrenalin fix, play beer pong, swim out to a remote island and/ or stop off at a favourite beachside restaurant for lunch. The best junk companies are all about flexibility when it comes to event planning. Some occasions call for a comprehensive package where everything is taken care of – food, drink, wakeboarding... you name it. Other times, boat-only charters are the way to go – the crew leaves you to it and you are free to really unwind… and commandeer the kitchenette to prepare your own meals. Peak season is June to November but thanks to the climate, junk hire is available year-round. There are countless junk companies across Hong Kong, all offering a variety of packages for both day and night trips. Old timers like Saffron Cruises, Island Junks and Viking Charters are tried-and-tested favourites, or you can splash out on a luxury cruise with companies like Breakaway and Lazydays, where add-ons include shisha, massage and mani-pedi. Spoilt for choice, we’ve decided to keep it local this month, providing you with a bit of an introduction to Floatudio in Cheung Chau and Discovery Bay’s own Charter Junks HK.

DB PARTY JUNK

A long-standing favourite in the community, DB-based Charter Junks HK offers a wide variety of packages and tours to take advantage of Hong Kong’s fantastic waters and coastline. You can opt for collection and drop-off in DB, and choose between any number of packages – a full-day, boat-only package starts at HK$12,000 in high season. Charter Junks HK’s two teakwood motor junks – Kitty and Polly – are licensed to carry up to 30 passengers and staffed by a qualified and friendly crew. Regular haunts include Clearwater Bay, Deepwater Bay, Joss House Bay, Repulse Bay, Shek O, Stanley, Turtle Cove Beach, Tai Tam Bay, Cheung Chau and Lamma. Night cruises are also on offer – the Big Harbour Tour, which gives you the opportunity to spend an evening soaking up Hong Kong’s spectacular skyline; and the unique Container Port Tour, which takes you off the tourist track to discover one of the largest and busiest container ports in the world. Whether you’re looking for an all-inclusive, fully catered experience, complete with speedboat and wakeboard rides, or a boat-only charter where you bring your own provisions, Charter Junks HK has you covered. During the day, you can choose between Western, Asian and Indian menus; in the evening, there’s tapas, canapes or BBQ – all with vegetarian options. Kitty and Poppy both feature a high-quality sound system with Bluetooth and loudspeakers throughout, so you can party the day or night away. Tired of your playlists? There’s also the option to hire a private DJ for your trip. Something you also need to know: Charter Junks HK donates a percentage of every booking fee that is arranged by an ex-serviceman or woman from any nation to the Royal British Legion of Hong Kong and China.

FLOATUDIO CHEUNG CHAU JUNK Now well and truly on DBers’ maps, Cheung Chaubased Floatudio is the brainchild of Sarah Yip and Rex Law, who first bought a junk in 2016, and lived on it while they started their business. Floatudio offers pick up and drop off in DB for up to 38 passengers, with a full-day, boat-only junk trip starting from HK$5,800 on weekdays and HK$6,800 on weekends.

Rex is a third-generation Cheung Chau fisherman and the couple’s junk trips are focused on local waters around Cheung Chau, Lantau and Lamma. Different kinds of boat rental services are on offer, such as round-the-island tours, fishing, squid fishing and private boat parties.

The Floatudio also heads out to Tai A Chau, the largest of the Soko Islands in the far southwest of Hong Kong’s waters. On this trip, you have a good chance of spotting pink dolphins, and you can enjoy a real desert-island experience on disembarking. Once home to a thriving farming community, Tai A Chau became a refugee camp for Vietnamese boatpeople in the 1990s, and is now uninhabited.

It’s nuggets of information like this that you gain from a trip on the Floatudio – Sarah and Rex both have extensive knowledge of the outlying islands, local waters and marine life, which they are more than willing to share. Sarah moonlights as an eco-tour guide at The Jockey Club HSBC WWF-Hong Kong Hoi Ha Marine Life Centre.

The couple have been actively involved in marine conservation since 2019, when they upgraded to a 60-foot fibreglass motor junk, and formed Eco Cheung Chau, an NGO dedicated to protecting local waters and raising awareness particularly among outlying islanders and local fishermen.

Since then, Sarah and Rex have regularly paired up with Gary Stokes at OceansAsia, Hillian Siu at Kitesurf for a Cleaner Ocean and Dana Winograd at Plastic Free Seas. They also loan their boat – and their time – to help HKU’s University of St Andrews’ dolphin and finless porpoise research team with acoustic monitoring.

Not surprisingly, Sarah and Rex have extended their passion for marine conservation to their business. They provide guided, tailor-made eco-tours, as well as specialist sea workshops in which you get to handcraft fishing nets and upcycle your creations into art pieces, while learning a little bit of Tanka (water dialect). All that being said, a trip on the Floatudio can be anything you want it to be. It’s fully equipped with everything you need for a fun day on the water – sound system, karaoke, BBQ grill, floaties; and you can opt for the usual add-ons like kayaking and standup paddleboarding. The food and drink comes in biodegradable packaging. Sarah and Rex aim to keep the Floatudio plastic-free, naturally.

WHO TO SAIL WITH

Breakaway,

Charter Junks HK,

Floatudio,

Island Junks,

Lazydays,

Saffron Cruises,

Viking Charters,

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