Poetry in ocean: Hong Kong from the water

By News Room Last updated Mar 18, 2025

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This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to Hong Kong

The British sunk their claws into Hong Kong in stages. In 1842 they colonised Hong Kong island; 1860 saw the seizure of the Kowloon peninsula, and in 1898, the British took out a 99-year lease on the New Territories. In less than 60 years they had increased the colony’s area tenfold. (Though, of course, they had to give it back anyway, according to the terms of their lease, in 1997.) However, Hong Kong is mostly water. Its maritime area is about 1.5 times greater than its land area, 1,640 square kilometres to 1,114 square kilometres.

Watery, then. And also very hilly. The early colonial administrators reckoned that barely 20 per cent of the archipelago was suitable for agriculture. It was far better to be a pirate than a farmer in those days: rocky coves at the base of sheer cliffs made for good hide-outs, not for good allotments. When one of the region’s most notorious 19th-century pirates, Cheung Po Tsai, surrendered to the authorities, he was found to be in command of some 280 junk boats, 2,000 guns and 25,000 men.

The proliferation of steel-and-glass towers that came in the second half of the 20th century contributed another kind of verticality to complement that of the mountainous landscape. Hong Kong today has more skyscrapers than any other city on earth — astonishing, really, when you consider how little flat land there is to put them all on.

For most of its existence, Hong Kong was a place observed not by looking down from on high, as we tend to do these days, but by looking up from a position close to sea-level. That point of view has grown increasingly unfamiliar — which is in itself an excellent reason to seek it out. Here are three of the best ways to do so, from the cheapest to the more expensive.

Star Ferry

The Star Ferry has been a beloved Hong Kong institution since 1898, though its origins go back a further quarter of a century. A steamboat ferry service across Victoria Harbour was launched in 1873 but quickly shut down at the request of the British consul in Canton (now Guangzhou), who fretted that it would encourage dissipated colonists from Hong Kong to come and drink and gamble and otherwise make a nuisance of themselves on his patch. Nevertheless, the Star Ferry would soon enough become an essential feature of the city’s infrastructure.

The name is from Tennyson’s poem “Crossing the Bar”, which considers the voyage from this life to the next by means of a boaty metaphor (“Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me!”). The most famous of ferrymen, of course, was Charon, who conveyed souls across the River Styx to Hades. Might there be a faintly spiritual aspect to a trip between Central and Kowloon aboard the Star Ferry too? The inexorable chug of the engine. The fleeting, A-to-B simplicity of the route. The ever-diminishing distance between two shores, the one where your little adventure began and the one where, all too soon, it must end. In the case of Victoria Harbour, this last point is a matter of measurable fact as well as metaphorical fancy.

Though the ferry hasn’t changed much in 127 years — it remains basically the same stately, double-prowed, double-decker, green-and-white affair it always was — the city has changed beyond recognition. Today’s passengers — some 26 million annually — can take in the scenic views of the city’s glittering skyline, which is particularly striking come sundown. The ferry’s harbour used to be more than two kilometres wide. Now, thanks to land reclamation, it’s less than half that. So if the Star Ferry has a message, as well as a purpose, perhaps it’s something along the lines of: “Enjoy every moment of your brief journey. It’s not getting any longer.”

Regular Star Ferry services run daily (including public holidays) between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, and Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui
Both routes see ferries operating every six to 20 minutes, depending on the day and time. Check the schedule here
Tickets from HK$2.80 for children and HK$4 for adults
Hour-long Harbour tours are also available for HK$200 ($26/£20) for adults

Junks

No 19th-century watercolour or engraving depicting a harbourside interaction between British traders and Chinese locals was complete without a dozen or so junks bobbing picturesquely in the background. The distinctive silhouette of the junk — high-sided and rotund with elegant fan-like sails on multiple masts — became an enduring emblem of Hong Kong. So it remains, though the junk is a critically endangered species in these waters nowadays. You’re bound to see a few of them on and around Victoria Harbour, but these will almost certainly be replicas, not the real thing. The last more or less authentic junk still in operation in Hong Kong is the sweetly named Dukling. These junks — Dukling included — are available for sightseeing tours and private charter. Snobs might roll their eyes at the prospect of such an undertaking. Let them. A powerful magic blows through those splendid (if purely ornamental) red sails, and to see the sun set over the harbour and the great glittering multitude of lights come on in Central and Kowloon from the deck of a junk is an experience not to be dismissed out of hand.

Dukling sails at 4.30pm, 5.30pm, 6.30pm and 7.30pm from the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui (opposite Starbucks)
The trip lasts 45 minutes to an hour. Dukling generally follows a circular route around Victoria Harbour, offering panoramic views of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon
Tickets from HK$150 for children and HK$220 for adults, including a drink and tour-guide commentary in English and Mandarin. Tickets here

Yachts

Yachties are a convivial bunch, on the whole. They like their clubs, their competitions, their grog, their grub, their yarns. And there’s no shortage of yachties in Hong Kong. According to the Marine Department, more than 10,000 pleasure craft are registered in the city. A sense of community and camaraderie such as yachties typically enjoy is a fine thing; nevertheless, perhaps the most compelling of all reasons to take to the water — particularly in a city as crowded as Hong Kong — is not to get closer to a group of like-minded souls but, on the contrary, to get as far away from other human beings as possible. Many of the loveliest, least spoilt and most sparsely populated — or entirely unpopulated — spots in Hong Kong are accessible only by water. The archipelago comprises 263 islands. Knowing which is best for what is key, whether it’s dolphins, diving, shipwrecks, shabby-chic beachside dining or, indeed, the absence of anything apart from sunshine and sea breezes.

There are numerous yacht-charter companies in possession of that knowledge, from large-scale, high-end outfits such as Asiamarine and Simpson, which can magic up the whole five-star fandango, to independent owner-operator skippers like Steve Metz of ACI Sailing, who’ll tailor-make a trip aboard his Dufour Classic 38 according to your whims, and will involve you as little or as much as you like in the actual process of sailing. Gybe ho!

Asiamarine’s yacht charters range from HK$18,800 ($2,420/£1,870) for eight hours to HK$148,000 ($19,000/£14,700) for four hours. A vessel for up to 50 guests is available. More information here
Simpson offers charters from HK$16,000 ($2,000/£1,600) to HK$148,000 ($19,000/£14,700), both for eight hours. Vessels accommodating up to 50 are available. Further details here
ACI Sailing offers trips to islands such as Soko’s, Cheung Chau, Lamma and Sunshine Island. From HK$3,000 ($385/£300) for a two-hour introduction to sailing around Peng Chau, Sunshine Island and off Mui Wo. Book here

Additional reporting by Isaac Zamet

Do you have a favourite view from the water in Hong Kong? Tell us in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter

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