Palm Beach in Cheung Sha offers sun, sand and surfing for children

Mick Ware and his family live in Sai Kung, but during the summer they rent his company's holiday house on the south shore of Lantau Island.

While many Hong Kong children spend summers at air-conditioned shopping malls, checking out the latest cool toys and games, and sipping fizzy drinks, the Wares go to Palm Beach, a campsite on the boundary of upper and lower Cheung Sha Beach that rents out water activity equipment and offers teepees for families to hire for overnight stays.

The point is to provide alternatives to children burying their noses in screens, be it a smartphone, tablet or computer.

And that's why Eliza Lee Yuk-ying and her business partner, Tommy Leung Mun-tong, opened Palm Beach four years ago. "Kids these days spend too much time interacting with screens, playing computer games and mobile phones," Lee says. "We just want to give them a chance to be exposed under the sun and do some real outdoor activities."

Palm Beach offers a board riding camp every summer for young surfers aged seven to 14 who register to learn a variety of water sports and have fun safely.

In the three-day camp, kids will get to try out skim boarding, a small board on which surfers ride in shallow waters, on top of waves; boogie boarding, in which riders lie on the board to surf; and stand-up paddle boarding, in which surfers stand and use the paddle to propel themselves. Each session costs about HK$2,000.

Two of Ware's sons - James, 11, and Jack, eight - are in their third year at camp. Another son, the youngest, is expected to join next year.