Taiwan’s paradise isle: Green Island worth braving the ferry ride for dramatic views, history and some divine dive sites
Sea swells make the hour-long ride from Taitung rough at times, but from an abandoned aboriginal village to majestic views and crystal-clear waters, the journey to the former prison island will reward you amply
Perhaps in summer, the hour-long ride from Taitung to Nanliao Harbour on Green Island is a tamer one, though Lonely Planet author Joshua Samuel Brown did not call the passenger vessel the “Green Island Vomit Comet” for nothing.
If your ride happens to coincide with bad weather (as was the case on this writer’s recent visit), expect to experience a one-hour journey from hell. The swell sees one hundred-odd passengers dip forward and back, and side to side, from the apex of relentless seven-metre walls of roiling water.
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Each person clutches a transparent sick bag in their pale hands – so that everyone might enjoy the sight of one another’s stomach contents.
Luckily, the trip is well worth the relatively short bout of suffering. Green Island is small, geographically speaking, but the landscape looms large nonetheless. It takes just 40 minutes to ride around the island on a scooter. The best way to see the island is to hire one – as my friend and I do from our guest house.
Sleeping Beauty Rock, near the Zhaori Hot Spring, offers a tall, smooth fairway of an outcropping, ending at a narrow green peak with a view of the island’s southern tail that is blasted with salt spray even at its great height on windy days.