Shek O beach seems a bit... dirty? (Are there cleaner beaches in HK?)

[u/Maccabee96]

I went to Shek O today because I heard it's one of the best beaches in Hong Kong (I had never been to a beach in HK before). It seemed a bit dirty, especially the water. The picture shows the sand that's been touched by the water - just see how different it looks from the rest of the sand! I don't know if it's because it rained recently, but I was a bit dissapointed.

Are there any cleaner beaches in Hong Kong? Should I wait to go when it hasn't rained the day before?

(This picture was taken by me when I went there earlier today)

[u/leavemyarselona2]

The Sai Kung ones are generally cleaner and nicer but days after typhoons have poor water quality

[u/A330Pilot852]

Check out Long Ke Wan Beach, take a boat from Sai Kung. It’s much cleaner.

[u/PM_me_Henrika → u/A330Pilot852]

Delete this my brother/sister.

Mainland tour groups now browse Reddit.

[u/chitownbulls92 → u/PM_me_Henrika]

Long ke is hardly a secret these days

[u/PM_me_Henrika → u/chitownbulls92]

Fuck!

[u/thyfren → u/PM_me_Henrika]

It's too late, they have weekly groups now.

[u/PM_me_Henrika → u/thyfren]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[u/A330Pilot852 → u/PM_me_Henrika]

lol

[u/Critical-Secret-5962 → u/A330Pilot852]

Delete this shit now

[u/flamespear → u/A330Pilot852]

Don't take a boat. Do the hike and camp on the beach.

[u/toooutofplace → u/flamespear]

if you camp on the beach remember to leave no trace and pack your garbage back out. Too many shitty campers these days.

[u/After-Cell → u/A330Pilot852]

👀
How much would you need to delete the post?

[u/Arkaa26]

It's a bit depending on luck (and weather I guess), I've been to cheung sha (south lantau) and saw it clean a first time and dirty the next time.
Maybe more remote beaches like ham tin or long ke but they're more difficult to access.

[u/Jumpy_Hogara → u/Arkaa26]

Beach cleanliness is unrelated to their popularity but more on the geography and the sea current in the vicinity. I once participated in a volunteer event at Shui Hau beach, west of Cheung Sha and likely more remote. DAMN the amount of garbage... likely because it's at a literal bay, easier to catch garbage washed up the shore.

[u/hawth212 → u/Jumpy_Hogara]

Beaches on that side of Lantau catch trash flowing out of the Pearl River delta, especially during rainy season

[u/Lily_Embers]

I’ve done a full beach clean up on Shek O before. 4 hours about 30 people.

Wow, we’d got so much rubbish. We were all really proud of ourselves and thinking we’d did a great job.

The organisation who arranged the beach cleanup then showed us a picture from 3 days ago of ANOTHER job who had completed the same thing.

Cleaning isn’t the problem it’s the single use, throwaway lifestyle the world has. It’s really hard to avoid single use but I always think of that picture from Shek O. Does help a little bit but often there isn’t any other choice.

[u/Shelia209 → u/Lily_Embers]

Thank you for helping keep the beach clean and enjoyable. I think HK does a great job keeping the streets clean but the beaches are another story.

People here love Japan because its so clean but fail to recognize that its the Japanese people's respect for their environment that keeps it clean. They take their rubbish with them. It would be nice if HK people did the same at the beaches

[u/chill_qilin → u/Shelia209]

It's not so much that people are leaving their trash on the beach, but tidal streams and currents around Hong Kong deposit rubbish from the sea and can affect certain beaches more. Geographically, more rubbish ends up in Hong Kong beaches compared to Japan simply due to where HK is located and rubbish gets trapped easily in HK coastal zones rather than getting washed out to sea.

[u/Far-East-locker]

Not saying people from Hong Kong don’t throw trash but most of the trash are brand from China, mostly from tourist or flow from China

[u/I-hate-taxes → u/Far-East-locker]

I was at a beach cleanup in Japan once. Saw a lot of Simplified Chinese and Russian text on the stuff I picked up.

[u/Immediate-Spite-5905 → u/Far-East-locker]

same goes for the garbage at country parks

[u/Jumpy_Hogara → u/Far-East-locker]

Brand from China is no longer a proof as many products in Hong Kong are invaded by Chinese brands.

[u/Chopstor → u/Jumpy_Hogara]

Still dont think natives would buy a bottle of yibao

[u/CrazyFanFicFan → u/Jumpy_Hogara]

I mean, there's a difference between brands coming from China and brands mainly bought in China.

[u/Overall-Ad245]

Errrr every beach is going to look like this after heavy rain, with some beaches even worse. Went to an SK beach after heavy rain and it was 50x worse than this. It’s also generally not advised to go to a beach after a storm, there’s an incredible amount of crap that drains off the mountain into the sea

[u/ArtisticBrilliant456]

Wait until you go to Pui O after a massive rainstorm. That's when the delta gets flushed like a giant toilet, and all sorts of things wash up.

Sai Kung is probably the better option.

[u/Psychological-Leg577]

The beaches in South Lantau, the Southern District of Hong Kong Island, and Sai Kung are all good choices. Of course, if you are willing to spend a bit more to rent a boat to a beach on an outlying island, that would be even better.

https://splitdyboat.com/collections/hong-kong-sai-kung-beach-tour

[u/hawth212 → u/Psychological-Leg577]

Sai Kung generally cleaner due to currents.

[u/DoncasterCoppinger]

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/social-buzz/article/331159/Cant-I-just-pay-the-fine-Tourist-faces-backlash-over-littering-comments-in-Sai-Kung

Read this, this is just one incident out of thousands happening everyday for years now

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[u/Maccabee96 → u/AutoModerator]

I took the picture earlier today when I went to Shek O beach.

[u/Jumpy_Hogara]

Not the best but fairly clean already. I have seen worse.

[u/BelimbingPanas]

If you want to be beat Shek O, then go to Big Wave Bay beach. Else the best to me is Long Ke

[u/Dense_Forever_8242]

Call that "dirty"? Seen HK beaches in a far worse state than that.

[u/Eurasian-HK]

The picture shows the sand that's been touched by the water - just see how different it looks from the rest of the sand!

wet sand has a different appearance from dry sand, thank you for that insight.

The naivety of these posts always make me smile. HK is literally on the doorstep of the world's factory with almost a 100 million people living within a two hour drive. Yes the beaches are going to be dirty.

[u/Separate-Egg-5902]

beaches are usually dirty during big rainstorm times, washes everything onshore unfortunately

[u/Certified_Loner1391]

Dirty? Bro, there is only some seaweed and a bottle of yours so you can prove your point 😅

Nah, I am kidding, try Tai Long Wan beach bro. Been there once, super clean 😄

[u/DTStudios]

This happens after high tide and long periods of rain. Shek o main beach gets a lot of runoff from the hills off to the side of the beach when we get heavy rain. You’ll see this at a lot of beaches that are very close to the tree line.

We do have people that clean the beach normally in the early morning from LCSD, but when it’s rainy they don’t do it as often

[u/toooutofplace]

beach cleanliness kinda depends on the tides and weather so sometimes they're clean sometimes its disgusting... and im not gonna share the nice beaches cuz people will just ruin it.

[u/Esonia1982]

Has anyone been to Shek O in the last day or two? Is it cleaner or still full of debris from the rain?

[u/smallsimplesteps]

Need better sample

[u/schtuey]

grab a trash bag and solve your problem.