Next morning this was my first view of Green Island. It looked sensational. Just far enough off the coast to catch the blue current of very clear ocean water.
My friend and I arrived at Taitung late at night.
My suggested hotel (from the out-of-date Lonely Planet guidebook) turned out to be a real dump – maybe owned by an Australian.
A backpacker flop house. So we ended up being driven in a police patrol car to another hotel. No cabs in the Taitung streets late at night.
More strange happenings with a salesman in our hotel room at midnight trying to sell ferry and scooter tickets for Green Island for tomorrow morning!
The ferry ride across was a bit bumpy.
My female friend and guide ‘spewed’ which was the start of a day of ‘the shits’ for her.
It got progressively worse late in the day and culminated in a terrible argument (triggered by me and expanded all out of proportion by her).
It became the worst day in many years for me.
Sheer terror of being dumped (temporarily) at 9pm at the railway station and told to find my own way back to Taipei. Fat chance of being able to do that on my own, especially late at night, and in a town where few people spoke English.
Fortunately it was a bluff. Far from a funny one. We made ‘peace’ a couple of days later in KaohSiung.
Months later I discovered my friends’ biorhythms had been entering a triple low. Low physical, low emotional, low intellectual.
A valid excuse for out-of-character actions.
One of the Green Island dive shops
It had all the right international stickers but everyone was out at this time of day. Perhaps a good sign? All out on the water.
In Australia this would be a relative to a Black Cod. A high quality fish nowon the protected list. It’s similar-looking to the Giant Queensland Groper (often called ‘grouper’ elsewhere).
Chances are not many of these remain around Green Island, except perhaps in deep water (100 foot and deeper).
If spear fishing with scuba is allowed in Taiwan, (and I believe this is the case) then goodbye to this species. It’s just a matter of ‘when’.
This artwork seems to indicate the fish was caught off the rocks by a line fisherman. No easy effort.
