Thanks guys,
No, I'm not from here, but I've lived here enough time I guess that I call it home. But originally I'm from the US.
There is some diving in Taiwan, but so far I've only been to the most travelled area in the south, and it's not pretty. Taiwan doesn't do a good job of protecting natural resources, imo, and I get the feeling they aren't very serious about training responsible divers, or even about who they let down there. I've never been asked for any credentials in any of the dive shops I've been to.
So anyway, in the places I've been, there's nothing but sand around the shore area, but if you take a boat ride out there's at least one coral wall out there, oddly enough near the nuclear power plant, but absolutely no fish. I mean nothing, not even sea stars. Supposedly there are some small islands that are just opening up for diving, but I'm afraid that if they don't get serious about protecting these areas, there won't be much to see there for long, if there is now--lot of Taiwanese dudes in diving suits running around with cyanide, I think, because saltwater aquariums have gotten really popular in the last few years and there seems to be no shortage of exotic fish in the shops--or in seafood restaurants, for that matter. Well, I don't know really, but something's going on out there.
Hopefully I'll get out to one of these islands soon and I'll have some better news to report.
Thanks for the welcome!
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January 10th, 2006
