It’s not something you’ll only do once in a lifetime！Summer on Guishan Island—Encounter the Dreamy Milky Sea on a SUP

▲Experience SUP on Guishan Island. (Photo / Reporter Yu Jiayun)

Text and photos / Yu Jiayun

Some people love the sea by exploring it, diving deep to discover its secrets; others love it by conquering it, riding wave after wave; then there are those who love it by simply “going with the flow.” With just a board and a paddle, they let the waves—calm one moment, turbulent the next—carry them wherever they may go. Sometimes paddling hard, sometimes relaxing, sometimes steady, sometimes rocking. And if they accidentally fall into the water, they just paddle back up with all their might, feeling every ripple of the sea with their bodies. This is the most exquisite balance between human and ocean, and it’s the kind of SUP experience that, once tried, you’ll surely want to do again.

▲SUP has rapidly gained popularity as a water sport in the past two years. (Photo / Provided by Hongshao)

SUP (Stand Up Paddle), also known as stand-up paddleboarding, is a water sport that has swept into Taiwan from Europe and America. All you need is a board and a paddle to glide across the sea.Fanatic TaiwanProfessional coach Hongshao says that compared to other water sports, SUP is much simpler, and because of its low barrier to entry, it’s already well-developed in Europe and America. To help more Taiwanese get to know SUP, he teamed up with friends and collaborators to bring this water sport to different seas and landscapes around Taiwan. Among them, the “Tiffany Blue Sea” near Guishan Island is one of only two such rare sights in Taiwan. This time, we paddled along, riding the wind across waters comparable to Iceland’s Blue Lagoon.

▲All you need is a board and a paddle. (Photo / Provided by Hongshao)

To catch the sunrise, our chartered sailboat set off from Yilan’s Wushih Port under the starry sky at 4 a.m. As the boat left the harbor, everything was pitch black, save for the sound of water slicing past the hull. The only sounds were silence and the gentle movement of the boat. We sailed toward distant Guishan Island, and as time passed, the sky gradually brightened—from black to blue, from blue to yellow, and finally, as we neared the island, the sun slowly rose above the sea, painting the sky in a warm, rich orange. It wrote an exciting prelude to today’s experience.

▲Sailing toward Guishan Island in the morning light. (Photo / Provided by Hongshao)

▲Welcoming the sunrise at sea. (Photo / Reporter Yu Jiayun)

After arriving at Guishan Island, it was time to rely on our own hands and feet. “Just a board and a paddle to glide across the sea” may sound simple, but maintaining balance between the board and your body on the undulating waves is no easy feat. Where you place your feet, how high you hold the paddle, the angle of your strokes, and the force you apply—all these details engage your muscles. At first, your body tends to tense up involuntarily, and one wrong move could send you tumbling into the sea. But after a few falls and recoveries, you begin to find the most comfortable balance among you, the board, the paddle, and the sea. Keep your eyes forward, let the arc of the paddle through the water guide you, and once your mind settles, you can use your senses to memorize the breathtakingly beautiful blue sky and sea before you.

▲SUP requires mastering body balance. (Photo / Reporter Yu Jiayun)

▲Once you get the hang of it, you can glide effortlessly. (Photo / Provided by Hongshao)

Paddling around the perimeter of Guishan Island, we rounded a reef when the sea beneath our feet suddenly transformed from an unfathomable deep blue to an incredible turquoise. The color of the sea—never seen or imagined before—seemed to come from another world. Bubbles continuously rose from the seabed, strange and dreamlike. Hongshao said this “milky sea” contains sulfur and is one of only two submarine hot springs in Taiwan. Hearing that, there was no way we weren’t jumping off the board to take a soak.

▲The sea glows with surreal hues near the shore. (Photo / Strong Light Provided)