National Geographic / Four Southern Islands

About 6,000 years ago, the sea level around Penghu stabilized and ceased to rise. Over time, coastal cliffs were battered and eroded by relentless waves, forming sea-eroded fissures, sea-eroded recesses, sea-arches, and sea pillars. The rugged 100-meter basalt coastline attracts many travelers eager to explore this world of blue and black.

All summer long, Ye Shenghong rises with the dawn. With no northeastern monsoon in summer, it’s peak tourist season for the Penghu Archipelago. Soon, Ye will take his diving clients into the water—perhaps today they’ll get lucky and spot massive schools of sardines. Before running a diving tourism business, Ye was a fisherman, the fourth generation in his family. His brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all fished; diving and fishing are the family’s specialty. It’s said that every fishing technique and spot has been passed down through generations, with skills and locations only shared among family, never outsiders.

The waters around Penghu have long been renowned as a prime fishing ground: the North Shoal Fishing Grounds to the north and the Taiwan Bank Fishing Grounds (South Shoal Fishing Grounds) to the south. The Penghu Archipelago is primarily influenced by three major ocean currents: the China Coastal Current, the Kuroshio Branch Current, and the South China Sea Monsoon Current. In winter, the China Coastal Current carries fish southward, concentrating in the western side of Penghu. In summer, the warm Kuroshio Branch Current flowing northward brings an abundance of tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean fish species.

The annual Temple Fair of the King of Chih Pool is a major event on Dongyuping. Temple staff perform various rituals for the welcoming ceremony of the King starting in the morning and continuing until the early hours of the next day. The temple fair draws hundreds of villagers together, and the illuminated fishing boats and temple lights transform Dongyuping’s usually tranquil nightscape into a lively scene.

Penghu’s abundant fish resources have long been vital to the livelihood of islanders. In his youth, Ye Shenghong made his living by fishing—until one fateful night a few years ago. That evening, he dove for fish multiple times; possibly due to insufficient decompression time, a few hours after resurfacing, he nearly lost his life to decompression sickness. “Some neighbors who dived for fish also got the bends… and just like that, they were gone…” Ye recalls the incident with lingering emotion. The sudden near-death experience made him realize the unpredictability of the sea and the impermanence of life, leading him to give up diving and fishing altogether and focus entirely on tourism. In the blink of an eye, he has now been operating marine tourism in the southern seas of Penghu for ten years.

The waters Ye Shenghong knows so wellare part of the newly established “Penghu South Four Islands National Park” in October of this year. Located between Wang’an and Qimei in the southern part of the Penghu Archipelago, it includes Dongyuping, Xiyuping, Dongji, Xiji, and several nearby small islets. It is Taiwan’s second marine national park, following the Dongsha Atoll National Park.

Before the national park was officially designated this summer, the South Four Islands suddenly shot to fame. This was becausea mysterious photo of a “blue hole” at sea went viral online. First reported by Japanese media, the image then gained traction in Taiwan, sparking a frenzy among tourists eager to see it for themselves.The location is Xiji, one of the South Four Islands, locally known as “Zao Long,” a rare vertical basalt sea-eroded cave.As a result, taking a boat cruise to explore the sparsely populated South Four Islands became a popular choice for visitors. These mysterious isles were once thriving; some even had rows of two-story Western-style buildings, and at their busiest, housed over 3,000 people. But times have changed. Around 1971, due to environmental and living condition issues, residents gradually moved away. The four islands became what travelers now call “time-frozen isles,” where time seems to have stopped the moment the villagers left. Today, fewer than 20 people reside there permanently, with Xiji having become completely uninhabited.

Dongji Lighthouse is a guiding beacon for ships navigating the treacherous Black Ditch. Standing 24.4 meters tall, it is equipped with a third-order rotating lens kerosene incandescent light that flashes every 12 seconds. Built by Japanese rulers during their administration of Taiwan in 1911, Dongji Lighthouse is the second lighthouse in Penghu and a key navigational marker for vessels traveling between Taiwan, Fujian, and Xiamen.

[For the full article, please seeNational Geographic Taiwan October 2014 issue.Copyright reserved. Please credit the source when reproducing.]