Hap Mun Bay
"A sandbar appeared out of the sea in front of us and Lia asked if we were allowed to just walk across it. We were."
A boat-only beach on Sharp Island reached from Sai Kung pier in fifteen minutes — one of the few places in Hong Kong where a natural sandbar connects two islands at low tide.
Hap Mun Bay means “Half Moon Bay,” and the shape earns the name — a neat curve of sand on the southern side of Sharp Island, reached by a shared kaido boat from the public pier in Sai Kung town for a few dollars each way, a journey short enough that it barely counts as a boat trip and long enough to feel like a genuine departure from the mainland. The boats run constantly on weekends and less predictably on weekdays, so I’d recommend confirming the return schedule with the operator before you commit to an afternoon out there, which we did not do the first time and ended up waiting on the pier a good deal longer than planned.
The beach itself is clean and lifeguarded, with a small cluster of shops selling drinks, instant noodles, and inflatable toys, but the real reason to make the trip is the tombolo — a narrow strip of sand that emerges at low tide and connects Sharp Island to a smaller, uninhabited islet just offshore. Walking across it feels faintly illicit, a strip of beach that shouldn’t exist appearing out of the sea on a schedule dictated entirely by the moon, water lapping at both sides as you cross. Lia and I timed our visit around low tide specifically to do this and stood on the little islet for twenty minutes doing essentially nothing, which felt like exactly the correct use of the detour.
Sharp Island is also part of the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, and a short walk from the main beach leads to an exposed section of shale where volcanic and sedimentary rock layers fold together in visibly dramatic patterns — a geology lesson you stumble into on the way to buy an ice cream. The whole island can be circled on foot in under two hours if you want more than a beach day, but most people, us included, were happy to spend the whole afternoon on the sand watching the tombolo slowly disappear again as the tide came back in.
When to go: Check tide tables if the tombolo walk is the priority — low tide reveals the sandbar fully. April through October for swimming weather, and confirm the last kaido departure time before you go so you’re not stranded on the pier at dusk.