Xiaoliuqiu is an island located off the southeast coast of Taiwan covering 6.8 square kilometers with 13,000 residents. Primary mode of transport is by scooter and can ride around the entire island in 15-20 minutes. 

FUN FACT - a large majority of the island only share 10 surnames

I also wrote a pretty detailed guide for Xiaoliuqiu. 

A Google search reveals  12 freedive results and around 30 for scuba. There is A LOT of diving going on here. 

Freediving took off in Taiwan around 2016, which some crediting Instagram for that explosion and there is an estimated 50+ freedive instructors on the island with only about half a dozen or so English-speaking instructors 

5 Reasons Xiaoliuqiu is the number one destination for Taiwan freedivers: 



1. Year round diving (most of Taiwan is tough to dive during the winter) as it has a mountain range protecting it from winds 
2. Short scooter rides from everywhere on the island to dive to shore to reach mooring lines with depths of 10m to 50m (Or a lot of places to dive down to around 18m to tie down your rope 
3. Good variety of fun diving
4. Relatively easy access from whenever you are in Taiwan compared to other options like Orchid Island or Green Island.
5. Water temperatures year round are suitable for 3mm wetsuit 

Xiaoliuqiu is blessed with two mains spots on the island that are opposite of each ofter on the East/West plain. Meirendong （美人洞, meaning beauty cave, lies on the Northwest corner of Xiaoliuqiu. Dafu is located on the southeast part of the island. So if one spot is choppy, the other side likely won’t be. Xiaoliuqiu also gets amazing visibility of 30m on most days. 

Access to the dive spots are a little harder on Meirendong as you have to take the stairs to access the beach (you get there on scooter with plenty of parking) and its quite rocky with moderate waves making things a little precarious. To the right is a reef to go fun diving where you can see plenty of their famous sea turtles, sometimes you can see up to 10 of them just sleeping on the reef. 

To the left is line diving with the fishing nets as a sort of signpost to swim towards. A few hundred meter swim you can access depth enough to hold a beginner freediving course with instructor diving down to the bottom to tie their line to. Further beyond the fish nets, or about a 500m swim from shore, you can get 45-50m of depth depending on the current and high/low tide and you can tie onto a series of buoys surrounding the fish nets. 

PRO TIP - I would bring aqua socks to this area as the beach is not sandy, its rocky and entry into the water is the same so bring them and then chuck them into the buoy when you got your fins on. 

Below you can see my video of the steps down into Meirendong. 

The other area for line diving is Dafu (大福) which lies on the Southeast corner of the island.  Here you will have to find a mooring line to tie a freedive buoy onto. Obviously, the further you go out, the more depth you’ll get. This is where you will require some local knowledge to get the GPS co-ordinates of where the mooring lines are. There is also a mooring line on the surface called “the Cupcake” cause it's shaped like one when its floating on the surface. But it is for boats so you will need to detach if a boat moors here. Of course you can also dive and tie down to a rock, but less feasible if you are deep diver. 

Video of Dafu below

Xiaoliuqiu has been known by many different names throughout its history. 

Liqiu was the name of both the island and Okinawa. Little Liqiu or Xiaoliuqiu was given as a nickname to distinguish it from Okinawa which was known as Big Liuqiu for a similar reason. 

Xiaoliuqiu means, little Liqiu, Liqiu was the Chinese name of nearby Okinawa before the Japanese took it over and renamed it Okinawa. In Japanese, Liuqiu, is pronounced RyuKyu. Which is why sometimes when you use Google Translate it’ll say Small Ryuku or something or Xiao Ryukyu for Xiaoliuqiu

The island is also known as Lambai Island (also Lamay), but that’s more from the English and other European languages as it was a transcription from the aboriginal name for the island. 

And A long time ago it was also known as The Golden Lion which was borrowed from its Dutch name Gouden Leeuw which was in honor of the slaughtered crew of the Gouden Leeuw, but we’ll get into what that ship means in terms of the island below. 

So in summary, Xiaoliuqiu can be known as XLQ (my favorite preference), Lambai Island, Lamay, Little Liuqiu, Small Ryukyu or The Golden Lion. 

Confusing, right? Let's just call it XLQ! 

If you are coming from outside of Taiwan, you’ll want to fly into Kaohsiung International Airport (Code KHH). With COVID-19, there are very limited flights to Kaohsiung and thus it may be necessary to fly to the capital of Taiwan, Taipei. 

From the Kaohsiung airport you’ll take a taxi or Uber (cost about NT$1000 or US$30) to Dong Gang Ferry Terminal (東港碼頭）(Dong Gang means eastern harbor in Chinese). 

An alternative and cheaper way is to go to the Main Station in Kaohsiung. (Train station) and in the front there are a array of bus  companies. There is one company that has schedule 7 seater van leaving once an hour at least. That costs NT$150 or about US$5 and should take about 45 minutes or 30 minutes if the driver is crazy, which usually seems to be the case. Below is the sign of the company.



For more information, I wrote a detailed blog article on taking the ferry to Xiaoliuqiu

In 1622, two years before the Dutch East Indies Company established a post in Taiwan, the ship Gouden Leeuw (Gold Lion) shipwrecked on Xiaoliuqiu and the crew was all murdered by the aboriginals. 

In 1631 another Dutch yacht, wrecked on the island and suffered a similar fate to the Gouden Leeuw, all fifty aboard were murdered. 

The Dutch, determined to seek punishment and revenge for these two incidents, sent 500 men to attack the island in 1633, which was a mix of Dutch, Han Chinese and Taiwan aboriginals soldiers. They realized that they were under-manned but made an important strategic discovery of a cave the island inhabitants retreat to during times of trouble. 

Three years later a much larger force was sent to the island, cornering the inhabitants into their safety cave, blocking the entrances and exits, leaving small holes to pans of burning pitch and sulfur suffocating the inhabitants. In all, over 300 men, women and children were pulled out dead from suffocating while amongst the over 300 other inhabitants, the men were sent to work as slaves on plantations in Taiwan and Indonesia while the women were sent to Dutch homes as servants or wives. 

Colonization wasn’t pretty back then. 

Xiaoliuqiu average highs range form 25°C (December and January) to 32° C in the summer months. Dry season is November through March while rainy and monsoon season is from April to October with the island also vulnerable to typhoons. 

Water temperature ranges from 25° C in December to 29° in the summer months. Winter months a 3mm is just good enough and mostly likely start feeling cold at the end of a session. I brought my 5.5mm just in case. 

English resources are lacking for Xiaoliuqiu and most of it is blogs like this one. That’s why I started the “XIAOLIUQIU FOR FOREIGNERS” Facebook group as an English-language resource for people who want help planning their trip to XLQ and get recommendations. I hope it will become a resource where those providing English-language services can promote there and for visitors to ask questions they may have

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So please join if you are interested in visiting XLQ and ask any questions you may have. 

For my Google Map list of places to eat check this out

CONTACT -
Address: 66 Xiangpu Road, Liuqiu Township, Pintgung County 929

Phone: 0981163838

E-mail: ray@freedivenomad.com