Skywatch Friday: Daxi (大溪)

After my stop at Keelung harbor to photograph the Black-crowned Night Heron and Black Kite, I continued my trip on Expressway 62 toward east and arrived at Northeast Coast National Scenic Area.  My first stop was FuLong Railroad Station.  FuLong has a very nice sandy beach, because of the easy railroad access, it has been a popular beach going place for a long time.  I remember taking a train ride to Fulong with my parents for the beach when I was very little.  The reason for my stop over was to buy a Bento for lunch.  Fulong is a major stop for the East Coast Railroad.  The train leaving Taipei often arrives at the station around meal hour.  Many vendors sell Railroad Bento on the train side directly to the passengers.  Through the years, The Rail Bento of Fulong has gotten very famous.  I arrived at 11:30 and there was a long line waiting outside of the famous Bento stores already.  One Bento only costs NT$55 (about US$1.5).  Tourists before me were buying 10s of Bento.  I felt I was such a looser to only buy one, I braved myself and bought two!!

After lunch, I drove to my next destination, Daxi Harbor.  The above image is Turtle Island, as you can see from its shape.  It is a volcanic island and the only active volcano in Taiwan.  It used to be a military restricted area and now allows limited access to tourists.  The surrounding area is rich fishing ground and Daxi Harbor is right opposite to Turtle Island.

The harbor is really quite small but a very active fishing port, and now is quite a tourist attraction.  The first part of the road leading to the port is lined with vendors selling all kinds of cooked or fried seafood, such squid and crabs.

The area around the harbor then is an active fish market.  The fishing vessels arrive in the early afternoon to unload their catch of the day.  The Coast Guard inspects the cargo and the vessel first, then the fish is loaded onto the land.

The fish and crabs are sorted right away, the bad ones are thrown away into the harbor and the good ones displayed for the buyers.

The fish is not giant Tuna or Swordfish alike.  The coast is very rugged, they are small rift fish, smaller and very colorful.  Very suitable for Chinese cooking!

There are also plenty of shrimp, squid, octopus and different shell fish.  The little octopus on the left should be quite good for some Italian pasta.

I bet you have not seen the red crab on the left before.  They are quite tasty actually.  The other crabs which had been turned upside down were to show that they were she crabs.

Well, my main purpose to visit the harbor was not the fish but the water birds that hovering around the harbor to pick the left over fish and crabs in the water.  Check them out on my Camera-Critters blog this Saturday.

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