The Ninepin Group () or Kwo Chau Islands () is a group of 29

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s in the easternmost waters of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. The Ninepin Group falls under the jurisdiction of

Sai Kung District Sai Kung District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. The district comprises the southern half of the Sai Kung Peninsula, the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories and a strip of lan ...

of Hong Kong.

Islands

The islands of the group include: * East Ninepin Island (Tung Kwo Chau; 東果洲) ** Lung Shuen Pai () or Fo Siu Pai () ** Tuen Chau Chai () ** Tuen Chau Mei () ** Shue Long Chau () or Kong Tau Pai () * North Ninepin Island (Pak Kwo Chau; 北果洲) ** Hok Tsai Pai () ** Ngan Peng Keng ** Ngan Peng Tau ** North Ninepin Island () ** Sai Chau Mei () ** Tuen Keng * South Ninepin Island (Nam Kwo Chau; 南果洲) ** Tai Chau () - where the Kwo Chau Wan ()

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

is located ** Tai Chau Mei () ** Ta Long Pai () ** Lai Chi Pai ()

Geography

The

Ninepin Group The Ninepin Group () or Kwo Chau Islands () is a group of 29 islands in the easternmost waters of Hong Kong. The Ninepin Group falls under the jurisdiction of Sai Kung District of Hong Kong. Islands The islands of the group include: * East ...

features hexagonal vertical

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

columns, the volcanic rock resulting from a volcanic eruption near

Sai Kung Sai Kung may refer to: * Sai Kung Town, or just Sai Kung, a town and administrative area in the Sai Kung District, Hong Kong * Sai Kung Peninsula, a peninsula in Hong Kong * Sai Kung District, an administrative district in Hong Kong, which does no ...

about 140 million years ago. Ninepin Group is extremely eroded due to the heavy tides that wash against the islands every day. It features several sea caves as a result of erosion. For a long time, the Ninepin Group was devoid of human presence. However, there is a temple dedicated to Tin Hau, located on South Ninepin Island for any fishermen who landed on the island.

Conservation

The Ninepin Group Special Area () covers 53.1 hectares and was designated in 2011. It consists of the islands that make up the Ninepin Group. The geology of the area is characterised by

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

s of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

period.

Transportation

Because no one lives on Ninepin Group, there is no public transportation to the islands. One must rent a boat in order to reach the Ninepin Group.

References

External links