After our morning city tour and lunch, we all proceeded to Ocean Park, one of the most spectacular attractions in Hong Kong. This huge complex, comprising an amusement park, oceanarium (Asia’s largest) and an aviary, is located at the valley between Wong Chuk Hang and Nam Long Shan Mountain along Deep Water Bay, on the south side of Hong Kong.
Ocean Park
Beautifully set high on a hill overlooking the South China Sea and opened on January 1977 (at a cost of HK$150 million) by Hong Kong Gov. Sir Murray MacLehose, it was a perfect place to take a break from the hustle and bustle of our Hong Kong holiday.
Cable car
Access to the theme park’s headland area, 1,400 ft. above sea level, is either by a 1.5-km. long cable car system or around the other side of the hill at Tai Shue Wan by the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world which can carry 4,000 passengers an hour up a 30-degree slope. Both cable car and escalator offer fantastic views. We chose to enter the park via the former.
Atoll Reef
Sea lions
Penguins
The amusement park has a selection of thrill rides including the “Dragon,” one of the world’s longest and fastest roller coasters. Perched on the edge of the mountain, it features a series of heart-stopping series of twists, turns and giant 360-degree loops.
Walking through the Aviary
Atoll Reef, a huge aquarium in Marineland, houses 500 different species of fish. Wave Cove, an exhibition area, is where we saw sea lions, African fur seals, Stettler sea lions, dolphins, penguins, pelicans and Miss Hoi Wai (formerly named Peanuts and Susie), its signature female killer whale (Orsinus orca) captured on October 1977 in Ingolfshofdi, Iceland and moved to Ocean Park on January 27, 1979.
In early 2011, Atoll Reef was closed after 34 years of operation. Many of the fishes were moved to the new Grand Aquarium. The killer whale Hoi Wai died on April 21, 1997, at the age of 22, due to severe blood loss.
The free-flight, walk-through, 2,500 sq. m. Aviary, at Bird Paradise in Tai Shue Wan, is one of the largest in the world. It houses about 3,000 birds of 150 different species.
Ocean Theater
High diving act at Ocean Theater
The highlight of our visit to Ocean Park was the high altitude diving show at Ocean Theater. On April 7, 1985, during a single show at the park, Americans Lucy Wardle and Randy Dickison set new world high dive records. Lucy’s dive of 120 ft. (36.8 m.) still stands today. Randy’s dive of 174 ft., 8 ins. surpassed Dana Kunzie’s 172 ft. dive in 1984. The current world high dive record of 177 ft. belongs to Oliver Favre of Switzerland, set in France in 1987.