Dalu (Big Deer Island)

Dalu (Big Deer) Island lies in Dagushan Town of Donggang City. It is a vital fortress and port on the sea, and a beautiful island for tourists. The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) broke out on the sea around the island, left tourists endless meditation for the past. This island is also rich in sea product and boasts natural bathing beaches. While having a pleasant time in the soft beach, visitors can also please their palate. 

The island has beautiful scenery and a pleasant climate, with seaside resorts, and a wide variety of seafood, such as shrimp, crabs, conch, short-necked clams, other clams, and all sorts of fish, a veritable delight for gourmets.

It is also investing heavily in construction work and tourism infrastructure and is becoming a popular choice for tourists, especially for its natural landscape, including Erlang Rock, the Gaba jujube tree, Dishui Lake, Tiger Cave, Camel Peak, Deng Shichang's tomb, the Mao Wenlong stele, Sea Goddess Temple, the British-style lighthouse, and the Danish church ruins.

Moon Bay and Twin-pearl Beach to the front of the island have the biggest natural outdoor bathing spot in the North Sea and are an ideal place for tourists to pick up seashells, go fishing, surf, watch the sunrise, or just listen to the waves.

There are free buses from the ferry wharf over the mountain to the island's main beach, although they are driven by maniacs. Once at the beach, tourists can rent bicycles and golf carts to drive around the waterfront, although the whole area is very walkable. Locals seem to prefer death by motorcycle. Take a bike ride or walk around the island, find and eat shellfish off the rocks and in the sand during the right season, fish, swim in summer.

Tips: The easiest way to get there by public transport is by taking a bus from Dandong's long distance bus station (located opposite Dandong Railway Station). A two-hour bus to Gushan will cost 17.50 Yuan (May 2013) and travelers to Dalu Island should get off a stop earlier at Huangtukan where a local can take drive you the next few kilometres to the new ferry terminal. A group of four of us were charged 10 Yuan per person, which may be negotiable. Ferries in the off season run irregularly, there is one at 4pm in the afternoon which may be the only and last one. A ticket costs 60 Yuan, but speedboats also go to and from the island charging up to 90 Yuan. The ferry takes less than 30 minutes.

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