Visitors to Chiayi County’s Baishuei Lake (白水湖) and Shou Island (壽島) must pay careful attention to tidal charts to avoid being trapped by rising water, locals said yesterday.
The area in Dongshi Township (東石) has become popular after My Missing Valentins (消失的情人節), a local comedy, was released in cinemas on Sept. 28.
The film features scenes shot in the area, while a squat toilet — which was left out in the open embedded in a concrete slab on the water’s edge after a lodge was torn down due to land subsidence — has become a spot from where people watch the sunset.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
However, Shou Island — a sandbar that along with narrow roads and sea walls help define Baishuei Lake, which is otherwise part of the sea — is inundated as early as two hours prior to high ride, fishers familiar with the area said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that following complaints by visitors to the area, he would invite transportation, tourism and water resource agencies to conduct a survey next week.
He said that signs should be put up to notify people of tide times.
Discussions about whether pavilions and mobile restrooms would also enhance the tourism experience would also be conducted, Tsai said.
People have dubbed the area “Moses Parts the Sea” (摩西分海), as roads there have been affected by land subsidence and are often drowned by high tides, which sometimes reach halfway up dilapidated houses on the shoreline.
On Wednesday, high tide was at about 2pm, with the sandbar divided into two by the water, the local fishers said.
Sometimes the tide leaves no sand visible at all, the fishers added.
As tide times vary from day to day, people should seek accurate data before making a trip to the area, said a fisher, who declined to be named.
People should depart the sandbar two hours before high tide, the fisher said.
High tide is expected at about 5:20pm today and 6:36pm tomorrow, the fisher said, adding that visitors must always pay attention to the ocean.
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