Hi guys,

I've been considering moving to Lamma. My one major concern is the ferry finishing times. My job will have traveling a lot and potentially coming in on late flights. Are there options to get back to the island after the ferries have finished? Thanks for your feedback.

Last ferry is at 12:30.
If you really must get back after that, you can get a sampan in Aberdeen for about $150-$200.

It also depends where on Lamma you're moving to.
There are 4 ferry piers and last arrivals vary widely. For example, my last ferry home to Pak Kok leaves at 9:10pm from YSW (8:30pm on Sundays and holidays). Afterwards it'll be a long, dark walk or bike ride home from another Lamma ferry pier.

The sampan, usually from Aberdeen only, is an adventure in itself, reserved for real emergencies, not for regular commute at all. The last time I took it, years ago, two container ships were crossing each other just a hundred metres or so in front of us. The old guys and gals running these sampans get a bit sleepy late at night and their eyesight is often not too great anymore.

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Hi Alan, thanks for the reply. I'm a total newbie here. I've heard of sampans. Are they safe in the night time darkness. Have you ever heard of any accidents? Also, is there a number to call for one? Or do you just have to take your chances wandering around a pier in the hope that you could convince someone to take you?

Look around Mui Wo.
You can get a taxi from the airport at any time.

How can I get this one? !!! Missed gerr
Y now and teying ti go back to lamma! !

My long-suffering girlfriend missed the last ferry one night. "No problem," I told her, "just go round to Aberdeen and get a sampan!" However, there was not a sampan in service and she was stuck until the first ferry left from Central at 6.30am. So I'm doubtful about the confident assertions that one can just get a sampan.
If anybody knows a user-friendly number to call for a sampan in the wee hours, do let us know here.

STOP PRESS! I have a reliable source who says that since the ferry accident, the govt has stepped in and is preventing the sampans from making the crossing! If you miss the last ferry you have little choice but to wait it out till the first one in the morning. Hardly surprising I suppose but a damn shame!

Idiotic, sampans had nothing to do with that. But finding a scapegoat to crack down on is SOP.

I asked today at our usual sampan place in Aberdeen, and with my limited Cantonese, seems to be no problem. I will ask again tonight and try to get a local friend on the phone to really confirm things. If they say they are running, I might be helping a guest to get back on the sampan on Monday night so that would be the real test.

They said the usual things to me, i.e. if Tai Fung then they don't run. Otherwise, they run.

Well I'm safely back home after catching a sampan from Aberdeen at 11:30pm. So "Boss"'s "reliable source" appears to have some reliability issues.

I suspect Rummy Coakes' GF may have been looking in the wrong place for a sampan, or the weather was foul & windy, or just very unlucky.

The numbers given to me my the nighttime sampan lady are 6200 3496 & 9483 3317.

A couple of other numbers I got from the daytime lady (same floating barge thingy as the nighttime lady) are 9352 1582 & 9709 8441.

Cost to Pak Kok at least $150 (we paid $160 for 2 people last night). Cost to YSW estimated at $250.

Alan's instructions are correct. Opposite the open area where they've built seats modelled on sampan shapes. Halfway between the Pak Kok pier and the fish market.

Strongly suggest you call first to verify if you can get a sampan and they'll probably do their best to arrange a sampan to meet your schedule, otherwise if you just show up you might be waiting a while. Important: no English spoken!!

"So "Boss"'s "reliable source" appears to have some reliability issues."

Whoops, sorry la! I'll get back to whom from whence it came and suggest they check out more thoroughly than I did!

Even though the government here is getting more Mainland by the day, they still don't make secret laws.
When they do something stupid, it's in public.
There would have to be an announcement and notices posted if they changed a policy.

Maybe it was something like the Marine Police were having a safety crackdown and the sampans didn't want the hassle of being pulled over and checked.

i am planning to move lamma island but concerned about transport. i am working in morning shift at pok fu lam - hongkong island. how safe and feasible for availability of transport early in the morning 5 o'clock from YSW/PAK KOK to ABERDEEN. appreciate a feedback from your experience.

Is there any way of getting to Aberdeen that early? No idea. Probably NOT by sampan.
I'll ask my fellow PaK-Kokians...

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First answers are in:

You might be able to arrange a sampan or speed boat for occasional and expensive trips, but nobody has a solution for daily trips so far.
People catching early flights usually stay in town overnight.

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any contact info on speedboat ? I can see boats at CYBERPORT WATER PARK JETTy but could not get hold of them to get info. they are not regular.