Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chen Chong took Li Younan to Qiongnan, to a small fishing village.

Chen Chong is from Hainan and also a professional underwater photographer. He grew up by the sea.

But the funny thing is, Chen Chong couldn’t even swim before he was 18, yet it didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most renowned underwater photographers in the country.

The primary purpose of Li Younan’s trip wasn’t to follow Chen Chong to see that so-called underwater Dragon Palace.

Although he is indeed quite interested in that underwater Dragon Palace and plans to visit it on his next trip to Hainan, exploring or even adventuring in the Dragon Palace is not something that can be accomplished in just a day or two; it requires long-term planning.

So this time, Li Younan’s main goal is actually to obtain a diving certification and perhaps enjoy some surfing while there.

The shipbuilding matters are relatively relaxed these days because the construction team has not yet formally entered the site, and the classification society is reviewing the final version of the design plan they submitted.

After this period, it won’t be as convenient to come out so leisurely to handle these things.

Every industry field has its own community, and diving is no exception.

The diving community has two major systems: one is technical diving, akin to a sword sect in the community, which strives for ultimate skill, characterized by the use of mixed gases; the other system is free diving, which emphasizes human potential.

Neither is easy, both have a large following, and some people excel in both.

Diving requires certification, and currently, there are four main certification systems: PADI, CMAS, NAUI, SSI.

This time, Li Younan doesn’t intend to directly obtain a high-level diving certification. After all, time is limited; he’s only completed the online course and is preparing to get the OW certificate offline.

Although it’s an entry-level certificate, it allows him to dive up to 18 meters.

Chen Chong naturally didn’t know Li Younan’s diving skills, so when he heard that Li Younan was planning to get a diving certification, he was a bit surprised and suddenly thought of Li Younan’s ”versatile traveler” photography theme, realizing something incredible: ”You... you actually plan to learn scuba diving too?”

However, he clearly understood that underwater photography and photography on land are entirely different, requiring more specialized equipment, and some techniques used in land photography need to be completely revamped underwater.

It’s not an easy task.

Li Younan found it amusing and went along with his words: ”I have already taken some cultural photos, climbed peaks like Mount Everest and Gongga Mountain and took some photos; wouldn’t the underwater world be fascinating as well.”

Chen Chong nodded and got excited when talking about this: ”Indeed, underwater photography is genuinely interesting. Not only can you capture things that can’t be photographed on land, but more importantly, underwater, due to light refraction, water movement, and so on, you can capture many unexpected images.”

On the plane, Chen Chong showed Li Younan the information from the invitation this time: ”This invitation for me to shoot photos comes from a provincial magazine. I checked some photos and videos taken by others and also reviewed some written materials, but overall, these photos and videos are just barely satisfactory.”

Li Younan glanced at the photos, pointed to one and asked: ”Is this the legendary underwater Dragon Palace?”

Chen Chong nodded and smiled as he asked: ”Do you believe it’s a Dragon Palace?”

”It must be towns that sank underwater for some reason,” Li Younan replied casually, even though he hadn’t researched the historical materials, this kind of guess wasn’t far-fetched.

Chen Chong nodded and said: ”You’re right. In Hainan, many places have such ’underwater Dragon Palaces.’ For a long time, it even influenced the culture of these small fishing villages.”

”For example, I remember when I was little, if someone in the village passed away, there would be skilled divers who would go into the ’Dragon Palace’ to fetch a ’funerary object’ to be buried with them.”

”It’s unclear exactly when this custom began. The legend goes that in a certain year, an old fisherman requested before his death to have a piece of graphite he retrieved from the ’Dragon Palace’ buried with him, and this custom spread afterward.”

Chen Chong continued: ”In the past, the older generation truly believed it was a place inhabited by the Dragon King, but of course, we younger generation don’t believe that. After checking some resources, it should’ve been about 400 years ago during the Ming dynasty when the 72 villages sank underwater.”

Relating this history, Chen Chong clearly did his homework: ”I went through some historical records. It was around 1605, the 32nd year of Wanli, when a massive 7-8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Qiongnan, causing over 100 square kilometers of land to instantly sink...”

Li Younan listened with interest to Chen Chong’s recounting of this history, making him even more curious about the underwater Dragon Palace.

If it’s over 100 square kilometers, then the area available for exploration is vast, with 72 entire villages submerged!

Although some places, like Dongzhaigang Port, have already become national 4A-level tourist spots and received comprehensive protection, with the state’s Cultural Heritage Administration implementing a preserve-first, develop-later strategy, a substantial portion of that 100-square-kilometer area remains unknown.