A water world awash in wonder

Chenjia is an idyllic fishing hamlet at the foot of Lyushun's Laotie Hill, bordering a bay facing the Bohai and Yellow seas' meeting point.

Houses sprinkle the coast. Boats line the shores when not at sea.

Since early spring isn't peak angling season, visitors can hire fishing vessels for 300-600 yuan ($48-96) for two hours of sailing.

Most can carry four to six passengers, excluding the boatman, and those aboard can fish for an additional fee.

Tourists must call boatmen before their trips to ensure favorable weather.

Voyages are canceled if the waves are dangerously choppy. Even on the calmest of days, swells afflict those prone to seasickness.

Passengers should also bring warm coats. Even in springtime, temperatures can be freezing.

A two-hour trip takes visitors out of the bay and into the sea surrounding Laotie Hill－the Liaoning Peninsula's tip－offering a sweeping vista of the knoll and its beacon.

The sea beyond Laotie Hill is a wintering and breeding ground for spotted seals. Lucky visitors can catch glimpses of the creatures feeding in the seas or lounging on drift ice.

Finless porpoises also winter there.

These curious creatures sometimes follow boats, surfacing from time to time to peek at the people aboard.

The location also hosts migrating birds in spring.

Visitors aboard the boats encounter birds, especially ducks and gulls, bobbing on the waves during rests on their annual journeys to Siberia.

Just a kilometer or so from the shore is a natural world that seems a million miles from the hustle of the city.