On a breezy, sun-drenched afternoon, a 76-foot luxury yacht glides slowly into Kaohsiung Harbor. On the distant skyline stand the 85 Sky Tower and rows of high-rise buildings; the middle ground is filled by the sleek Kaohsiung Exhibition Center. Following the yacht as it eases toward the dock, you take in a neatly arranged marina with every berthing facility you could need. A lounge bar on the waterfront plays laid-back music while guests in smart cocktail attire chat and laugh at the pier's edge. The scene feels like Sydney's Darling Harbour — until an industrial-style sign bearing the bold characters "Monte Fino Pier 22 Marina" brings you back to reality: you are in Kaohsiung, living the easy yacht life.
It's hard to believe a scene like this exists in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Taiwan's First Liveaboard — Monte Fino Yachts
Monte Fino Yachts now ranks among the world's top five luxury yacht manufacturers. So why would it step outside its stable core business to build a lavish 76-foot liveaboard yacht, base it in Kaohsiung, and launch liveaboard itineraries in Taiwanese waters? Facing Taiwan's unpredictable weather and its bewildering bureaucratic sea-access culture, Kung Chun-Hao (referred to below as Howard) — also chairman of the Taiwan Yacht Industry Association — sat down with us to share his headstrong dream of a Taiwanese liveaboard.
Howard grew up in a fishing family. His parents and relatives were all in the fishing business; at its peak the family owned as many as five fishing vessels, along with various fish-farm operations. Accompanying the family to the fish market to sell the catch was an everyday occurrence when he was young. He recalls that before global fishery resources were depleted, fishing was a highly profitable industry. Then, on the eve of a typhoon, three of the family's boats went to sea — and only his father's vessel returned safely. That accident prompted the family to sell all their fishing boats and pivot. Monte Fino started out in the timber trade, with a pond used to store logs. A business partner later suggested another pivot, this time into yacht manufacturing — and that pond became a yacht testing pool. Step by step, the company transformed itself into a world-class luxury yacht builder.
Howard studied environmental engineering, and after graduating worked for a time in the field. But as the older generation gradually passed on, his father persuaded him to return and take over the business 16 years ago, reconnecting him once more to the sea. Selling yachts required him to understand the activities buyers engaged in aboard them — sailing, fishing, and so on — and it was through that exposure that he took up scuba diving five years ago.
An avid photographer, Howard had long captured stunning mountain scenery on hiking trips. Once he learned to dive, he started bringing his camera underwater, believing that only through photographs could the beauty of the underwater world be shared with a wider audience. But was there no other way to let more people experience the ocean's splendor? That question quietly set his improbable Taiwanese liveaboard dream in motion.
Unlike Thailand or the Maldives, Taiwan sits in a monsoon belt where winds shift between winter and summer, and typhoons frequently batter the island in summer. From a purely meteorological standpoint, conditions are unfavorable for the high costs of running a liveaboard. Taiwan's near-shore fisheries have also been depleted — an undeniable fact — and convincing divers to choose a Taiwanese liveaboard over destinations with spectacular marine life abroad is no small ask. Even setting those hurdles aside, Taiwan's long-neglected maritime culture poses yet another obstacle. Difficulties obtaining berthing permits and wildly inconsistent standards across different local authorities are, in Howard's view, the knottiest problems demanding the most energy to resolve.
Applying to berth at Xiaoliuqiu, the port authority is the Pingtung County Government. At Houbihu in Kenting, it falls under the Kenting National Park Authority, which reports to the Ministry of the Interior. The two agencies apply completely different standards. The root of Taiwan's ocean problem is that regulatory authority is far too fragmented — there is no single unified body managing maritime affairs.
Despite these congenital and acquired disadvantages, Howard pressed on, mustering his resolve to bring the idea before the board of directors. Convincing shareholders was an uphill battle: yacht manufacturing normally operates on a build-to-order basis — you don't build a yacht and wait for a buyer, let alone operate one yourself. Howard's pitch framed the liveaboard project as a public-relations and marketing investment. Rather than spending heavily on yacht shows, why not let every diver who boards the vessel become a brand ambassador, spreading Monte Fino's philosophy firsthand? In the end, the shareholders gave their blessing, and Taiwan's first liveaboard yacht was born.
Overcoming Taiwan's Liveaboard Challenges, One by One
Before construction began, the team traveled to the Similan Islands to research liveaboard operations and observe how other operators worked. While divers slipped one after another into the water, Howard stayed on deck, studying how the crew was deployed — after all, this was Monte Fino's first yacht purpose-built for the diving market. The yacht construction itself went smoothly, thanks to Monte Fino's years of expertise; it was the diving-specific equipment that cost the team dearly in both money and hard lessons. The compressors needed to fill tanks require fresh air intake and therefore cannot share an engine room with the main engines. And nobody anticipated that a single compressor would be insufficient, prompting the addition of a second — which then revealed that the vessel's electrical supply was inadequate. Every problem tested Howard and his team's ability to improvise.
Beyond the hardware challenges, there was another equally daunting factor: Taiwan had no liveaboard tradition. Crew members, chefs, and most critically dive guides all had to be trained from scratch. Most dive guides were familiar with only one dive area, but a multi-stop island-hopping liveaboard itinerary demanded guides who knew multiple sites — knowledge that can only be built through time and experience. There are no shortcuts.
Monte Fino Yachts' Milestone for Taiwan
In 2018 the Victoria 76 finally launched operations, writing a new chapter in Taiwan's diving history as the island's first dedicated liveaboard dive vessel. Stepping back to where the idea began: Monte Fino's annual revenue is 99% derived from overseas orders — a ratio that almost certainly applies to every shipyard in Taiwan. Politicians trot out the rallying cry of "maritime nation" every election cycle, yet the distance between Taiwanese people and the sea has barely narrowed.
In 2018, with the support of the Kaohsiung City Government, Monte Fino created "Monte Fino Pier 22 Marina" within Kaohsiung Harbor. Beyond offering yacht charter services and international berth rentals, the marina aims to give residents a superb venue to enjoy harbor sunsets. A series of ocean-themed activities is being rolled out at the facility — sea turtle education classes, dock days, underwater photography workshops, and more. Once the hardware is in place, the vision is communicated through programming: a dream of reconnecting the people of Taiwan with the sea.
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