Text on Flickr:
A civilian boat arriving at Tolo jetty. The pole has been painted in Royal Regiment of Wales regimental colours!
During our Op Culex tour (see below), D (Support) Company were based on Tolo "Island", actually a peninsula across the water from Sha Tau Kok. Their chief responsibility was patrolling the sea in rigid raiders, operated by soldiers of the Queen's Gurkha Engineers, to catch illegal immigrants (IIs) reaching Hong Kong by sea. They also manned border OPs (observation posts), some of which were accessible only by helicopter. I wangled a couple of days off, spent at Tolo, having great fun zooming around the South China Sea.
Taken during an Op Culex tour in late 1980. Op Culex was the name for support of the Hong Kong government in stemming the tide of illegal immigrants from the People's Republic of China. This was a Sisyphean task until the HK government ended the policy of granting residence permits to those who managed to make it to HK Island. Numbers dropped dramatically after that.
Although the name "Tolo Jetty" might be misleading, this is the Kuk Po Public Pier (the geographical marker on Flickr is exactly there).
