Journey to Jawol Island (자월도)

To celebrate fourth of July, M organized a trip to an island off of the coast of Incheon. Since we had been to Muuido back in May, we decided to try another island a bit further off. 10mag had an article with some options, so we wound up going to Jawoldo (자월도) because the beach looked mighty fine.

Too early to be friendly

We set out from Suyu at 6:45 (after a quick McDonalds breakfast). We transferred to line 1 and got off at at Dongincheon station (동인천). From Dongincheon, we walked into the underground shopping market, took exit 7, and then grabbed bus #12 toward Yeonan Ferry Terminal (연안부두). We just barely made the 9 AM ferry. (There are also ferries at 8 and 2 pm. I recommend reserving tickets)

The ferry was a quick one hour ride and brought us to the pier where our 자월짱 pension (kind of like a lodge) picked us up and brought us to our rooms.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. Combine the shining sun with the greenery of the island and the calming sea and it was a recipe for a pretty great weekend. 

Most of our time in Jawol was spent on the beach; I'm not the biggest beach person, but it was nice to spend some hours just relaxing in the sun. I was applying sunscreen about every hour, but I still managed to get burnt. C'est la vie. 

Digging holes

We wandered a bit and eventually made the mistake of trying to go swimming. Apparently, one side of the beach is fine. The part we swam in, however, was full of barnacles and sharp rocks that you couldn't see through the muddy water. If you go swimming here, I would recommend swimming in shoes or you'll be limping the next day. My feet are flayed right now. Awful.  

Beautiful view, but not for 11

After some mishaps finding a dinner place, including being refused at one place which had an amazing view because our party of 11 was too big, we finally settled for a kimchi jjigae place. There were some mishaps and too much food was ordered, but what we ate was good, even though the owners seemed more concerned with getting our money than  providing decent service. We did do a tiny bit of karaoke though:

The night finished with soju and fireworks and in the morning we had eggs and bacon. It was pretty good practice for next weekend, where we will be spending two nights at a pension in Boryeong for the mud festival. Hopefully the mud will protect me from sunburn.