Cruise to Geomundo and Baekdo Islands

Last weekend me and Si went on a trip with Adventure Korea, a travel group run by Koreans that takes different types of trips made for foreigners. The trip we went on was a cruise to islands at the south of Korea. We had Friday off for Korean Memorial Day, so we left late Thursday night on a bus. The bus trip was about 6 hours and we travelled overnight, so were able to sleep on the bus. We got to the very South of Korea and rode a ferry for about two hours, and finally got to Geomundo Island at about 10 AM. Geomundo Island wasn't exactly what we expected.

It was like a small fishing village, so different from mainland Korea! This is the main island where we slept and spent most of our time. We took our things to our hotel and met for lunch at a local restaurant. Since it was a fishing village, we all expected great seafood, but were a little disappointed that we were served small meals of rice and Korean side dishes. Most of the time we all went out for Pizza or snacks after our so called "meals!"

After lunch on the first day, we had a 3 hour cruise around Baekdo Islands, which means the 100 islands. As we learned on our trip, the small islands are almost like rocks protruding from the middle of the ocean, and come in a variety of strange shapes. It was like nothing I have ever seen, and absolutely beautiful.

When we got back from the cruise, we had several hours of free time to enjoy the beach or tour the Geomundo Island. Most of the people on the trip headed straight for the beach, and so did we! The beach was really unique. It had a really rocky coastline, with huge stone stairs that almost looked like ruins. Luckily it was low tide, so there was space on the beach to lay out and enjoy the scenery. By the time we got to the beach it was late afternoon and had started to cool down. Some people played cricket on the beach, a game I am quickly learning the rules to, but me and Si decided to take a hike up a mountain nearby to see the famous Lion Rock. On our hike, there were amazing views of the island, and when we finally made it to Lion Rock, we climbed on surrounding stones and took some great pictures.

We all headed back to our hotels to change and get ready for dinner, which was the same small side dishes again! One unique thing about Korea, is that convenient stores have tables and chairs outside where people commonly buy beer or soju and snacks, and sit outside hanging out and playing games. This is what we did our first night on the island, and we met some really cool people that were also travelling with Adventure Korea.

We were exhausted and got a good nights sleep...surprising after we found a roach in our room! Guess you can't expect luxury and good prices! On the second day there was a scheduled hike for about three hours. Since me and Si hiked the previous day, we decided to skip the hike and go to the beach! It was a lot warmer, so we decided to go snorkling. The water was crystal clear, but absolutely FREEZING! It was a shock to my system just stepping in the water! We finally braved the cold and swam around the rocks and coastline. We saw some really cool fish and plants, like blowfish, flounder, nasty sea snails, shellfish, and seaweed of all colors and shapes. It took about an hour to thaw out after being in the water, but we enjoyed the beach and free time.

When the tide comes in, it almost covers the rocks, then goes back out. Unfortunately, things get washed up on the rocks, and we actually saw a beached baby whale what was already dead...so sad! We found some amazing conch shells, but had to make sure they were empty and not filled with critters before we took them in! We put our shells in a plastic bag to take homw with us. That night as we were trying to go to sleep, I kept hearing a scurrying noise and was freaked out that there were more roaches in our room. Finally after about 30 minutes I realized the noise was coming from our back of shells. I dumped it out and there was a small crab crawling all around, that had obviously been in one of the shells we collected...oops!

Overall, the trip was wonderful and we met some great people. It is an area of Korea that not many people get the chance to visit as it is a small fishing island, mostly filled with locals. The islands are famous in Korea for their breathtaking scenery and friendly people, all of which we experienced on our trip!