A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (IV)

On August 2, 2009, the 3rd day of my summer vacation, my wife and I decided to visit our secret place to hide from the outside world one more time, a narrow beach near the Two-brothers Rock, instead of go fishing with other members. As soon as we got to the place with a small lunch box, we erected a small tent on the pebble beach to slipped into swimsuits in it.

Actually, the beach is not ideal for swimming because there was no sand to accommodate swimmers comfortably. There were only rocks covered with numerous oyster shells and the water temperature was pretty low, considering the time of the year - peak summer. It's not safe to touch any rock after reaching to the other side of the beach by swimming other than the beach pebbles because the oyster shells attached to the rocks pretty tightly were dangerously sharp like the edge of a knife. As a matter of fact, I got some cuts on my palms and fingers inadvertently. Notwithstanding all of such things, however, it's like a paradise to stay in. It's too beautiful, peaceful and relaxing place to leave, as well.

We spent a couple of more hours in the haven before returning to our base camp, and waited other members who had joined the captain on the offshore fishing trip...

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (III)

The sea was continuously calm and the sky was very bright and sparkling.. brilliant. It was a glorious day, with little sign of any storm clouds to come. The water looked like a big, emerald blue carpet. My brother-in-law started to catch a fish with his lure fishing rod, as shown on the picture, shortly after the captain had dropped the anchor about one nautical mile away from the port.

Most of the other members, however, were using a fishing reel with a longline with several hooks on it, usually used in deep sea fishing, respectively. Soon I was able to catch a frog flounder from the bottom of the sea, about 20 meters deep. Actually, there was no specific skills needed to hook fishes other than the bait. Since fishes, such as frog flounders like to hang around near the bottom of the sea, we put fishlines deep into the water as possible. We can estimate the depth of the sea by the feeling of the sinker touching the bottom through the line. The catched fishes are thrown into a water basin under the deck after being released from hooks.

The captain moved the ship frequently to other places to allow his fishermen and women to catch as more fishes as possible within the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea. If any fishing boat approaches the line, a Marine Police vessel ship near this area gave warning not to cross the line inadvertently.

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (II)

Our daily routine on the island started from early in the morning the next day, August 1, 2009. It's sunny and breeze day. Shortly after breakfast with fish soup, we walked along the beach west bound over the hill to the core of 'Dumujin'. As we went down the steps from the top of the hill, we could get a splended view of crystal blue seawater and the surrounding rocks of fantastic shape, including the Candlestick Rock, Lion rock and Two-brothers Rock, etc., as well as the peaceful and nostalgic horizon. I can surely say it's enough to be called as 'Mt. Geumgang in the sea', in view of its breathtaking view. We started to look around every corner of this area, while posing each other to take pictures individually or as a group, before returning to our base camp at the village. During the bad weather with the gusting wind, especially in winter time, however, it's reportedly not allowed to have access to this area.

Around 11 o'clock in the morning, we went on board a fishing boat 'Parangsae-ho' to go fishing to the sea (offshore). Anothe reason for the sailing was for sightseeing, of course.

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (I)

One of my longstanding dreams is to go into retreat to a remote island far from the bustling city in mainland to relax for a week or two. And, finally, I was able to make my dream comes true. On July 31, 2009, together with my wife, brothers-in-law, their spouses, and sisters-in-law, I went on board a ferry steamer, the Princess, connecting Incheon Yeonan Wharf to the island of Baegryeong-do, located in north-westernmost Seohae (Yellow Sea), which is only 12 KM away from 'Jangsangot', Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Actually Baegryeong-do is a part of Incheon, specifically 'Baegryeong-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon Metropolitan City.' Therefore, Incheon citizens can have the advantage of getting 50 percent discount of passenger fares from early this year.

The ferry left for the island at 1 o'clock in the afternoon on time and the sea was calm and peaceful enough for the passengers to enjoy their voyage. We reserved our seats on the 2nd floor and the decision turned out to be right because it's more comfortable, comparing to the 1st floor. I started to read a paperback novel 'The Pelican Brief', written by John Grisham, while sipping beer out of the can. From time to time, I went out of the cabin to hit the deck for fresh air. The ferry was running throuigh a broad expanse of water toward the north.

Around 5:30 in the afternoon, four and half hours since the departure, the ferry reached Baegryeong-do after a couple of stopovers at 'Socheong' and 'Daecheong' Island on its way. After transferring to a passenger van at 'Yonggipo' Port, located at the southeastern part of the island, we started to move to our final destination 'Dumujin'. En route to the location, we stopped by at 'Kongdol' beach. As the name indicates, the broad beach was covered by numerous small satiny pebble stones. The Korean word 'komgdol' can be interpretted into English language by stones that looks like soybeans. Swimming, however, is not allowed at the beach probably because it's too dangerous to swim. The depth of water turned out too deep to guarantee a safe and pleasant swimming.

We proceeded to 'Dumujin', our final destination, through mostly paved country roads to unpack our luggage and suitcases at a local fishman's house which served as our base camp during our stay on the island. The fisherman owns a raw fish restanrant, named 'Parangsae' (Blue Bird) at the waterfront and two fishing boats, as well, with the same name.