Incheon Islands Part Three: Deokjokdo

This is the third instalment in a series of posts about the islands off the coast at Incheon.

Deokjokdo has been described as the most scenic of the Incheon islands, with a long sandy beach backed by pine trees. The drive to Seopori beach from the ferry dock is a stunning (if slightly car-sickness inducing) one, with the road winding over the mountains and past rice paddies and fields. To the visitor recently arrived from Seoul, the amount of greenery is almost shocking.

Despite having retained its rural feel, Deokjokdo has become an increasingly popular destination over the past couple of years. While the summer may see heaps of Korean families and groups of friends heading over for a quick weekend break, during  Chuseok  the visitors were almost exclusively foreign English teachers looking for an escape from the city that didn’t require them to do battle with the holiday traffic. As well as small independent groups, several companies had advertised larger ‘package’ trips via facebook and as we docked around lunchtime it soon became clear that they had had an enthusiastic response, with the small beach resort rapidly beginning to resemble an American college town rather than a rural Korean island.

A cluster of motels, pensions and minbak are scattered up the track across the road from the beach. Whilst ours was decidedly not the five minute walk from the sand we’d been told, it was perched prettily on the side of the hill, surrounded by a sea of vibrant green trees and plants. The mountains rising up all around and the chicken coop around the corner added to the picturesque scene and we headed down to the beach in high spirits.

Seopori beach is certainly attractive and the trees and mountains create a pretty contrast with the golden sand. However, it didn’t seem significantly ‘better’ than the beaches on Muuido or Jawoldo, which  we were expecting given the descriptions we’d read-the water was the deep grey colour seen elsewhere on the west coast and although the sand was soft, there was still a fair amount of debris washed up along the shore in places. Having said that, it was a great place to sit and soak up the sun.

 

Ah yes: The sun. By Tuesday night, some of us had begun to forget what it was. Despite the driving rain when we set off from Incheon earlier in the day, we’d remained upbeat and optimistic that the weather would soon improve. We managed to get a couple of hours or so of dry weather in the afternoon but all too soon the grey clouds which had been hovering overhead delivered the downpour they had been threatening us with all day.

Like almost everyone else on the beach, we ran for the shelter of the little row of convenience stores and restaurants across the road. There we sat around plastic tables under an awning, watching as the downpour became a veritable storm. The volume of water was astonishing. Even stepping out in it for a couple of seconds was enough to soak you to the skin. Resigned to not being able to move for a while, we ordered some food and beers and settled down.  The number of other visitors with the same idea made for a festive atmosphere and it wasn’t long before the soju was out and the drinking games were in full swing.

As the evening wore on however, it became clear that the rain wasn’t going to stop.  The two choices for the evening  were the island’s sole noraebang or more drinking back in motel rooms and pensions. Probably due to the early start many people had had to catch the ferry that morning, things quietened down fairly early.

The next morning dawned rather grey and chilly, but at least the rain had stopped, allowing us to sit on the beach and enjoy the view while desperately trying to pretend we weren’t freezing to death. There are several hiking trails on Deokjokdo, including one up to the peak of the mountain behind the beach, which several people braved despite the muddy, washed out trails. Others took a bus across to the other side of the island and made their way back to Seopori beach by clambering over the rocks around the edge of the coast or swimming around the shoreline.  We wandered around the island out to the end of an old pier, where the water  was a clear, bright blue colour. Several smaller islands could be seen in the distance and would make a great daytrip during sunnier weather.

Hikers making their way around the island

Smaller islands off the coast of Deokjokdo

The improved weather that evening meant that we were able to enjoy a bonfire-albeit not on the beach, as this had been banned. Instead, most of the foreigners on the island crowded into the grounds of one of the motels, who were kind enough to let us have one there. There was a pleasant atmosphere with people chatting, playing drinking games and singing along to the guitars someone had brought.

The next morning, the weather was gorgeous and finally did Deokjokdo justice-the sea sparkled, the sand glowed and the sky was a bright, cloudless blue. This was what made Deokjokdo worth the visit-whilst the beach might be comparable to others in the area, the rural atmosphere and surrounding greenery gave the island a definite ‘holiday’ ambience and it felt more like a real break from Seoul than anywhere else we’ve visited in Korea. Sadly, this was also the day that we were headed home, so we took one last look at the now sun drenched island and decided to come back-in the summer.

 

If anyone has any information about visiting the outlying islands in the Deokjokdo area, please share in the comments below-I’d love to get out there next summer.