Incheon Islands Part Two: Jawoldo



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

Jawoldo sits further out from the mainland than Muuido and the ferry ride from Incheon’s Yeonan Budu terminal feels like the start of a real island adventure. At the end of the hour long trip, a small van was waiting to take us to our home for the weekend, Oak Valley Pension

A pension is a modern, more upmarket version of a minbak-basically a family run guesthouse, usually found in the countryside or at the beach. Pensions usually offer a choice between smaller rooms for 2-5 people, which may or may not have beds, or the larger rooms where everyone crashes together on the floor, which can often accommodate up to 20 guests. Our triple rooms didn’t come with beds, but they did provide an en-suite bathroom and a small kitchen with a gas range and refrigerator-also common in pensions. The building is a cool and airy multi-level house perched on the top of a super steep hill, with a spacious outdoor deck allowing guests to barbecue their dinner with a view of the sea.

Oak Valley Pension



View from the pension down to the beach



Heading down the hill, we were greeted by the welcome sight of a clean and smooth stretch of golden sand. Despite the gorgeous late June weather, we were almost the only people there.  Like Muuido, the water recedes pretty far at low tide; however we were able to swim for much of the afternoon. Some members of our group headed out to explore the rest of the island, using the bikes provided by the pension and the ATVs which were being rented out opposite the beach. The lush, green interior of Jawoldo creates a dramatic contrast with the sandy coastline and some of the beaches are utterly empty, perfect for a true ‘deserted  island’ fantasy.

A small store and restaurant directly across from the beach kept us supplied with snacks and beer all afternoon and we were able to buy enough meat to cook up a feast on the deck of our pension later that evening. Little did we know that we were soon to become a feast ourselves, for the thousands of mosquitoes and sand flies which chomped away merrily at us through pants and shirts as we sat obliviously enjoying a bonfire down on the sand. Taking a late night stroll along the beach, a few of us discovered a large group of visiting school children whose minders were delighted to have the opportunity to encourage their kids to practice English with us and even more delighted to thank us for our meagre efforts by pouring large quantities of soju down our throats. 

The beach at low tide



Sometime around dawn, we staggered back up the hill for a few precious hours of sleep before the ferry back to Incheon. A little later, cries of dismay echoed throughout the pension as various people woke up to discover mosquito bites the size of baseballs (only a slight exaggeration) all over their bodies. It was a tired, hungover and pretty damn itchy group that made its way back to the ferry that lunchtime but we were all in agreement that we’d do it again next summer-and we’d be bringing industrial quantities of insect repellent.