Island Hopping in the West Sea

Over the long weekend in early May we decided to spend our time island hopping in Chungcheongnam-do province. We started our trek on Anmyeondo, the largest of the islands. One of my students had written a journal about a beautiful flower festival that was happening on the island so we decided to check it out. "Floritopia 2009" turned out to be a collection of different flower displays and a few showcases of flowers from around the world. All in all, Flowertopia was just like strolling through a public park back in Canada. Only with a few thousand of our closest friends.

As evening approached we decided to head down onto the beach to scope out a potential camping site. I like to think I was a great sport about camping, but Jeff might tell a different story. Our tent is pretty teeny, so we it was a tight fit. Despite my complaining ("Jeff, I'm cold...", "Jeff, I'm hot..", Jeff, I'm getting wet...", etc), we managed to have a good night's sleep and the view from out tent in the morning was phenomenal.

On day 2 we hopped on a bus to the southernmost tip of the island where we got a ferry to Wonsando. Once the ferry began docking at Wonsando, we realized that perhaps this was a bit too off the beaten path as there was nothing on the island. We decided to stay on the ferry and continued on to Dacheon Harbour, where we caught a different ferry to Sapsido, another island. This island proved to be a great little get-away spot. It was pretty rainy when we arrived, and luckily it didn't take much to convince Jeff to try and find a minbak (private home that rents rooms). Finding one however, was more difficult that we expected. After a confusing conversation with the restaurant owner and the island's lone police officer, we were finally able to find a place to stay.

We woke up the next morning to an overcast day, but the clouds and fog didn't last long and by late morning it had turned into a beautiful day. We explored the beaches of Sapsido and spent the majority of this day relaxing in the sand. As the day neared its end, we headed to the ferry ternimal (on this island that meant a concrete ramp into the water and a small building selling tickets) to head back to the mainland. Sapsido is a fantastic place to hide away for a few days if you are in need of some serious down time.

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