Hyeopjae Beach

Yesterday was a beach day. The weather was gorgeous and the beach was stunning. I have never seen clearer water at an ocean before. There were parts that looked like a swimming pool other than the sand at the bottom! It was our most relaxing day so far.

There are several beaches on Jeju Island. This beach was 45 minutes away, but we chose it because I read about the beautiful water and the white sand. The reviews also said that it was a great place for swimming. Everything I read turned out to be spot on. When we arrived we saw several umbrellas set up along the beach. It looked like they were free for the taking, so we started unpacking underneath one of them. Almost instantly, a woman approached us demanding payment. She spoke no English, but we were able to figure out that the umbrella cost 20,000 won to rent which is about 15 dollars. We thought it was worth it, so Luke went to pay. Then the lady suddenly appeared again. This time she brought a mat and some sand bags to hold it down. I need to find one of those mats for my trips to Lake Michigan. It was perfect!

When we arrived I also saw signs stating that bringing personal beach furniture (beach chairs, umbrellas, etc) and personal water toys (tubes, rafts) was prohibited. I guess they need to make money somehow! It suited us fine since we didn't have any of that stuff anyway. There were several shops renting tubes that Aiden spotted immediately. We rented a tube for him (only 10,000 won) and he was off. I don't think he left the water for at least 2 hours. He loved it!

Jordan wanted some sunglasses. Very few people at the beach spoke English. But at each store I managed to ask in my broken Korean if they sold sunglasses. Thankfully, everyone understood me and we were directed to a place that had them. We found some for very cheap (10,000 won again!) and successfully made the purchase. I felt proud. I was able to ask how much the sunglasses were, if the store took credit cards, and was able to express my gratitude all in Korean. I'm sure it sounded super broken and heavily accented, but the storekeeper understood me!

Luke forgot his bathing suit at home in Michigan. This whole trip he has been looking for one to buy, but the only ones we could find were in department stores where they were selling for about 60 dollars. At the beach he found a pair for dirt cheap- 7,000 won! That's about 5 bucks. I'm sure they will go in the trash when the trip is done. They are super thin, the hem on one leg isn't sewn, and they are neon yellow. But they do the job!

Jordan and I relaxed for a while before entering the water. When I changed into my bathing suit, I felt very out of place. The colors of my suit felt way too bright compared to everybody else. And the whole thing felt overly revealing. The women in South Korea don't seem to bare their shoulders. They are very modest. There are no rules against it- we saw a few women in very revealing suits- but I felt out of place. I don't like to stand out! First I wore my shirt over my suit, but realized that wouldn't work if I was actually going to go far in the water. Then I took my shirt off and just ventured in anyway. When I said something to Luke, he suggested wearing his swim shirt. So that's what I did. The shirt was way too big, but I felt like I fit in a little bit more!

Aiden with his tube and me wearing my shirt over my bathing suit.

Then I changed into Luke's swim shirt and felt way more at ease

Aiden loved the water! We were there for probably close to 45 minutes before I even got in. He was in there that whole time. He came out once to say, "Mom, you have to come in. It's so much fun!"

This poor boy was covered in poison ivy right before the trip. He was still finishing the steroid in Seoul. When he took off his shirt yesterday, I could still see all the marks from his rash.

Waiting for the next wave

Do you see the lady with the hat on the other side of the rope? She would not let anyone cross that rope. Once she took a little break and several people crossed it (including us!) but she blew her whistle furiously when she returned.

Pretty soon Jordan came out to enjoy the fun.

I love my family. I'm so blessed.

I don't know what we are laughing at. I just know that laughing with my boys is one of my favorite things to do.

Time to give Mom a ride!

I think the boys had some mischievous intent. They were trying to get me to get knocked over by a wave.

Time to eat some snacks and chill!

Jordan went with me to explore the other side of the beach. It was covered with black rocks from the island's volcanoes. This part reminded me so much of the beaches at Maui. We walked around trying to find some sea life in the tide pools but were unsuccessful. But Jordan took some gorgeous pictures!

We saw several mini stone sculptures people had made.

People live on that small island in the distance.

Play this video on repeat if you are ever feeling stressed!

As the afternoon wore on, we noticed that the tide was getting lower and lower. When we arrived we thought it was low tide because there was a huge stretch of beach that only had small puddles. But then we realized that the tide was getting even lower and finally understood that there are actually three swimming areas. The first rope marks the end of the swimming area during high tide. The second rope (the one we crossed and then were whistled at to return) marks the end of the swimming area during the middle of the tides, and then there was one final buoy that marked the end of the swimming area during low tide. After my walk with Jordan I went back to where we had been swimming and it was only about ankle deep. Everyone had been allowed to cross the rope and were now swimming in the far swimming area. I tried to capture it on my phone, but it's difficult.

The first rope that marks the end of the swimming area during high tide. Do you see our orange umbrella in the distance? That's super close to the water line during high tide. This gives you a sense of how far back I was.

The second rope that marks the end of the second swimming area. I'm looking out to sea. This is the same spot where we took the pictures on the tube earlier in the day.