Hongdo Island - part of Dadohae National Park

Our last weekend in Korea we traveled south and visited Hongdo Island, just one of hundreds of islands in the Dadohae National Park. To get to Hongdo Island we had to take a ferry from Mokpo. We arrived into Mokpo several hours before the ferry left so we had time to buy tickets. A nice man at the information area who spoke some English helped us buy the tickets and also found us a place to stay on the island. He kept telling us that there might not be a place to stay because Hongdo island is very popular with tourists this time of year. Through his friends though he found us a place to stay. I thought for sure he wouldn't, but surprisingly he did. The ferry ride was about 2 and a half hours long.It was really foggy and we could barely see anything. Once we got to Hongdo islandwe were greeted by one of the friends of the guy who helped us in Mokpo. I believe this guy's name was Mr. Lee...or that's what we called him. He didn't know very much English, but he was very nice and kind. He first took us to the place where we were staying which was small, but clean. He then took us on a short hike up to the peak of the island. On the way we stopped and took a picture with one of the park rangers.Here we are at the top of the peak.We were on our own after that. We went down to the beachand Ben had some raw fish for dinner. In the morning we ate some bananas and then took the tour boat around the island. Hongdo island only has two little towns and is for the most part uninhabited by humans and protected by the Korean government. It is a very popular island and according to the website is the island all Koreans want to visit. Waiting in line for the tour was like waiting in line for a ride at Disney. If you tried to cut you were pulled at and yelled at. It was kind of crazy. There were tons of boats and every tourist on the island was on one of these boats. The tour took you around the entire island and lasted almost 3 hours. The island is pretty amazing. Near the end of the tour you could get some fresh raw fish from a fishing boat that would come to all the tour boats.After the tour we bought our tickets back to Mokpo and got on the ferry to go back. On the way back we sat by a guy who had been fishing on the island. His best friend was in front as well and they were both really nice. They gave us some food, including some strange flat fish thing, and even took our picture.This picture is also on badalure.com if you're interested in seeing how much fish these guys caught. When we got back to Mokpo we got in the rental car and drove back to Kunsan. It was a good last weekend and very beautiful.