Stranded on Geoje Island

Stranded on Geoje Island

Based on True Events:

At Geoje Island

It had been a turbulent Friday night. I had been knocked down and almost punched by a friend that evening. A combination of some sorted words (on my part) and alcohol (on his) had created this situation and needless to say I was a bit on edge afterward. I wasn’t quite sure how do handle such a falling out with a friend, especially of such a chaotic manner. I didn’t know if making ingenuine amends was entirely worth it. I had been talking about getting out of town for quite some time and, now the timing couldn’t seem more perfect.

I decided to go to Geoje Do (Island) with my friends Ryan and Candace from my building. It was early June and not quite yet a muggy and hot Korean summer so the beaches were not particularly crowded.  We set up at Gujo Beach and placed our towels down over the cinnamon colored sand. The sky was slightly overcast but sun breaks were poking through enough to make for a pleasant beach outing.

After getting my towel and bag situated, I changed into my swimsuit and went in for a dip into the clear blue ocean water. The water was cold, but after my body adjusted I began swimming away from shore. I soon noticed a Korean woman paddling her yellow kayak not to far from me. I swam over to her and said hello.

Yellow kayak

 She asked me in Korean where I was from. I responded back in Korean that I was from America.

She then says to me, in English, "I'm actually North Korean."

A bit shocked, I reply, "You're really North Korean?"

She laughs and tells me that she isn't. She is maybe in her early to mid thirties. She said she learned to speak English from traveling.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

"It's a secret."

Later she tells me her name is Hyun Ji. At this point I'm holding onto her kayak.

Looking off at the distant island about a kilometer away from shore she says to me, "I want to go there." I had been curious about the island upon my arrival at the beach, and now I had a way to get there. My ears perked up and I, a little too nonchalantly, invite myself on her island embarkation.

She said she was meeting her friend at the beach in 30 minutes and told me to meet her in that time.

Her friend arrives. We talk about going to the island for a bit. And then Hyun Ji and I get in the little rocky kayak and begin paddling toward the island. Through wind, bobbing waves, and faltering balance I mentally continue to assure myself that we'll be fine. I should also mention Hyun Ji told me that she can't swim and that jellyfish plague these waters. We'll be fine. We'll be fine.

As I approach the island my heart swells with the adventure of pursuing and discovering the unknown. We paddle to the rocky shore.

"Ok get out. You are going to stay here. Wait here so I can pick up my friend to bring her to the island."

I pause. "You what me to stay here alone on the island while you bring your friend here?"

She nods and I agree to the plan with some reluctance. It should also be mentioned at this time that I don't have a phone or even a shirt and am completely unable to effectively communicate with my Ryan and Candace on the shore as to this recent development.

But I walk on to the island's shore and look at the small forest on the tiny island. There is orange-brown clay leading upto the small forested area up the hill.

My heart is a bit aflutter with a bit of small anxiety as well as nervous excitement as I look at my entirely new surroundings. I wander around the island a bit, but never stray far from shore.

I look out as the yellow kayak grows smaller and smaller in the distance.

I am reminded of Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now. With the overcast sky the forest looks dark and ominous and there is garbage littered across the large stones of the rocky shore. There’s an abandoned office chair and discarded makgeoli bottles.

I’m nervously drumming my fingertips on my sides. I’m telling myself, this is a good exercise in trusting people. That it’s these moments, in which you put your blind faith in strangers, that are truly character-building. I continue to watch the opposite shore. The kayak has reached but it’s still on the shore. It hasn’t moved.

I continue to wait. It’s been 20 minutes. 30 minutes. 40 minutes. I’m stuck on the island. My friends don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have shirt, let alone a phone. Thankfully I have shoes.

The kayak that was on the opposite shore begins to move. But it’s moving in the opposite direction. It seems that Hyun Ji has changed her mind about coming back for me. I see the kayak get dragged farther and farther away from the water up toward the parking lot area.

She’s not coming back.

I’m in a panic. I’m not sure of what to do. Do I swim? I also remember the story Ryan had told me about how his friends once tried to swim a distance in the waters as Geoje, only to unluckily encounter dozens of stinging jellyfish which made their swimming abilities greatly hindered due to pain and limb numbness.

I’m not sure I’ll be ok.

It’s at this time I notice a small yellow sailed sailboat approaching the island. The two people, a man and a woman, dock their boat at the nearby floating dock and kayak over to the island.

Yellow Sailboat

I quickly and over-enthusiastically go over to them and greet them. They are a Dutch couple in wetsuits in their sixties. The man is named Peter and woman is named Marta. After talking with them and explaining my situation, I am grateful enough to be offered a sailboat ride back to shore.

I lay down on the sailboat, relieved that this scare was all coming to an end. Peter, with his easy going Dutch temperament and graying beard tells me he has been sailing for 40 years. He’s a shipbuilder on Geoje. Through my rescue, I marvel at my good fortune and can’t help but laugh at this situation I put myself in. My problems of Friday night seemed blurry and distant now and I smiled hopefully as we sailed our way back to shore.