Scuba Diving off Jeju Island in South Korea

Written by Kathryn, one of the best travelers I know! We met in Alaska in 2015 and while sitting in a dive bar, she agreed to travel Peru with me. Been buddies since!

Anihasayohhh!!! I was deployed to South Korea a while back. As a lifelong scuba diver, I starting google-searching sites for scuba diving in South Korea. Pretty much everything in South Korea is accessible within a 6 hr train ride or a 90 min flight.

To my dismay, web sites boo-ed scuba diving in South Korea as being cold, murky, and lacking in aquatic diversity. The best reviews pointed to Jeju Island, or Jeju-do for those who speak Hangul. So, armed with a log book and my PADI C-card, that’s where I headed over Thanksgiving weekend in 2016. Now, from my limited experience diving in southern South Korea, I can assure you these claims are FALSE! I had an amazing dive tour and am so grateful for the opportunity.

Where to go for scuba diving in South Korea:

For our scuba diving adventure, we elected to dive with “BigBlue33.” (NAUI affiliate) There are other dive operators on the island, but this was the only stand-alone dive shop that spoke English. It came highly reviewed and wasn’t a resort dive shop! I booked our reservations via email, and received an instant response.

The owner, long-time Jeju-do resident and German national, Ralf, is the guide and dive buddy, if you need one. The reviews told me he was a bit gruff and rough around the edges. I agree. If you’re looking for the pampered scuba experience, this shop might not be for you. However, if you’re chill with a no-frills dive shop and straight-forward guide who knows his stuff, Ralf is your man! He keeps the tour groups small (4 divers) and tries his best to meet every guests expectations in the water.

Getting there:

You need to get to the south side of the island to a neighborhood called “Seogwipo” (more “soh-gwippo,” less “say-oh-gwee-poh”). Easiest way to get there is to get on the red express bus from the airport and head south. If you have more time and want to save money, the regular local bus also goes there, but it takes two hours vs. 30 minutes. You can get on the local bus from the airport as well.

Get off at this huge roundabout (pictured), get on Jungang-ro street, the street moving due south (highlighted). A little help from google maps and you’ll end up at the dive shop’s doorstep.

Travel Hint: Remember, alleys in Korea show up as streets on Google, so count accordingly so you don’t miss it!

The Dive:

Our travel plans afforded us to stop by the dive shop the night before to get fitted for our gear. The visit with Ralf took 10 minutes and he addressed what our expectations for the tour would/should be. We would take a pickup truck to the docks and hop on a small fishing boat for 20 minutes to get to Little Munsom island. The boat would leave us to do our two dives with a warm snack in the middle. We then would hop back on the boat and call it a day back at the shop. Simple and straightforward.

The next morning, we arrived at 8am and the forecast was 45F and rainy. Did I mention we did this in November? That’s NOT the preferred season to scuba dive in South Korea, but it was still awesome!

Just as Ralf said, we changed really quick, got to the boat, which dropped us off on this tiny patch of slippery flat-rocks that would be our launch point for both of the two dives. We set up our gear in the rain, fingers moving like molasses in a freezer.

You may want to consider a thin pair of neoprene gloves for such an occasion. Here’s the pair I use: CLICK HERE. But they might be out of stock so HERE is another option.

Ralf told us the water would be cold, but I thought to myself…

“How could it get any worse? It can’t be that much colder than the air” I kept thinking, “this was a mistake. I should have gone to the Green Tea Museum (Click HERE)  and sipped steaming machta instead of shivering with a bunch of strangers on a slick, slimy rock a million miles from home.”

 So when Ralf said the scuba world’s universal magic words, “Pool’s open!” I was the first to jump in….and the water was WARM! The ocean was a balmy 76F which, without a wetsuit, may have been a bit chilly. But with a 3mm wetsuit, it was a heavenly break from the 45F rain we’d been in for close to 45 minutes. Warm water in November in the (northern) Pacific Ocean, what a surprise!

Anyway, after the rest of our group (4 divers plus Ralf) entered the water safely, Ralf lead us down to 30 ft where we spent the majority of our dive.

We lurked around that rocky island underwater…

Creeping along the brilliant soft corals and nudibranch, letting the shallow waves overhead rock us as we went. Think of a thousand heads of broccoli, but think of them in vibrant oranges and purples and yellows.

The google reviews were correct about scuba diving in South Korea. The amount of biodiversity in animals was very limited. I spotted one octopus the size of a water bottle, tucked inside a crevice so deep I passed by several times until I noticed it. Other than that fella, the nudibranchs (Nudibranches? Nudibracnchii? ) and micro-life was the centerpiece for these dives, finding teeny tiny critters living in the soft corals.

After 40 minutes of inspecting every inch of island’s walls underwater up close, we surfaced for our warm snack and a fresh tank.

Ralf gave us typical Korean snack foods; a pizza lunchable with mustard, a hot dog wrapped in a slice of bread, pizza sauce and mustard, orange slices to get the taste of the sea out of our mouths, and some warm tea. By the time we’d gobbled up our snacks, we were all shivering and ready to get back in the water. Scuba Diving in South Korea must go on!

This time we looped around a smaller island, which I think is called “Little Munsom”. The soft corals were even more extravagant! When the tour ended, the rain let up and the sun came out (go figure)! It warmed us up on our boat ride back to the shop. We arrived at around 2 PM and quickly unloaded and rinsed all our gear. Before saying our good-byes, we had some more tea and were off.

What did scuba diving in South Korea cost:

My buddy and I each paid 100.000KW ($89 USD) for the 2-tank dive and 30.000KW ($27) for a full set of rental gear. We gave Ralf a $20 tip. At $136 for the day, this may be one of the most affordable place I have EVER dove! The gear was mostly ScubaPro and Cressi, reliable brands known for their safety and durability, so no worries there.

I’d say, scuba diving in South Korea was worth it!

Travel Hint: Please remember to tip your guides! This is such a huge part of their income!

More in the area: Cheonjiyeon Waterfall

We had a little bit of time before we wanted to head back to the hostel and then on to dinner, so we made our way to the Cheonjiyeon waterfall.

It was about a 20 minute walk along the water, very beautiful. The waterfall is in a park which charges  2000kw (>$2) admission, but it was well worth it. The park was very developed and very crowded, with stone walkways and bridges taking you back towards the waterfall, but it still somehow managed to hold on to the wildness and serenity that we expect from naturally falling water. It was a very nice way to wind down from the active morning we had been through.  

Click HERE for more information

However, if you are looking to make a weekend out of this trip to Jeju-do for scuba diving in South Korea, click HERE for a free 2.5 day itinerary! Full of fun activities and food ideas!

Thanks for reading! Anihahsayohhhh!!!!

A brief bio on Kathryn:

Hey there! I am Kathryn, a full time Army Officer, part time scuba instructor, climbing fanatic, and dog mom. I love spaghetti, Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and traveling.

My first traveling experience was in college, first in groups, then on solo trips. The biggest solo trip of my life came up unexpectedly when I arrived at my first duty station in 2016 and found out my unit was going to Korea in just a few weeks. How can a brigade of 7000 Soldiers be a solo trip? Believe it or not, being a female officer and the new kid it is incredibly lonely. But after a rocky start to the deployment, I started to learn how to navigate the Army waters and picked up some useful travel skills along the way.

Though it’s been years since my first solo trip, I still attack each new adventure with that nervous excitement that keeps you up at night because there’s just so much to imagine. I am so grateful for the chances I have had to get up close and personal with Mother Earth, and I can’t wait for what’s next around the river bend. 🙂