Going to Korea

[detroit diver]

My nephew will be going to Korea on assignment tomorrow for about 6 months. He's an avid diver and would like some recommendations on places to dive and reliable, quality dive operations there.

If anyone can assistwith suggestions, it would be most appreciated.

 

[billfish]

Cheju Island(sometimes written Jeju) is, I believe, about the only place in Korea known for diving. I dove there because I happened to be on the island for other business. I went with an operator called Big Blue something or another. The diving was unspectacular, and I wouldn't go back there as a diving destination. Your diving dollar will be better spent on a package tour to Guam or Saipan in Micronesia, about a 3 & 1/2 hour flight from Soeul. Or if you don't mind spending a little more, head next door to Okinawa, Japan.

 

[jinzhere]

detroit diver once bubbled...
My nephew will be going to Korea on assignment tomorrow for about 6 months. He's an avid diver and would like some recommendations on places to dive and reliable, quality dive operations there.

If anyone can assistwith suggestions, it would be most appreciated.

Going to Korea( my home country)? It must be fantastic journey for your nephew. I didn't dive there but I can give you some. I think he needs English speaker so I want to recommend this.www.bigblue33.co.kr Please check this out.There is a website made by English.

Good luck, hope he has wonderful time there...

 

[jiveturkey]

Hey, tell him to look me up when he gets here. I could use an english speaking dive buddy. There are more places to dive here than Cheju but it's not really spectatular. If you want to get in the water it's possible, but there's not a real lot of stuff to see. I don't know of any wrecks at all in the depth range for rec divers. Like the guy above said, it's cheap to go other places though. Guam/saipan are cheap and during low season, a trip to the philippines can be cheaper than $250US.

 

[paulwlee]

I started diving in Korea, and have since moved to California and am now diving Monterey as often as I can.

As someone said above, Korea is not at all a diving destination.
However, if one wants to get wet, there is some local temperate water diving not too far off.

From Seoul, the East coast is maybe two and a half or three hours away, good for a day trip, and the visibility is around 20~50ft. Places such as Kangnung, Sokcho, Donghae, etc. all have a number of dive shops that rent equipment and take you out on boat dives.(mostly inflatables)
You need to wear 5mm farmer john/jackets.
There's not that much to see, but it's still the ocean, with some fish and invertebrates, so beats any quarry dive.
Good luck finding an operator who speaks adequate English, though.

The west coast is not worth diving, too silty.
The south coast is OK but too far away.

Cheju(Jeju) Island is pretty nice. It's an hour from Seoul by plane, and Sogwipo, where most of the diving takes place, is another hour by bus (there is a shuttle from the airport to Sogwipo). The water is subtropical, ranging from 65~75 degrees from Winter to Summer. The fish life is pretty interesting, and the offshore volcanic islets have 200ft walls covered with soft coral. Visibility is usually around 40~50ft.
The best bet here is Bigblue33, as someone already pointed out. I've never dived with them, but the owner is a German who speaks English, so it should work out pretty well.

There are many things on land that are worth checking out, too, BTW.

All in all, if he wants great diving, go somewhere else. (SE Asia, Guam, Okinawa, etc.) If he just wants to check out local diving, try the East coast for day trips to get wet, and try a weekend at Jeju island for a more interesting experience.

 

[diverkim]

West coast, I take it, is the coast nearest to Seoul. So that means there is no half decent diving near Seoul? How about Busan?
I might hit Korea end of this summer.:mean:

 

[paulwlee]

There used to be a dive operator specializing on the West coast, but I don't know if they're still there. If it is, the relatively new highway that follows the coastline will get you there in maybe one hour or so. Maybe there is something down there, but the only experience I have is diving in silt beds with 10~15ft visibility (goes to 1ft or so if you mess up the bottom) and gathering sea cucumbers. Yes, there are lots of sea cucumbers in that area, and they are really tasty, especially raw!
I looked around quite a lot for a reasonable dive site really close to Seoul, but I came to the conclusion that driving to the East coast is the best I could do. Unless I wanted sea cucumber sashimi, that is..

As for Busan, there is some diving in Busan itself, but I heard that Pohang, Yungduk etc. is better. Think large port city(Busan) with crowded beaches, vs. quieter seaside town.(Yungduk) The latter two are I think one and two(?) hours repectively north of Busan, up the East coast. There are dive stores there, too, but unfortunately I don't know the names.

diverkim, if you can read Korean, (I suspect you may, if your last name is Kim) then I just found a Korean site with Google called www.skin-scuba.com. It has some diving site descriptions and a pretty comprehensive list of dive stores.

Hope that helps.

 

[diverkim]

paulwlee once bubbled...
Yes, there are lots of sea cucumbers in that area, and they are really tasty, especially raw!

diverkim, if you can read Korean, (I suspect you may, if your last name is Kim) then I just found a Korean site with Google called www.skin-scuba.com. It has some diving site descriptions and a pretty comprehensive list of dive stores.

Very informative. Thanks. But I'm a first name Kim so I can't read Korean.

I prefer my sea cucumber not raw.ut:

 

[jiveturkey]

diverkim once bubbled...
West coast, I take it, is the coast nearest to Seoul. So that means there is no half decent diving near Seoul? How about Busan?
I might hit Korea end of this summer.:mean:

If you end up coming, pm me before you do. I have recently found some great sites (actually more like really good but unfortunately they're aren't near seoul.

 

[diverkim]

jiveturkey once bubbled...



If you end up coming, pm me before you do. I have recently found some great sites (actually more like really good but unfortunately they're aren't near seoul.

Thanks, I'll do that.