scuba_divo
Contributor
I just dived Jeju from the July 12 through 20, 2022. Visibility was moderate (5-8m) and temps ranged from 19C at 30m depth to 25C on shallower dives. Once again, I was impressed with the safety procedures and helpfulness of operators/staff during briefings and while getting on/off boats.
Log books: Once again, Korean dive centers don't really rely on paper dive logs. Their preferred approach is 'check diving' where they take you out somewhere simple at first and evaluate how you dive. Once they get a read on you, they will take you on more challenging dives if they feel that is appropriate. They were happy to sign and stamp my log book, but most of the Korean divers I dived with were surprised to see one. Most admitted to just downloading their computer data to a digital log. The dive center did of course ask me to send them screen caps of my relevant eCards during the original reservation phase so they could pre-check my certs.
NB: Big Blue 33 has a website advertising services in English and is a NAUI center; however, as I was trying to complete a PADI Deep Specialty, I choose to go with Jeju Scuba School, a PADI dive center. Unfortunately, they are not set up for English. I completed my specialty through English eLearning and Korean supervised dives. This worked really well for me. That being said, much of the info here probably overlaps with other dive operators in Jeju and it seems like there is one on just about every street corner down near the harbors these days. We frequently shared boats with other groups, some of which were speaking English.
The main dive sites are outlined on the map below. Obviously, there are the three islands that all have multiple sites around them. However, there are also some artificial reefs closer to the harbors and shallow coastal areas used for OW training. There were three main harbors the dive operators use, one associated with each island. Once again there was a symbiotic relationship between dive operators and boat operators. Dive operators chose their island based on offering diving variety and weather conditions; boat operators provided up to the minute data on visibility, currents, and other factors once we arrived on site. Dive briefings were often shared by the dive operator explaining the basics of the dive and the boat operator adding any current safety issues (currents, other factors to watch out for, any special sightings recently). We dived many of the sites, unfortunately, I rarely knew precisely where we were other than which island we were at, so I can't really comment on individual sites. The general fun diving plan seemed to be two morning dives at one site, back the the center for lunch, then out to a different island for an afternoon dive.
Many of the dives were rock wall coming down from the islands, some valley/canyon dives, some flat rocky areas a bit further out from the islands. There were also one drift dive because conditions were right, but it was very much dependent on time of day and weather conditions. Sadly, the artificial reef dive (sidemount pic above) was aborted 15 min. in because an inexperienced diver started to panic. We all ascended safely, but I missed my chance to see the big sleeping lobster!
Most harbors had some sort of office for the boat operators to operate out of and at least a small shaded area for divers between dives (usually a tarped area or a gazebo tent). All the boats we used had lifts and either big step entrance or back roll entry depending on the individual boat.
Flora and fauna were a mix of what you find on the East Coast of South Korea with some more tropical species.
Even saw a small ray!
The area around Seobseom had a lot of banded boxer shrimp.
There were quite a few lion fish.
The artificial reefs were the concrete cube type, and I even got to try sidemount on a few dives related to the deep specialty!
There were tales of octopus and lobster(!), but sadly those were mostly nocturnal and we never saw any during my dives there. Night dives were available but didn't fit my training schedule. I guess my one pet peeve with diving Korea so far is that Koreans seem to really like to interact with underwater lifeforms: prodding sleeping octopuses or rays, etc. I could do without that.
On the plus side, we saw a pair of dolphins!
Once again, I shall try to link video footage as I go through it.
Log books: Once again, Korean dive centers don't really rely on paper dive logs. Their preferred approach is 'check diving' where they take you out somewhere simple at first and evaluate how you dive. Once they get a read on you, they will take you on more challenging dives if they feel that is appropriate. They were happy to sign and stamp my log book, but most of the Korean divers I dived with were surprised to see one. Most admitted to just downloading their computer data to a digital log. The dive center did of course ask me to send them screen caps of my relevant eCards during the original reservation phase so they could pre-check my certs.
NB: Big Blue 33 has a website advertising services in English and is a NAUI center; however, as I was trying to complete a PADI Deep Specialty, I choose to go with Jeju Scuba School, a PADI dive center. Unfortunately, they are not set up for English. I completed my specialty through English eLearning and Korean supervised dives. This worked really well for me. That being said, much of the info here probably overlaps with other dive operators in Jeju and it seems like there is one on just about every street corner down near the harbors these days. We frequently shared boats with other groups, some of which were speaking English.
The main dive sites are outlined on the map below. Obviously, there are the three islands that all have multiple sites around them. However, there are also some artificial reefs closer to the harbors and shallow coastal areas used for OW training. There were three main harbors the dive operators use, one associated with each island. Once again there was a symbiotic relationship between dive operators and boat operators. Dive operators chose their island based on offering diving variety and weather conditions; boat operators provided up to the minute data on visibility, currents, and other factors once we arrived on site. Dive briefings were often shared by the dive operator explaining the basics of the dive and the boat operator adding any current safety issues (currents, other factors to watch out for, any special sightings recently). We dived many of the sites, unfortunately, I rarely knew precisely where we were other than which island we were at, so I can't really comment on individual sites. The general fun diving plan seemed to be two morning dives at one site, back the the center for lunch, then out to a different island for an afternoon dive.
Many of the dives were rock wall coming down from the islands, some valley/canyon dives, some flat rocky areas a bit further out from the islands. There were also one drift dive because conditions were right, but it was very much dependent on time of day and weather conditions. Sadly, the artificial reef dive (sidemount pic above) was aborted 15 min. in because an inexperienced diver started to panic. We all ascended safely, but I missed my chance to see the big sleeping lobster!
Most harbors had some sort of office for the boat operators to operate out of and at least a small shaded area for divers between dives (usually a tarped area or a gazebo tent). All the boats we used had lifts and either big step entrance or back roll entry depending on the individual boat.
Flora and fauna were a mix of what you find on the East Coast of South Korea with some more tropical species.
Even saw a small ray!
The area around Seobseom had a lot of banded boxer shrimp.
There were quite a few lion fish.
The artificial reefs were the concrete cube type, and I even got to try sidemount on a few dives related to the deep specialty!
There were tales of octopus and lobster(!), but sadly those were mostly nocturnal and we never saw any during my dives there. Night dives were available but didn't fit my training schedule. I guess my one pet peeve with diving Korea so far is that Koreans seem to really like to interact with underwater lifeforms: prodding sleeping octopuses or rays, etc. I could do without that.
On the plus side, we saw a pair of dolphins!
Once again, I shall try to link video footage as I go through it.
.
. I am intrigued by it though. I may pursue proper sidemount training in the future. 
